TAX TIPS SEPTEMBER 2018 - IN THIS ISSUE: PWC

Page created by Roberto Adams
 
CONTINUE READING
TAX TIPS SEPTEMBER 2018 - IN THIS ISSUE: PWC
pwc.co.nz

                         Tax Tips
                         September 2018

In this issue:
   Inland Revenue’s
   business
   transformation
   – what does it mean
   for you?

   Inland Revenue
   releases draft
   guidance on
   the Taxation
   (Neutralising Base
   Erosion and Profit
   Shifting) Act 2018
TAX TIPS SEPTEMBER 2018 - IN THIS ISSUE: PWC
Inland Revenue’s business
transformation – what does it
mean for you?
Inland Revenue’s business transformation is broader than a technology upgrade. Rather, it involves a
complete rethink as to how New Zealand’s tax administration system can be modernised and simplified for
businesses, individuals, and social policy recipients.

The Government has consulted on a wide range of tax administration changes since 2015, and in February 2017 we saw the first
tranche of changes being released, including moving GST into MyIR Secure Online Services so returns and payments can be made at
the same time. The second tranche of changes in April this year focused on business income taxes and included the introduction of the
accounting income method (AIM) for paying provisional tax.
In addition to the ‘system’ changes, the Government has also made a number of more substantive legislative changes. The key focus
of these changes is to modernise and simplify tax administration for taxpayers including enabling real-time provision of income
information.
In our view, some of these changes will have a significant impact on businesses. It is therefore important to start preparing for these.
We discuss these changes in more detail below.

                                               Summary                                        However, payment dates remain
‘Payday’ reporting                                                                            unchanged. This means that employers
                                               Currently, employers file an Employer          will continue to pay their PAYE as they
From 1 April 2019, all employers will have     monthly schedule (IR348) with Inland
to move away from the current practice                                                        currently do. Further, in the short-term,
                                               Revenue monthly. Depending on the size         employers will be required to file employer
of filing the Employer monthly schedule        of employer, they will also file an Employer
(IR348) once a month and adopt ‘payday’                                                       deduction forms until Inland Revenue’s
                                               deductions (IR345) form once or twice a        system developments have been fully
reporting, which effectively requires          month, which accompanies their payment.
employers to provide income information                                                       completed.
of employees on a real-time basis.             The new rules move away from monthly           There are also changes to the information
                                               reporting to ‘payday’ reporting. The           that employers will have to provide to
It is critical that all employers consider     intention is that the provision of
the changes that are required and start                                                       Inland Revenue about new and departing
                                               information will simply become part of an      employees.
executing them now to ensure they are          employer’s general payday process rather
able to comply with the new rules, which       than an additional task that is required to
are compulsory from 1 April next year.         be undertaken separately at a later date
                                               from processing the payroll.

PwC                                                                                                         Tax Tips September 2018   2
TAX TIPS SEPTEMBER 2018 - IN THIS ISSUE: PWC
Detail                                      What is a payday?                           Schedular payments
The new rules divide employers into         A payday is the day on which an employer    Schedular payments include payments
three groups with different requirements    makes a PAYE income payment to an           made to certain classes of contractors,
applying for each. Therefore, it is         employee. This is the day the employer      company directors, and commission sales
important for employers to determine        instructs the bank to make the funds        people. Many organisations often pay
which group they belong to.                 available to employees.                     these individuals outside of the payroll
                                                                                        system, and may pay them irregularly
The online group                            For an employer in the online group,
                                                                                        throughout the month.
                                            this would mean that they have to report
The online group is the default group.      employment information within two           For an employer in the online group, the
Most employers will fall into this group.   working days of each time they make a       options are to report:
Payroll intermediaries are also included    PAYE income payment to an employee.
in the online group.                                                                    • within two working days of the
                                            However, the rules do provide some
                                                                                          schedular payment; or
This group of employers must                concessions to reduce the compliance
electronically report employment            costs for reporting special types of pay    • twice monthly – this allows the
information within two working days         (special payments).                           employer to report payments made
after each payday (except for special                                                     between the 1st and the 15th of the
                                            ‘Special payments’ are:
payments).                                                                                month as if they had been made on
                                            • out-of-cycle pays                           the 15th of the month. For the second
The Commissioner can exempt some                                                          half of the month, the payments can be
employers in this group from the            • schedular payments
                                                                                          reported as if they were made on the
requirement to deliver their employment     • payments to employees on shadow             last day of the month.
income information electronically.            payrolls, and
                                                                                        Shadow payrolls and employee share
The non-electronic group                    • employee share benefits.                  benefits
An employer will be included in the non-    Out-of-cycle pays                           For both shadow payrolls and employee
electronic group if:
                                                                                        share benefits, employers are allowed a
                                            Out-of-cycle pays may occur, for example,
• they withheld less than $50,000 of                                                    20 day deferral period which means that
                                            where timesheets have been received
  PAYE and employer’s superannuation                                                    their reporting happens 20 actual days
                                            late or an employee’s employment is
  contribution tax (ESCT) in the                                                        after the taxing point (on the deferral
                                            terminated.
  previous tax year (or have an                                                         date).
  exemption from the online group); and     For an employer in the online group, the
                                                                                        An employer in the online group then has
                                            options are to report:
• they submit their employment income                                                   the option of reporting:
  information on paper.                     • within two working days of the out-of-
                                                                                        • within two working days of deferral
                                              cycle payment; or
The new employer group                                                                    date (e.g. up to 22 days after the taxing
                                            • with the next regular payment of            point); or
New employers have a six month                salary and wages.
transitional period in which they can                                                   • twice-monthly using the deferral date
apply the non-electronic group rules.       However, the option to report with the        (in the same way as for schedular
                                            next regular payment of salary and wages      payments).
The non-electronic group (including the     is only available where the out-of-cycle
new employer subset) have the option to                                                 The rules for each of these special
                                            payment will be reported within the
either:                                                                                 payments can be complex. We urge
                                            PAYE ‘payment period’.
                                                                                        employers to consider how they will use
• report employment information within                                                  and implement the concessions.
  ten working days after payday (except
  for special payments); or
• treat the 15th and the last day of the
  month as their paydays, then report
  within ten working days of those
  dates.
This group must file their information on
paper, and if they choose to file online,
they will move into the online group
(and have to report within two working
days of payday). To reiterate, anyone who
files online will be in the online group,
regardless of whether they are below the
$50,000 threshold.

