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  • New to contracting

    • NZ contractor tax, explained
    • Contracting alongside a salaried job
    • How much to charge as a contractor
    • Leaving a full-time job for contracting
    • Sole trader or limited company?
    • Do I need to register for GST?
    • How to write a proper NZ tax invoice
    • Schedular payments and the IR330C
    • How much tax does a NZ sole trader actually pay?
    • Setting aside tax: three systems that actually work
    • Business expenses: what you can claim
    • Your first GST return
    • Filing your first IR3
    • Your first provisional tax bill
    • ACC cover options: CoverPlus or CoverPlus Extra?
    • KiwiSaver when you're self-employed

  • Established contractors

    • Cash flow for contractors: smoothing the lumps
    • Handling late-paying clients
    • Two-monthly or six-monthly GST: which fits your business?
    • Home office deductions: the two methods
    • Vehicle expenses: kilometre rates or logbook?
    • Depreciation: claiming assets over $1,000
    • Invoicing overseas clients
    • Provisional tax: standard, estimation, ratio, or AIM?
    • Terminal tax and use-of-money interest
    • Switching from sole trader to a company
    • Shareholder salary, drawings, and the current account
    • FBT for solo directors: the company vehicle trap

  • Every contractor

    • The NZ tax calendar for contractors: 2026-2027
    • The 31 March year-end checklist
    • Bookkeeping systems for solo contractors
    • Choosing an accountant as a contractor
    • Missed an IRD due date? Here's what actually happens
    • Student loan repayments when you're self-employed
Browse guides

  • New to contracting

    • NZ contractor tax, explained
    • Contracting alongside a salaried job
    • How much to charge as a contractor
    • Leaving a full-time job for contracting
    • Sole trader or limited company?
    • Do I need to register for GST?
    • How to write a proper NZ tax invoice
    • Schedular payments and the IR330C
    • How much tax does a NZ sole trader actually pay?
    • Setting aside tax: three systems that actually work
    • Business expenses: what you can claim
    • Your first GST return
    • Filing your first IR3
    • Your first provisional tax bill
    • ACC cover options: CoverPlus or CoverPlus Extra?
    • KiwiSaver when you're self-employed

  • Established contractors

    • Cash flow for contractors: smoothing the lumps
    • Handling late-paying clients
    • Two-monthly or six-monthly GST: which fits your business?
    • Home office deductions: the two methods
    • Vehicle expenses: kilometre rates or logbook?
    • Depreciation: claiming assets over $1,000
    • Invoicing overseas clients
    • Provisional tax: standard, estimation, ratio, or AIM?
    • Terminal tax and use-of-money interest
    • Switching from sole trader to a company
    • Shareholder salary, drawings, and the current account
    • FBT for solo directors: the company vehicle trap

  • Every contractor

    • The NZ tax calendar for contractors: 2026-2027
    • The 31 March year-end checklist
    • Bookkeeping systems for solo contractors
    • Choosing an accountant as a contractor
    • Missed an IRD due date? Here's what actually happens
    • Student loan repayments when you're self-employed

Coffer guides

Contracting in New Zealand, explained plainly.

Income tax, GST, ACC, and the dates that matter. Every figure checked against Inland Revenue and ACC sources, with references on every page.

New to contracting

  • NZ contractor tax, explained

    The three things a New Zealand contractor actually pays: income tax, GST, and ACC levies. What each one is, how it's worked out, when it's due, and how much of every invoice to treat as not yours.

    ~9 min read

  • Contracting alongside a salaried job

    The side-gig tax setup: why secondary tax codes don't apply, why side income is taxed from your top rate, and the thresholds (GST, provisional) that arrive without announcing themselves.

    ~6 min read

  • How much to charge as a contractor

    Turning a salary into a rate without giving yourself a pay cut: what the salary quietly included, how many days you'll really bill, and a worked example from $100,000 to a defensible day rate.

    ~7 min read

  • Leaving a full-time job for contracting

    The setup checklist for going out on your own in New Zealand: telling Inland Revenue, the GST decision, what ACC does automatically, records, KiwiSaver without an employer, and the habits that make year one calm.

    ~7 min read

  • Sole trader or limited company?

    What each structure actually is, the honest tax comparison between the 28% company rate and personal rates, what a company costs in admin, and the trigger points that make switching worth it.

    ~8 min read

  • Do I need to register for GST?

    The $60,000 threshold and the trigger people miss, how to weigh voluntary registration below it, what changes on your invoices and filing once you're in, and how to cancel if your situation changes.

    ~6 min read

  • How to write a proper NZ tax invoice

    What the law requires on an invoice since the 2023 rules change, tiered by sale size, plus the fields the law doesn't require but accounts teams do, and the mistakes that delay payment.

    ~6 min read

  • Schedular payments and the IR330C

    For contractors paid through recruiters and labour-hire firms: who's in the withholding system, choosing the rate honestly, the 45% no-notification trap, and how withholding changes provisional tax and the set-aside.

    ~7 min read

  • How much tax does a NZ sole trader actually pay?

    The bracket math worked through at $80,000, $120,000, $180,000, and $250,000, why your effective rate matters more than your top bracket, and what moves the number up or down.

