New payment options from April 1, 2020
Wellington, February 18, 2020
Inland Revenue Department (IRD) has announced a number of changes in the way in which employment information should be filed by companies.
The changes, becoming effective on April 1, 2020, will affect myIR filing procedures.
Changes in your accounts
Employer accounts will be combined into a single Employer Activities (Payroll) account which will include all deductions made.
This will make it easier for companies and assessees to track transactions and payments.
Transactions, such as employment returns filed and payments, will show up sooner.
New payment options
There will be new payment options when filing in myIR, including the option to pay at the same time the assessee chooses to file.
The due dates for payments have not changed.
Notifications such as requests to change employee tax codes, start or stop employee deductions or for errors that need to be fixed will now be grouped and sent weekly as needed.
They will also be grouped by each employee.
Employee details
The ‘New Employee Details’ (IR346) and the ‘KiwiSaver Enrolment’ (KS1) will be combined into one ‘Employee Details’ form, both in myIR and on paper.
Companies and assessees will only need to provide a KiwiSaver status for new employees.
It will no longer be collected for existing employees.
A notification from IRD said, “You will be required to supply an employee’s first and last name when completing new employee details as well as the name they will be known by in your payroll if it is different. You will be asked to provide more information from employees such as hours paid, if you have it. This will assist with managing entitlements such as Working for Families tax credits. Reporting this information will be voluntary and only when you file through payroll software or myIR.
We will notify you in advance of when an employee’s student loan is almost repaid – telling you the final deduction amount and their new tax code.”
Using file transfer
When filing using ‘File Transfer,’ you will be able to either upload a single CSV file or a zip file of multiple CSV files for that employer account.
Each of these files will be checked field by field and IRD will provide feedback about any errors which were identified within the file.
New fields
New fields will be added to the Employment Information (EI) return including (a) employee share income (ESS) (b) extra compulsory deductions for student loans (SLCIR) (c) and extra voluntary deductions for student loans (SLBOR) (d) If it applies you will need to complete these fields instead of using a separate tax code on an additional line on the EI.
Source: Inland Revenue Department
