Adult minimum wage rises to $23.95 an hour This is an increase of 45 cents per hour from the current hourly rate of $23.50. The training and starting-out minimum wages will also both increase to $19.16 per hour, remaining at 80% of the adult minimum wage. This is a rise from the current minimum rate of $18.80 per hour. An employee working 40 hours per week on the adult minimum wage will earn an extra $18 per week or $936 per annum (before tax) compared to the current minimum wage. Around 122,500 New Zealand workers currently earning below the new minimum wage rates should get an increase in their pay packets as a result of the change in the minimum wage. KiwiSaver contribution rate changes The default KiwiSaver employer and employee contribution rate will rise to 3.5% (from 3%). The new rate will affect all pay days from 1 April. So even if your pay period covers before and after 1 April, your whole contribution for that pay period will be deducted at the new rate. Temporary rate reduction If you are an employee, you can apply for a temporary rate reduction from 1 February 2026 if you want to carry on contributing at 3% from 1 April 2026. This could be because you can’t afford the rate increase or want to save in other ways. You can apply for a rate reduction for a 3 month (92 days) to 12 month period. You can do this as many times as you like. Your employer can choose to match your temporary rate reduction. Once you move from the temporary rate to a higher rate, IRD will notify your employer. Contributions for 16 and 17-year-olds Those aged 16 or 17 will qualify for employer KiwiSaver contributions from 1 April 2026, so long as they meet other eligibility requirements. If the employee contributes to KiwiSaver from their wages, the employer will need to start making contributions. Before 1 April 2026, employers only need to contribute for employees aged 18 to 65.

In November 2025 Xero launched a new feature called Auto-Reconciliation . It uses Xero’s internal AI engine to automatically match and reconcile new bank statement lines overnight rather than you doing it manually. It applies your existing bank rules, matches invoices and bills, and learn s from past reconciliations to predict future matches. Auto-Reconciliation is in open beta and available to selected organisations on Xero’s Growing plan and above. If your business has access to it, you will see it when you are in the Bank Accounts → Reconcile screen. Subscriber or advisor-level permissions are required to turn it on. If you don’t like it, you can turn it off again. If you already code your own Xero, your transactions are consistent and you already use bank rules effectively, this has good potential to reduce your admin workload. It may be less suitable at least initially for businesses with complex transactions, frequent adjustments or multi-currency dealings. What should you watch out for? Only new transactions are auto-reconciled; historical items still need manual handling. It does it based on confidence levels, so some transactions will still require review. If you are slow getting bills or invoices into the system, it won’t match them. Multi-currency transactions may need manual checks for exchange rate adjustments. You need to review the reconciliation screen and fix mistakes it makes. It learns from your corrections. Fixing is easy - It provides good information about what it’s done and why. Treat it like the apprentice. Before enabling, review your bank rules and consider whether automation could introduce errors. We would recommend monitoring it daily for the first little while, so you can capture and fix overnight mistakes early. It should improve as it goes along. A final reminder that if you don’t like it you can turn it off again, but if you don’t give it a go, you’ll never know.

What’s changing? From October 2025, IRD has been sending some businesses with substantial unpaid tax a formal notice that they will be credit reported. The business will have 30 days to take action, such as setting up an instalment arrangement, before any credit reporting occurs. Who’s affected? · Businesses with tax debt that has been unpaid for a year and is at least 30% of the company’s profit, or · Businesses that owe more than $150,000 Why does this matter? Credit reporting impacts a business’s credit rating and ability to access finance. IRD shares information with Centrix, the approved credit reporting agency. Options If you can’t immediately pay the debt, please contact us to help set up an instalment arrangement or look at other options like tax pooling. Or you can set up an instalment arrangement yourself on myIR to stay in IRD’s good books!

WorkSafe NZ has announced a ramp-up in workplace inspections, including recruiting more inspectors and increasing site visits across high-risk industries like agriculture, construction and manufacturing. These are compliance checks. Inspectors can arrive unannounced, ask to speak with workers, take photos, and issue formal notices if they find anything lacking. What sort of hazards they are looking at? Acute: vehicles and machinery, falls from height, falling objects, electrical and chemical hazards Chronic: exposure to dusts, fumes and exhaust Catastrophic: events that could cause multiple serious injuries or fatalities Some things that trigger inspections A recent ACC claim or notifiable incident A complaint from a worker, neighbour, or ex-employee A pattern of past non-compliance Sometimes, just being in a high-risk industry is enough and there also seems to be a focus on the farming sector What you can do Review your health and safety systems Make sure training records and hazard registers are up to date Check that your team knows what’s expected if an inspector arrives

When will YOU become a MILLIONAIRE? Head to the calculator in our new super-useful CLIENT TOOLS section on our website to work it out! Of course the team at Russell Turner is always happy to help answer any of your questions, but this fantastic one-stop shop provides free calculators, tools and links that might be just what you need. You'll find news sites, tax tools, stock exchanges, HR help, business planning and lots more. Crikey - you could even make it your home page! Check it out under CLIENT TOOLS on the top bar of our website.

