Why doing business in NZ is so easy

NZ is officially the easiest place to do business in the world thanks to a slew of digital initiatives and providers like MYOB — and there’s more to come.

The World Bank has officially recognised NZ as the easiest place to do business in the world and it’s efforts to streamline compliance with Inland Revenue which has played a huge part in it.

Compliance isn’t the sexiest thing in the world to talk about, but getting it right is vital.

We’ve come a long way, thanks to initiatives to digitise the way compliance has handled as part of the government’s Digital Transformation Initiative.

As part of the Initiative, MYOB was proud to be the first company in New Zealand to offer its customers the ability to file eGST returns directly to Inland Revenue, saving time and significantly simplifying the GST submission process for many business owners who use the service.

The way it works is that GST return data is prepopulated through MYOB software, based on the business’s sales.

The return can then be securely sent to Inland Revenue directly through our cloud-based platform, and means SME owners do not need to manually enter figures into a separate GST return and print a copy to send to Inland Revenue.

We’ve had sensational feedback from many of the thousands of businesses that have used this service.

Lodging eGST returns is extremely easy to do through our online accounting products.

It means no more forms, envelopes or calculators. MYOB was also the first launch a “digital signatures” service to its customers, which means they can use the MYOB platform to lodge documents such as tax returns directly with Inland Revenue using an electronic signature rather than in writing.

It means there will be no need to print, sign and send in forms, saving businesses and their accountants a huge amount of administration time and further reducing the need for pen and paper in the workplace.

But the government, nor MYOB, is stopping there.

The next steps

Next year will see changes to the provisional tax regime come into effect that will benefit many business owners.

The changes give businesses the choice of moving to a pay-as-you-go Accounting Income Method (AIM), which will shift tax from being an extra compliance process, to being part of the normal accountancy work a business already does to keep on top of its finances.

READ: AIM in a nutshell

The way the new system works is that for a business with less than $5 million revenue, every three months its cloud accounting software will calculate the tax obligations owed based on real time analysis of the business’s cashflow and expenses, and prompt the owner to submit a return.

That will then be lodged directly to Inland Revenue and as long as the business pays what the system has calculated, if there is a difference at the end of the financial year the business will not have to pay use-of-money interest.

The government calculates that 110,000 businesses could benefit from the changes.

MYOB supported the development of this policy and we’re working to make the changes as business-friendly as possible.

Cloud accounting software’s ability to provide up-to-date information about cashflow and costs in a business means that we can start to build in these tools to make paying tax a whole lot easier.

Digital transformation has already delivered great results in cutting down the time business owners spend stuffing around with forms and compliance, and more is in the works.

The ability to digitally connect with Inland Revenue demonstrates the benefits of cloud-based business accounting software.

MYOB is committed to delivering new innovations in business accounting to help New Zealand business businesses grow and succeed. It’s great to work alongside a government committed to the same goal.