PwC                                                                                                    Tax Tips September 2018     3
Employee information                          Where to from here                            Further, at a minimum, by now you
                                                                                            should have:
Employers will be required to provide         The onus is on employers to ensure that
Inland Revenue with prescribed                they will be ready for these changes.         • identified a driver responsible for
information on new and departing              You should be considering the changes           managing the change; and
employees. This is to ensure that new         and the impact they will have on your
                                                                                            • been in contact with your payroll
employees are set up correctly from the       business. Below are some questions that
                                                                                              vendor.
beginning, and also to prevent Inland         will help you assess your readiness for the
Revenue from contacting employers             payday reporting changes:                     As noted above, there are penalties for
about former employees.                                                                     non-compliance with the new rules.
                                              • Have you reviewed your current PAYE
                                                                                            However, non-compliance could also
Employers will be encouraged to provide         reporting processes and considered
                                                                                            result in additional Inland Revenue
new employee information as early as            how these will need to change?
                                                                                            scrutiny over your payroll.
possible, but are not required to provide
                                              • Is there someone responsible for
it until the first time payday information                                                  We can help
                                                managing the change?
is filed for each new employee. Similarly,
information on departing employees is                                                       We have been assisting a number of
                                              • Have you been in contact with your
required at the time of the last payment                                                    our clients to ensure they are ready for
                                                payroll provider on this?
to the employee, but it can be supplied in                                                  payday reporting including an assessment
                                              • If you have purpose built software,         of their readiness, development of new
advance.
                                                have you started working on the             processes and procedures and assisting
Those employers in the online group will        required updates?                           with technology build. Please get in touch
provide this information electronically,                                                    with our payroll specialists, Phil Fisher
                                              • Do you know when the updated
but paper forms will still be available for                                                 and Josie Goddard or your usual PwC
                                                payroll software will be ready?
the non-electronic group to communicate                                                     advisers if you have any questions.
this information.                             • Have you considered early adopting?
                                                How does this fit in with year-end, etc?
Penalties
                                                Are you willing to leave this until it
The penalty regime will remain largely          becomes mandatory?
the same, and the late filing and non-
                                              • Do you make any special payments,                            Phil Fisher
electronic filing penalties will remain
                                                and have you considered how you will                         T: +64 4 462 7159
monthly.
                                                report these?                                                E: phil.j.fisher@pwc.com
As such, an employer will not be
                                              • Have you reviewed the employee on-
penalised for filing late or non-
                                                boarding process and considered what
electronically more than once in a
                                                the changes will mean for this?
month. For example, an employer with
weekly paydays who files late twice in
any given month will pay the same late                                                                       Josie Goddard
filing penalty as an employer who has a                                                                      T:+64 4 462 7160
monthly payday and files late.                                                                               E: josie.r.goddard@pwc.com