Be on the lookout for scammers pretending to be from IRD. Study official-looking emails carefully - even if you hear from an organisation often. Scammers change their modus operandi often, but here are some current clues that show that an email from IRD is fake: It is not from an official IRD email address It does not include your name There are links in the email, but they don't go to IRD's website Remember that if something seems too good to be true, it probably is! Check out the latest IRD scams here: https://www.ird.govt.nz/managing-my-tax/scams/latest-scams

Inland Revenue have recently announced this year’s livestock Herd Scheme Values and we think this is a great opportunity to update you on the latest movements. Click here to open the four-page report which covers dairy and beef cattle, sheep, goats and deer.

Click to read the full report on the 2025 Budget.

Just a reminder – if you make a profit out of investing in crypto-assets, that profit is taxable income. Crypto-assets are cryptographically secured digital representations of value that can be transferred, stored or traded electronically. They use some form of distributed ledger technology such as blockchain. They are also known as cryptocurrencies, cryptographic assets, digital financial assets, digital tokens and virtual currencies. Inland Revenue’s rationale is that the only reason you could possibly have for investing in crypto-assets is to make a profit. There’s generally no other form of income. Unlike a rental property, you don’t get a combination of income and capital gain. However, some crypto-assets are paying a return on crypto held in the form of more crypto. In those cases there is an argument that it is purchased for that purpose not sale. Two key developments in the past year highlight the importance for taxpayers with crypto-assets to make sure their tax matters are in order – failure to do so could lead to an unpleasant surprise from Inland Revenue. In general, transactions involving sale, exchange, or trading of crypto-assets are taxable on realisation: when someone sells a crypto-asset, the proceeds from the sale are subject to tax, although they can deduct the cost of acquiring the asset. Sales can involve government-issued fiat currency (such as NZD) or be used to purchase another crypto-asset. This is a broad guideline, and specific tax rules may vary depending on the situation. If income is generated from crypto-asset activities, it must be included in a taxpayer's income tax return. For New Zealand tax residents, this applies even to crypto-assets bought or sold outside the country, such as when using a non-New Zealand-based crypto exchange. Development #1: Inland Revenue's focus on Crypto-assets In July 2024, Inland Revenue announced it would focus on investigating taxpayers who fail to report income from crypto-assets. The agency reminded the public that, contrary to the belief that transactions on the blockchain are anonymous, it has the tools and technology to track crypto-asset activity. With an additional $116 million allocated to compliance efforts in the 2024 Budget, taxpayers should expect an increase in inquiries and requests for information. The Commissioner of Inland Revenue confirmed that Inland Revenue would gradually reach out to crypto traders, informing them of the data the agency has and offering a final opportunity to report any unreported income. Inland Revenue’s system has identified 227,000 New Zealanders with crypto-assets and tracked 7 million transactions worth $7.8 billion. This is likely just the beginning, as Inland Revenue continues to gain access to more data related to crypto-asset activities. Development #2: The Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework (CARF) As part of the 2024 Budget, Inland Revenue received extra funding to create a Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework (CARF). According to the Regulatory Impact Statement (RIS), the decentralised nature of crypto-assets and limited regulation have made it difficult for tax authorities to fully track income generated from crypto activities. While Inland Revenue can monitor some transactions, a formal reporting system would provide a more efficient way to gather and oversee crypto asset data. CARF is an initiative led by the OECD. It’s a framework for a reciprocal international exchange of information on crypto-asset activity between jurisdictions. As a global minimum standard, all OECD countries are expected to adopt the framework, and as of May 2024, 50 countries had committed to participating. CARF will require crypto intermediaries to provide tax authorities with information about users on their platforms. This information will be automatically shared with other CARF-compliant jurisdictions. The data provided will include personal details (e.g., name, address, date of birth, and tax ID number), along with transaction details at both the user and aggregate levels. This data will cover crypto-to-crypto exchanges, crypto-to-fiat transactions, and transfers to wallet addresses on the blockchain. CARF will also establish rules for currency translation and asset valuation. For example, the value of the crypto-asset must be reported in the fiat currency in which it was either paid or received. CARF is expected to be implemented starting with the 2026/27 tax year, and the first data exchange will take place in 2027. The initiative is estimated to generate an additional $50 million in tax revenue annually from 2027/28 onwards. The RIS suggests Inland Revenue might begin pre-populating income tax returns with crypto-asset income, a process that could be made easier with tax reform aimed at simplifying the calculation of taxes on crypto-assets. Watch this space for potential legislative changes in the future! Do get in touch with your Russell Turner adviser if you have any questions on crypto-assets.