Kiwi small businesses thinking of hiring new staff now have access to a new tool to calculate the cost of a new employee, giving them more clarity when making these important decisions. A new Employee Cost Calculator launched today by Small Business Minister Craig Foss. Developed by  Business.govt.nz at the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE), business owners can now quickly estimate the fixed and discretionary costs of a new employee. Often when businesses are in growth mode, they're bringing on staff to drive demand and handle that growth. This can be dangerous when you don't have a good view of what your staff costs will look like a year on. And unfortunately I've worked with a few businesses who have got themselves into trouble by not anticipating exactly how expensive their staff costs might be. This tool will be immensely helpful to understand exactly how much it will cost and to grow with confidence. Owners can select from various categori

Limited services at Westpac Westpac will continue to accept cash or eftpos payments over the counter after 1 October 2014 but they'll no longer accept any cheque payments, returns or other documents. (These will need to be either filed online or posted to Inland Revenue.) Posted cheques must be received on time From 1 October 2014, cheque payments posted to Inland Revenue must arrive on or before the due date to avoid late payment penalties and interest. Direct Credit Refunds (in error) If the IRD direct credits a refund to you in error (you may have wanted the refund transferred to another tax type), provided you return the credit within 20 working days to the them, the IRD will backdate the refund to the original date with no penalties or interest being charged. The repayment  needs to be made to the same tax type as the original refund and you need to advise the IRD (phone or email) that you have returned the payment, so they can change the date in their system