In this blog, we offer some tips and tricks around the basics of business expense claims in New Zealand, practical examples, and compliance considerations.
What Are Business Expenses?
Business expenses are costs incurred in generating income for your business. These can include obvious things like the product you buy to onsell to customers, through to office supplies, utilities, rent, and business travel. Not all expenses are fully deductible; some need to be split out to reflect the private portion.
Common Deductible Expenses
🚗 Vehicle expenses: Do you use your vehicle for business purposes? If the answer is yes, then you may be able to claim a portion in your business. When you’re starting out, keep a logbook to differentiate personal and business mileage.
🏠 Home office costs: If part of your home is used for business. This includes a portion of utility bills, internet, and rent (or mortgage interest) that you pay privately as the homeowner.
📢 Marketing and advertising: This one is self-explanatory; costs incurred to promote your business, e.g. online advertising, Google AdWords, Facebook ads, newspaper adverts or radio marketing campaigns.
Record-Keeping Tips
🗂️ Maintain accurate records of all business expenses, in other words – keep all of your receipts and invoices when you spend money for your business. IRD have rules around record keeping, plus it really helps your bookkeeper or accountant reviewing your records to know whether that receipt is truly a claimable expense.
Digital record-keeping solutions like Hubdoc or Dext can streamline this process and integrate with accounting software, making it super simple to snap photos or receipts on the go so you can keep moving.
Conclusion
Need help setting up Hubdoc or Dext? Get in touch with our team, we can get you up and running then give you a few tips personalised to your business on what expenses you can claim in your next GST or tax return.