PwC                                                                                                        Tax Tips September 2018    4
Other changes                                 Proposed changes to                         Our comment
In addition to employment income
                                              tax administration                          All of these changes result in Inland
information, real time reporting is           for individuals                             Revenue having more timely information
also required from 1 April 2020 for                                                       that enables them to better interact with
investment income.                            The Taxation (Annual Rates for 2018–19,     taxpayers. However, in our experience,
                                              Modernising Tax Administration, and         many organisations are not aware of the
The changes relate to improving the
                                              Remedial Matters) Bill proposes changes     impending changes and therefore minimal
frequency and level of information
                                              to simplify the way individuals engage      actions have been undertaken to date to
in relation to distributions, including
                                              with the tax system.                        ensure they are ready to implement the
electronic filing and improving the
                                                                                          required changes come 1 April next year
administration of RWT exempt status.          The provision of income information on a
                                                                                          (which is only 7 months away).
These changes will impact payers of           timely basis underpins the proposals that
interest, dividends, royalties, PIE income,   are contained in the Bill.                  We strongly urge all taxpayers to consider
and taxable Māori distributions.                                                          the impact Inland Revenue’s business
                                              At a high level, the proposed changes, if
                                                                                          transformation will have on their business
In summary, the key changes are:              enacted, should achieve the following:
                                                                                          and plan adequately as implementing any
• Payers of interest (including interest      • help to ensure individuals are taxed      changes at short notice can be extremely
  on domestically issued debt subject to        most appropriately through the tax        disruptive.
  the approved issuer levy), dividends,         year by ensuring the correct amount of
  and taxable Māori authority                   tax is withheld on income received.
  distributions to provide investment
                                              • make year-end obligations as simple
  income information to Inland Revenue
                                                as possible including pre-populating
  by the 20th of the month following the
                                                accounts and assessing all individuals,
  month in which the income was paid.
                                                with varying levels of engagement
• A multi-rate PIE that is not a                required from the individual.
  superannuation fund or retirement
                                              We discussed the proposed changes in
  savings scheme will be required to
                                              our Tax Tips released last month.
  report investment income information
  to Inland Revenue yearly by 15 May
  after the end of the tax year.
• A transitional measure: payers of
  income subject to RWT and NRWT
  (apart from royalties) are to report the
  required year-end information by 15
  May, rather than 31 May, for the tax
  years ending 31 March 2019 and 31
  March 2020.
• An investment income payer paying
  more than $5,000 of interest will
  only need to withhold RWT and
  report monthly on payments of
  interest where the payments relating
  to a taxable activity exceed $5,000,
  notwithstanding if total interest
  payments made by the payer (i.e.
  including payments not made in the
  course of a taxable activity) exceed
  $5,000.

PwC                                                                                                       Tax Tips September 2018      5
Inland Revenue releases draft
guidance on the Taxation
(Neutralising Base Erosion and
Profit Shifting) Act 2018
Inland Revenue has released draft guidance on the recently enacted Taxation (Neutralising Base Erosion
and Profit Shifting) Act 2018, which introduced significant changes to New Zealand’s tax regime for
cross-border relationships and transactions. The materials are divided into draft reports on (i) hybrid
and branch mismatches, (ii) transfer pricing, (iii), permanent establishments, (iv) interest limitation
rules, and (v) administrative guidance. In the August edition of Tax Tips, we shared the six things you
need to know about the new rules, including unexpected outcomes we have observed. The majority of the
new rules apply for income years beginning on or after 1 July 2018.
PwC and other submitters emphasised           Inland Revenue has invited feedback
                                                                                           It is encouraging that some concerns
the need for comprehensive guidance           on the draft guidance. Taxpayers now
                                                                                           related to applying the rules have now
throughout the submission process given       have the opportunity to assess whether
                                                                                           been addressed. However, the rules
the complexity of the new rules and its       sufficient clarification has been provided
                                                                                           themselves remain complex even with
effects on various existing tax regimes. We   or whether further explanation is still
                                                                                           guidance. We encourage you to seek
are pleased to see the release of over 150    required. The closing date for feedback
                                                                                           advice from your usual PwC adviser
pages of guidance. We are reviewing these     is 28 September 2018. The final version
                                                                                           to confirm how your business may be
insights and examples in the light of the     of the guidance will be issued early next
                                                                                           affected.
scenarios that we have been discussing        year.
with Inland Revenue and, in particular,
where queries were raised to clarify when
situations are intended to be captured.

PwC                                                                                                      Tax Tips September 2018    6
Contributors
Phil Fisher                                                         Briar Williams
Partner                                                             Partner
T: +64 4 462 7159                                                   T: +64 9 355 8531
E: phil.j.fisher@pwc.com                                            E: briar.s.williams@pwc.com

Peter Boyce                                                         Erin Venter
Partner                                                             Partner
T: +64 9 355 8547                                                   T: +64 9 355 8862
E: peter.boyce@pwc.com                                              E: erin.l.venter@pwc.com

Helen Johnson                                                       Briar Paterson
Director                                                            Director
T: +64 9 355 8501                                                   T: +64 9 355 8236
E: helen.n.johnson@pwc.com                                          E: briar.k.paterson@pwc.com

Sandy Lau                                                           Josie Goddard
Director                                                            Senior Manager
T: +64 4 462 7523                                                   T:+64 4 462 7160
E: sandy.m.lau@pwc.com                                              E: josie.r.goddard@pwc.com

Laura Lee
Senior Associate
T: +64 9 355 8346
E: laura.e.lee@pwc.com

Connect with us
        Follow us on Twitter
        @PwC_NZ

        Visit us online at
        pwc.co.nz

        Email us
        tax@nz.pwc.com

          © 2018 PwC Legal. All rights reserved. PwC refers to the PwC Legal member firm, and may sometimes refer to the PwC network. Each
          member firm is a separate legal entity. Please see www.pwc.com/structure for further details.
You can also read