GST in Coffer

GST is 15% on most goods and services in New Zealand. If you're GST-registered, every invoice you raise adds 15% on top of your ex-GST price, and that 15% belongs to IRD, not to you. Coffer keeps that separation visible in real numbers from the moment you issue the invoice through to the moment you file the return.

When you need to register

You must register for GST once your turnover passes $60,000 in any rolling 12-month period. This is a rolling period rather than the financial year, so if you cross the threshold in June 2026, the 12 months being counted are the previous 12 months, not the period from 1 April.

Once registered, you stay registered until you deregister with IRD (usually because your turnover has dropped back below threshold for an extended period, or you've stopped trading). You can also register voluntarily before crossing $60,000, which makes sense if most of your work is for GST-registered clients who can claim back the GST you charge them.

The 15% mechanic, on an actual invoice

Say you do a $5,000 piece of work for a client. With GST registered:

• Ex-GST amount: $5,000.00 (this is what you earn for the work)
• GST (15%): $750.00 (this belongs to IRD)
• Invoice total: $5,750.00 (what the client pays)

When the invoice is created in Coffer, you enter the ex-GST amount and Coffer calculates the 15% and the total automatically. The PDF that goes to the client shows all three lines plus your GST number, which is what IRD requires for a valid tax invoice.

What happens when the client pays

Coffer doesn't move money. What changes when you mark an invoice paid is the dashboard math:

• Your ringfenced GST goes up by $750. That number is the running total of GST you owe IRD across every paid-but-not-yet-returned invoice.
• Your ringfenced income tax goes up by your income tax rate applied to the $5,000. Coffer works that rate out by walking the NZ brackets on your projected income, falling back to 33.7% until you've entered an expected income, so $1,685 here.
• Your available to spend goes up by $3,315 (the $5,750 you received, minus the two ringfences).

The same applies in reverse: if you delete a paid invoice or flip it back to pending, the ringfences shrink to match. The dashboard always reflects the current state of paid revenue, nothing more.

Filing a GST return

When a GST period ends, Coffer puts the return under Reports & returns and sends you a notification. Open the return to review the period's expenses and the GST101A figures. You can file it yourself or assign it to a connected accountant.

Coffer doesn't submit the return to IRD. Once every expense is resolved, use the worksheet while you submit through myIR. Then mark the return as filed in Coffer. That records the reviewed figures and locks the records covered by the filing.

If there's GST to pay, record the payment under Tax events. If IRD owes you a refund, mark it received from the filed return after the money arrives. The full process is in Reviewing and filing your GST return in Coffer.

Due dates and reminders

Your GST return is generally due on the 28th of the month following the end of the period. For two-monthly filers with an Aug-Sep period, that's 28 October. The Dashboard shows the next GST due date with a countdown so you can plan for it. Reports & returns shows the filing period, its due date, who is filing, and the current review or settlement status.

Coffer pre-fills the standard schedule based on the GST filing frequency you set in Settings (monthly, two-monthly, or six-monthly). If you have a special balance date or your accountant uses a non-standard cadence, you can fine-tune individual due dates from Settings.

Overseas clients and zero-rated work

Services exported to a non-resident client are typically zero-rated for GST: you charge them no GST, but you can still claim back any GST on your business expenses related to that work. Strictly, “zero-rated” is a GST rate of 0% (not the same as “exempt”), and the invoice still has to say so explicitly.

Coffer's invoice form doesn't have a dedicated zero-rated toggle today. The simplest workaround is to enter the invoice ex-GST as $0 GST and note in the description that the supply is zero-rated under section 11A of the GST Act. For more than the occasional zero-rated invoice, talk to your accountant about the cleanest record-keeping approach for your situation.