National reducing tax compliance costs for SMEs

National is committed to making it easier and quicker for New Zealanders to meet their tax obligations by investing in a more modern, efficient and flexible tax system that will simplify the way businesses pay tax.

“Currently, small business owners spend far too much time on tax compliance that impacts on their profitability, which is why we are investing in making tax easier through IRD’s Business Transformation Programme,” National Party Small Business spokesman Steven Joyce says.

“We expect New Zealanders to notice significant improvements in their tax compliance obligations from late 2015 and through 2016 as the first stage of Business Transformation is rolled out,” National Party Revenue spokesman Todd McClay says.

“We are simplifying the GST system so more is done online, modernising the PAYE system, and reducing the compliance burden of the employer monthly schedule.

“We will reduce the fiscal drag on SMEs by moving the system closer to real-time reporting, eliminate many issues around provisional and secondary tax, and address other frustrating areas of tax compliance.”

Mr Joyce says small and medium sized businesses are the lifeblood of our economy – 97 per cent of New Zealand businesses are SMEs.

“Under National, small businesses have recovered from the global financial crisis, and are investing and adding jobs. The September MYOB small business survey reports that SMEs across New Zealand are currently seeing the highest growth levels in five years. National is working hard to keep providing small businesses with the confidence to grow.”

A National-led Government will introduce legislation early in the next term that will confirm the deadline and extend the ability to allocate the New Zealand Business Number (NZBN) beyond registered companies to all New Zealand business entities.

"The NZBN will greatly reduce the costs for businesses in dealing with government agencies,” Mr Joyce says.

"Businesses will no longer have to keep updating their data with a myriad different government databases. The NZBN will enable all sorts of innovative time-saving administration solutions between businesses, their suppliers and government, giving them more time to spend on growing their business.

“National's approach of working with small businesses stands in stark contrast to Labour's approach, which would damage small businesses and destroy their confidence,” Mr Joyce says.

Labour’s approach includes:

• Dropping the 90 day trial for new employees.
• Dropping the starting out wage to encourage businesses to take on young people.
• Immediate big increases in the minimum wage.
• KiwiSaver contribution increases.
• A complex capital gains tax on all businesses and farms.
• A much more expensive ETS which would slow down economies in regional New Zealand.
• Tough new taxes on water use.
• A national award pay system that would require small regional businesses to pay the same pay rates as large big-city businesses.

"The MYOB election survey on small businesses showed that 63 per cent of small businesses trust National to provide appropriate management of the economy, while only 8 per cent trust Labour. It is no wonder, when you look at the long list of things Labour would do to small businesses," Mr Joyce says.

National’s Small Business Policy is available at: http://ntnl.org.nz/1m2wKXO

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