How does GST work in NZ?
Whether you’re starting out in business or have been operating for a while, many people still ask the question: How does GST work in NZ?
In our article below, we will explain the NZ GST regime in NZ and how it may relate to your business.
We’ve broken it down into short, easy to understand segments. If you don’t want to read the whole article, you can choose to jump to relevant sections using the links below.
What is GST?
What are Taxable Supplies?
GST Rates
Zero Rating vs GST Exempt
GST on Expenses
Filing GST Returns
Example of GST Periods and Return Dates
Example GST Return
GST Registration – Do I need to Register?
GST Registration Options
GST Accounting Basis – You have 3 Different Options
Next Steps
The NZ GST Regime – Introduction
Along with Income Tax, Goods and Services Tax (GST) is the main compliance obligation for New Zealand businesses.
The major difference between the two taxes is that Income Tax comes out of your business profits while GST comes out of the end consumer’s pocket.
Businesses do not pay GST but collect it and hand it over to IRD.
Let us explain….
If you’d like our help to go through any questions you may have at any time, feel free to get in touch.
What is Goods and Services Tax?
Goods and Services Tax (GST) is a tax levied on goods and services provided in New Zealand.
It is a tax that is designed to be borne by the end consumer. This means that business acting as the middle man are able to charge and claim GST as part of its activities.
By the middle man we mean the manufacturer who buys materials and turns them into saleable products eg jam that is sold in supermarkets, or the distributor that buys products and on-sells them. The middle man scenario also applies to service businesses eg plumbers, IT providers etc.
Who is the end consumer?
The end user is the person who buys the products from the supermarket shelf, or uses a tradesman to fix their plumbing and does not get to claim that GST back. This defines them as the end consumer.
What are Taxable Supplies?
When a business sells goods or services, it generally must charge GST to its customer by adding GST to its prices.
Supplies of goods or services subject to GST are “taxable supplies”. This is essentially your business Sales.
If you are carrying on a business, profession or non-profit activity, and selling goods or services on a regular basis, then you are carrying on a taxable activity and those goods or services are taxable supplies.
Certain supplies are exempt from GST and are therefore not taxable supplies. These include domestic rent, wages and salaries, company director fees and private sales. Most products and services provided by businesses however are taxable supplies.
GST Rates
GST is generally charged at the standard rate of 15%.
For example:
You’re a GST registered consultant and charge a client $500 for your services.
You are required to add $75 ($500 x 15%) GST and charge your client $575.
You collect the $75 on behalf of the government and pay it to IRD when you file your GST return.
Certain supplies are zero-rated, meaning they have GST charged at 0% rather than 15% including:
- Exported goods or services
- Sales of a business as a going concern
- Land sales where both the buyer and seller are GST registered and the land is used in a taxable activity
E.g., if your consulting services above were provided to a client in Australia, providing the services did not relate to NZ based property, they can be zero-rated. You will charge your Australian client $500 only and collect no GST.
Zero-Rating vs GST Exempt
Zero-rating is different to GST exempt.
If you make zero-rated supplies, they are still part of the GST regime. You are just charging GST at zero percent instead of 15%.
If you make exempt supplies, the whole activity is outside of the GST regime. You are not making taxable supplies.
The difference matters because a business providing zero-rated supplies can be GST registered and claim back GST on its expenses, as discussed below.
An organisation or individual providing exempt supplies only, cannot be GST registered.
GST on Expenses
While a GST registered business collects GST on sales, it also pays GST to its suppliers. (Its suppliers will also be passing this GST onto IRD).
Because GST is a tax on the final (non-GST registered) consumer and not the business, a GST registered business can claim back the GST paid to its suppliers.
Therefore, a GST registered business does not have any actual GST cost, just the burden of administering the collection and payment of GST.
Filing GST Returns
A GST registered business both collects GST from its customers and pays GST to suppliers.
The difference between the GST collected and the GST paid is the net amount of GST to be paid over to IRD.
Presuming a business is charging 15% GST on all its sales and is making a profit (sales exceed expenses), then it will collect more GST than it pays.
In this case, the business will pay the excess GST collected to IRD.
If the business pays more GST to suppliers than it collects from clients, it will get a refund of the excess GST paid out.
Example of GST Periods and Return Dates
As discussed below, a business will have a GST period of either one, two or six-months.
Let’s assume a small bike repair business has a two-monthly GST period.
In the month following the end of each two-month period, the business must file a GST return covering the GST activity in the period. This includes the GST collected on sales, GST paid on expenses, and the net GST collected to be paid to IRD.
- For the GST period covering Apr and May 2018, the business must file a return by 28 Jun 2018.
- This will include all GST collected and paid in the two months from 1 Apr to 31 May 2018.
- The net GST collected must be paid by the return due date.
Example of a GST Return
Sales including GST 115,000
- GST content of sales 15,000
Purchases including GST 38,333
- GST content of purchases 5,000
GST to pay to IRD $10,000
GST Registration – Do I need to Register?
You may be required to register or can choose to register voluntarily.
When are you required to register for GST?
To register for GST, a business must have a taxable activity. I.e., it must have a regular activity of selling taxable supplies.
