Inland Revenue walks the talk on payday filing

POSTED 27 NOVEMBER 2018

Inland Revenue has become the country’s first big employer to adopt payday filing ahead of it being mandatory on 1 April next year.

Customer segment leader Richard Owen says switching early makes good business sense.

“There are 5,138 staff to pay every fortnight at Inland Revenue so waiting until April to adopt a new system didn’t seem a sensible option.”

“We have been telling all employers that it’s better to switch sooner rather than later and there’s no point in saying that unless you’re prepared to practice what you preach.”

More than two months of pay runs with payday filing have been successfully completed at Inland Revenue. This means all the PAYE and deduction information about its employees has been filed at each fortnightly payday instead of monthly.

Receiving this type of information on a timelier basis will allow Inland Revenue to be more accurate when calculating taxes and social entitlements such as Working for Families tax credits.

It’s also a key part of the proposed plan to simplify end-of-year taxes for individuals.

“One of the benefits of Inland Revenue switching early,” says Mr Owen, “is that it has taught us some valuable lessons we can share with other significant employers.

“We’re intimately aware of the planning involved in the switch, especially when there’s a large number of staff to pay. We’ve drawn on our experience to create easy-to-use guides to help employers using the same payroll software through each step of the process.”

Inland Revenue Chief People Officer Mark Daldorf says the developer of the payroll software package the organisation uses has been helpful with resolving obstacles.

“Pay runs so far have gone well and we’ve seen only a few minor, but resolvable issues, for a few staff with unique circumstances.

“Like any new process, it takes some getting used to, especially how the employment information is displayed in myIR but we’ve been able to quickly adapt to the new look and feel.”

Mr Owen says Inland Revenue is willing to help employers adopt payday filing in any way it can.

“We’ve shown that it’s possible to shift to payday filing well ahead of the deadline so other large employers should feel confident they can do the same.

“The first step is to start talking with your payroll software provider and work out a plan to get you ready well in advance.”

Find out more about payday filing at www.ird.govt.nz/payday.

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