    ~6 min read

  • Setting aside tax: three systems that actually work

    How much of each payment to reserve for GST, income tax, and ACC, and the three set-aside systems that survive a busy year: per payment, monthly sweep, and the account you can't see.

    ~6 min read

  • Business expenses: what you can claim

    The deductibility principle, the categories contractors actually claim, the $1,000 asset rule, the entertainment 50% rule, and the records that make every claim stick.

    ~7 min read

  • Your first GST return

    What the return actually contains, why the payments basis is the right setup for almost every contractor, filing in myIR, and the transfer habit that makes return two boring.

    ~6 min read

  • Filing your first IR3

    From 'the tax year just ended' to assessed: what pre-populates in myIR, what business income needs, the IR10, the two classic first-return errors, and what the assessment sets in motion.

    ~7 min read

  • Your first provisional tax bill

    The year-one silence, the $5,000 trigger, and the second-year double hit worked through on a real timeline, plus the checklist that makes both years boring.

    ~7 min read

  • ACC cover options: CoverPlus or CoverPlus Extra?

    The automatic default that follows your filed income versus the agreed-amount upgrade, the situations each is built for, and how to weigh the levy against the certainty.

    ~6 min read

  • KiwiSaver when you're self-employed

    What switches off when you leave employment, the government contribution still worth collecting ($260.72 for $1,042.86 of contributions), the June deadline, and where KiwiSaver sits in contractor money.

    ~6 min read

Established contractors

  • Cash flow for contractors: smoothing the lumps

    The buffer that turns lumpy income into a level salary, why tax money is never smoothing material, invoicing shapes that smooth the inflow at the source, and credit used as headroom.

    ~6 min read

  • Handling late-paying clients

    Prevention that makes lateness harder, a follow-up ladder you run without re-litigating, escalation up to the Disputes Tribunal's $60,000 limit, and the tax treatment of writing a debt off.

    ~7 min read

  • Two-monthly or six-monthly GST: which fits your business?

    Two-monthly versus six-monthly for an established contractor: the cash-flow and admin trades, plus the two side effects most comparisons miss - your provisional instalment count and ratio-option eligibility.

    ~6 min read

  • Home office deductions: the two methods

    The square-metre rate ($57.30 for the 2026 income year) versus actual costs, the premises costs both methods claim on top by floor area, and how to pick between them.

    ~6 min read

  • Vehicle expenses: kilometre rates or logbook?

    What counts as business travel, the two-tier kilometre rates for 2025-2026, the 90-day logbook method, and which approach claims more for your vehicle and mileage.

    ~6 min read

  • Depreciation: claiming assets over $1,000

    The two methods and why the lifetime total is the same, the 50% rate that covers most contractor gear, Investment Boost's 20% up front on new assets, pooling, private-use apportioning, and the wash-up when you sell.

    ~7 min read

  • Invoicing overseas clients

    Zero-rated GST for services to non-residents (and why zero-rated is not exempt), the income tax that doesn't change, and the currency practicalities worth setting up once.

    ~7 min read

  • Provisional tax: standard, estimation, ratio, or AIM?

    The four ways to calculate provisional tax instalments, the $60,000 safe-harbour rule that decides how much the choice matters, and a one-pass guide to picking the right method for your income shape.

    ~8 min read

  • Terminal tax and use-of-money interest

    The end-of-year wash-up, the daily interest meter and its asymmetric rates, the safe harbour that keeps most contractors clear of it, and the honest arithmetic of underpaying.

    ~7 min read

  • Switching from sole trader to a company

    The mechanics of the switch: incorporating with tax registration in one pass, winding down the sole-trader GST position, re-papering contracts and banking, and the discipline companies demand.

    ~7 min read

  • Shareholder salary, drawings, and the current account

    How money actually leaves a contractor's company: the two salary routes, why drawings aren't income, what an overdrawn current account costs, and the three habits that keep it clean.

    ~7 min read

  • FBT for solo directors: the company vehicle trap

    Why fringe benefit tax triggers on availability rather than use, the four conditions behind the work-related vehicle exemption, and the cleanest way to stay out of FBT's way entirely.

    ~7 min read

Every contractor

  • The NZ tax calendar for contractors: 2026-2027

    Every date a New Zealand sole trader needs this tax year, on one page: provisional tax instalments, GST return due dates for each filing frequency, the income tax return, and terminal tax.

    ~6 min read

  • The 31 March year-end checklist

    The actions that only count before balance date (bad-debt write-offs, the $1,000 asset timing, logbook currency) and the close-out that makes the weeks after easy.

    ~6 min read

  • Bookkeeping systems for solo contractors

    The four questions your records must answer for seven years, and the honest trade-offs between a spreadsheet, general accounting software, and purpose-built contractor tools.

    ~6 min read

  • Choosing an accountant as a contractor

    When doing it yourself is genuinely fine, the moments professional help pays for itself, the deadline extensions a tax agent brings, and how to pick a practice that knows contractor work.

    ~6 min read

  • Missed an IRD due date? Here's what actually happens

    The defined costs of a late payment and a late return, the first-slip grace period, the two moves that limit everything, and how to make this the last one.

    ~5 min read

  • Student loan repayments when you're self-employed

    The 12%-over-threshold obligation without an employer to automate it: how the square-up works, the interim repayments that behave like a second provisional tax, and the set-aside slice it demands.

    ~6 min read

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