When the business’ sales value exceeds $60,000 over a 12-month period or is likely to exceed $60,000 over the following 12 months, the business must register for GST.
A business with sales under $60,000 can remain unregistered or register voluntarily.
Voluntary GST Registration
There are three considerations for a small business with sales under $60,000 to weigh up when deciding whether to register for GST.
- First, a GST registered business must add GST, generally at 15%, to its prices.
If the business’s customers are other GST registered businesses, then this should not matter as the business customers will claim the GST back.
Alternatively, if the business’s customers are the end consumer (private individuals) and therefore not GST registered, the GST is a direct cost to them. The customer will pay a certain price regardless of whether it includes GST or not, so effectively, the business must wear the cost of the GST by returning it out of the sales price.
From this perspective, being GST registered is a disadvantage unless all customers are GST registered businesses in which case it doesn’t really matter.
- Second, a GST registered business can claim GST back on its expenses. A non-GST registered business cannot. From this perspective, being GST registered is an advantage.
- Third, a GST registered business must file GST returns, account for GST on all transactions and keep invoices and relevant records for seven years. From this perspective, being GST registered is a disadvantage although it does encourage better record-keeping and up-to-date accounts.
My suggestion is that if your customers are private individuals, it is probably not worth being GST registered until required to. If your customers are businesses, it may be worth registering.
GST Registration Options
When you register for GST, you choose a GST period and an accounting basis.
The period is the length of time each GST return covers.
The accounting basis is the method of calculating your GST liability or refund for that period.
GST Period
You file a GST return for each GST period which can be one month, two months or six months.
Whichever period you use, your GST return is generally due by the 28th of the month following each period end.
Monthly
Larger businesses with an annual turnover exceeding $24 million must file monthly. Anyone else can file monthly but most choose to file less frequently.
A monthly period may be a good choice if you regularly have GST refunds and want to receive them sooner.
An example is a service provider exporting services to overseas clients and zero-rating them. They will not collect GST on sales but will still pay GST on NZ expenses.
Two-monthly
Available for any business with an annual turnover below $24M.
Two-monthly is the most common GST period for small businesses. A two-month period helps to keep your accounting up to date on a regular basis, coding transactions when they are still reasonably fresh in your memory. It is also a good time period for combining processing your transactions with preparing regular management accounts to monitor your business performance.
Six-monthly
Available for any business with an annual turnover below $500,000.
This is a common choice common with small service businesses such as solo consultants who do not have many transactions and prefer to only file two returns a year.
The GST collected over six months can be substantial. This means you have the use of that money in the meantime, or can earn interest on it, but also makes it easy to get in trouble if you don’t ensure it is available to pay your GST by the due date.
Example
Ken’s drafting services has six-monthly periods ending in September and March. For the period ending 30 Sep 2018, Ken files a GST return accounting for GST collected and paid on all transactions from 1 Apr 2018 to 30 Sep 2018. The return and any GST payment are due by 28 Oct 2018.
GST Accounting Basis
You must choose an accounting basis, or method, for calculating your GST payment or refund in each return. There are three options:
- Payment basis
- Invoice basis
- Hybrid basis
Payments Basis
Businesses with a turnover under $2 million can use a payment basis.
Most small businesses choose this method as it is generally simpler and more closely matches cash flow.
Under this method, you return GST to IRD that was collected from customers, and reclaim GST on expenses paid to suppliers, during the period. Any unpaid invoices at the period end are ignored. This means that you should have the GST on hand at the due date as you have already collected it.
Depending on your accounting systems, it is usually easier to calculate GST under the payments method than the invoice or hybrid methods. You can total up all GST included receipts and payments from your bank statements or cashbook system to prepare your return.
Invoice Basis
Businesses with an annual turnover exceeding $2 million must use this method, while smaller businesses can opt to.
Under the invoice basis, you account for GST on sales and purchases incurred, or invoiced, during the GST period regardless of whether they have been paid or not.
Generally, this means paying GST sooner to IRD as most businesses have more outstanding amounts owed by customers (on which to return GST) than outstanding amounts owed to suppliers (on which they can claim GST).
I.e., most business’s debtors exceed their creditors. Unless all your sales are settled promptly, you will be paying GST to IRD that you have not yet collected from customers.
Hybrid Basis
This is a combination whereby you return GST on sales on an invoice basis but claim GST on purchases on a payments basis.
This generally provides the worst of both as you will be paying GST on sales yet to be collected but only claiming GST on purchases once paid.
Any GST registered business can use this method, but it is not common.
Next Steps
Hopefully you now have a better understanding of how the GST regime works in New Zealand.
Depending on what stage you are at with your business, the next steps will vary.
If you’re just starting out, we recommend you consider using accounting software that will make compiling your GST Returns quick and easy. We’ve written an article on Choosing an Accounting System for Your Small Business that will help you choose.
If you’ve been in business a while, maybe you are in the transition phase and now need to register for GST where you previously have not been registered. You may require help getting your accounting system ready to handle this change. Feel free to get in touch if you need assistance with this.
If would would like to understand more about the accounting side of running your business, we encourage you to take a look at some of our other articles – perhaps you would like to start with our series on Understanding Your Financial Statements…
If you need our help with anything else, give us a call – we’ll be happy to help.
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