The end of the year is rapidly approaching, and now is the time when many of us feel like we are being stretched even thinner than usual. It’s that end-of-year burnout feeling after working hard and trying to juggle priorities and cope with high stress levels for 10+ months. For many small business owners, running
The final changes to the Credit Reporting Privacy Code 2004 came into effect on 1st October 2019. This is good news for consumers, as the credit reporting changes aim to make the credit reporting system fairer and improve compliance among providers. The key changes to the code are: Credit providers who offer risk-based pricing must
You may not be aware that proposed changes to New Zealand’s Incorporated Societies legislation are going through Parliament at the moment. Here is an update on the changes. In May, the Government agreed to make a number of proposed changes to the Incorporated Societies Act. The Act was designed to provide guidance to New Zealanders
New privacy laws to replace the Privacy Act 1993 are passing through Parliament. Digital technology has progressed so much that it is necessary to provide new measures of privacy protection for businesses that collect, store or use personal information about their employees and/or customers. This Privacy Bill is likely to come into effect by the
In December the government passed changes to the Employment Relations Act which are intended to improve fairness and conditions in workplaces. The following changes came into effect on 12th December 2018: Union representatives can now enter workplaces without asking for permission, provided that the employees are covered under, or bargaining towards, a collective agreement. However,
The government has announced its new research and development tax incentive package, which is designed to encourage more businesses to increase their R&D expenditure. The key features of the R&D package include: A credit rate of 15% (up from the originally proposed rate of 12.5%) which will be available from the beginning of the 2019/20
On 1st October 2018 the new Customs and Excise Act 2018 came into effect. If your business deals with Customs at all, you need to be aware of the changes and how they may impact on your business. Businesses potentially affected by the new Act include importers, exporters, excise manufacturers, brokers, service providers such as
Being a self-employed contractor presents its own unique benefits and challenges. You can elect to work under your own name as a sole trader, or set yourself up as a company. Benefits Of Being A Contractor As a contractor you are essentially your own boss, and have control over how, when (and sometimes where) to
New Food Act regulations designed to tailor food safety rules to individual businesses are coming into effect. New food selling businesses must register for the Food Act when they commence trading. For existing food selling businesses, registration has been introduced in stages with a different group registering each year since the new laws came in.
Following the annual Government review, on 1st April 2017 the adult minimum wage rate rose by 50 cents to $15.75 an hour. The starting-out and training wage rates also rose by 40 cents to $12.60. If you are an employer paying staff minimum wage rates, ensure you have updated your payroll and employment agreements to
