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An insight to trading and selling on online auction sites in New Zealand - what you need to know about the personal income you earn over the internet. Should you be paying tax on your online income?

These days, the majority of us buy goods online traders and often sell stuff as well. With auction sites like Trade Me being the main online shopping choice for New Zealanders, it has bec...

Benjamin Franklin once said there are two certainties in life – death and taxes! What isn’t so certain is what type or how much those taxes will be.

The Inland Revenue Department (IRD) collects over 80% of the government revenue, with just under half of that coming from individual income taxes. The current income tax rate in New Zealand ranges from 10.5% for lower incomes to 33% for...

Whether you are in paid employment, running a business or on a benefit, you will need to pay taxes and the more you know it, the better equipped you will be to get the best out of your tax return.

First of all, it helps to know why we have to pay taxes. Every person who earns money in New Zealand pays tax to the government each year. The amount you pay depends on how much you earn – ...

Once you know how much you will be getting back from your income tax refund, the biggest question becomes: what am I going to use it for? And it’s a fair enough question, because it isn’t every day that you get an unexpected lump sum of cash deposited directly into your bank account. So to help you decide, here is a short article on what people us their New Zealand tax refund for.

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Most people work for wages in New Zealand, and their income tax is paid directly by their employer to the Inland Revenue Department (IRD) under the Pay As You Earn (PAYE) scheme.

In most cases, the correct amount of tax is paid and you will not need to do anything at the end of the tax year (31 March). However, you can end up paying too much tax if you aren’t careful. For example, ma...

The fact that New Zealander’s consistently overpay their income tax was a little known only half a decade ago. Until recently only a very small percentage of the population actually applied for their tax refunds because the process was difficult, lengthy and required a large amount of paperwork. Luckily these days, services like MyRefund.co.nz have made this process easier and opened the eye...

When your baby is born, he/she will bring you more love and devotion than you ever thought possible -- but did you know that your little bundle of joy may also bring you a tax credit? Thanks to the Working for Families program, you can get a parental tax credit that covers the first eight weeks after your baby is born. It's designed to help you out with some of the expenses associated with ...

A student loan is intended to help students pursue education. It helps them pay for the tuition fee, books and living expenses while pursuing a degree at a university in New Zealand. The requisite funds can be borrowed from the government at a substantially low rate of interest. In many countries, the government and financial institutions have their own laws on getting student loans and repa...

An occupation is a set of jobs characterised by a high degree of similarity. It requires specialisation of skills to execute the tasks proficiently. As an economy, New Zealand depends greatly on international trade. Exports of wool, meat and dairy products were at one point the core of the economy. Tourism is another sector which brings in large incomes for the country. Free-market economy h...

Did you know that most New Zealand residents overpay their taxes? As efficient as the PAYE system tries to be, there are plenty of times when employers wind up deducting too much over the course of a year. So, before you simply assume that what you've paid is what you owe, follow these 5 tips.
You might be surprised to find that there's extra money with your name on it!

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We all have to pay income tax but most of us end up unknowingly paying too much. As income tax is deducted from your monthly salary before it even reaches you, it can be difficult to know whether you are paying too much or not. However, there are a number of reasons for which you might be entitled to a refund. Perhaps you worked for just part of the year and therefore fall below the threshol...

The annual tax refund season runs at the start of each new financial year, after the Inland Revenue Department has confirmed income details, and those who are entitled to a refund could have the money in their account around the end of June. So how do you know if you are owed a refund on your income tax? A huge number of people unknowingly overpay their tax each year, ranging from those who ...

For many people, the answer is - Yes. Not because their tax officers are sneaking in a little more compensation for their work, but simply because some of us have overpaid our taxes. Thankfully, there is an easy way to get our money back - this is called a tax refund.

But what exactly is a tax refund? It is a refund on your income tax if you have paid too much. In New Zealand, income...