Make sure you buy a car in the right name to ensure you maximise your tax position. A client bought a new car for his business. The business paid for the car but the finance arrangement was in his own name. The interest is not tax deductible on the money borrowed. While we can remedy the situation, it adds to our work and your costs. Make sure if you are… Read more
Not all retailers are issuing proper tax invoices. For purchases over $50 at a minimum a tax invoice must include the words “Tax Invoice” as well as the GST registration number. If you do not receive a tax invoice for goods purchased, you are not permitted to claim GST. Should you be given an invoice which does not qualify as a tax invoice, ask the assistant to record the missing… Read more
A solicitor in a provincial town was the independent trustee for a family trust. Mr and Mrs B bought and sold 11 properties over a 12-year period. Ms X, the solicitor, did the conveyancing. The trust treated these properties as separate residences of the beneficiaries. The tax department alleged the transactions were taxable and charged both GST and income tax, plus penalties. The trust deed required all trust decisions to… Read more
You can enter your inventory items under the Settings Tab / Inventory Items. Here you can add a description, unit price for purchases and sales (or just sales if appropriate) and select what account codes should be used. This can really speed up creating invoices if you have regular items that you use. Even if you don’t have set prices this can be great for populating the description field. Read more
One of the things about moving to the cloud is that you end up with various passwords to manage. The tool we use here at BTP is called LastPass and it is a very good tool for saving your passwords and you just have to remember the one password to get into LastPass. Click here to learn more about LastPass Read more
Xero has some great features to help you to manage your Accounts Receivable(Debtors) and below we explain some of those features. From the Accounts/Sales screen you can send Statements from here including sorting by amount paid and selecting which statements to print or send via email. Search for invoices based on client name, invoice date, invoice number or reference View Paid, Repeating, or All invoices. See the amount of invoices… Read more
Invoicing Features Below are some screen shots and some explanation and tips for how to use the various fields and features when creating invoices for your customers. You can enter a new customer in Xero without having to add all the details (address etc) to create an invoice. You can add the other details later. Enter “t” for todays date, you can also do quick enter like 15/5 for 15th… Read more
You can now add files directly into your Xero account. This is great for invoices, hire purchases agreements, loan agreements and any other files that will be useful in preparing your accounts and keeping stored alongside your financial data. Think of it as an electronic version of the folders we provide Here is a video about it. Read more
Rising interest on debt can be a curse when running a small business. However, there are some quick and easy policies you can start using to combat interest rate rises. Individually, small steps can add some value to a business, but when combined they can make significant differences. Think of your business like a car in development. Improved aerodynamics, fuel injection and weight loss might separately increase fuel economy, but… Read more
Help grow your business through collaboration, expansion, improved marketing and some of the following quick tips. 1. Improve your customer service Businesses with good customer service retain consumers and attract new business through word-of-mouth. Even if you think you’re already providing good service, make it a priority to provide refresher training to frontline staff at least once a year. Alternatively, hold regular meetings to discuss any issues as they arise.… Read more