Income tax Dates
What to do if your hobby income grows quickly, or if you are working towards setting up as a business and intend to make a profit.
Starting in business
Sometimes you might start out with a hobby, then it grows in scale to become a business.
You may be spending more time on it, selling or providing more goods or services to other people, or making more money from your sales.
When you’re in business, you’ll need to start keeping records, filing income tax returns, paying tax, and meeting other tax responsibilities.
We can help you
We offer seminars at venues all around New Zealand. You can get an introduction to business or find out more about GST or becoming an employer.
We can come to your workplace in person to help you with your record keeping and all aspects of tax.
We also recommend you:
- check out the business.govt.nz website
- get advice from an accountant, lawyer, tax agent or business advisor.
Requesting a business advisory or social policy visit
Main tax obligations
There are some important tax responsibilities you will need to consider.
- Record keeping – you need to keep 7 years of tax records.
- GST - if your turnover gets to $60,000 a year or more.
- Registering for myIR – so you can file your returns and keep up to date.
- Employing staff – you’ll need to deduct tax from your employees’ pay.
Work out if you are an employer
When it might not be clear
Sometimes your specific circumstances mean we need to treat you as a contractor, or look at how your business is operating over time to make sure you are paying the right tax.
Income from contracting
You may earn an income from the activity you treat as a hobby if someone else pays you regularly. For example, if you’re an entertainer.
The person paying you will deduct tax from your payments, or you might choose to pay your own tax.
Payments made this way are called schedular payments, and this type of income is generally called contracting.
About schedular payments for contractors
If you’re not sure
If you’re not sure if your hobby is a business, talk to an accountant or other tax professional, or contact us.
Tamati works as a payroll officer for a law firm.
In high school, he had a talent for woodwork, and enjoyed taking his creations home to show his parents.
2 years ago, Tamati picked up woodworking again over the weekend to help him relax after his busy week in the office.
He began by making toys which he gave to his nieces and nephews as Christmas and birthday presents. Making money from his work never crossed his mind.
At that stage, Tamati’s activity was a hobby. It was in his spare time and he had no intention of making a profit.
1 year ago, Celine, the manager of a local toy store, approached Tamati asking if he would consider supplying toys to her store. She felt the toys would be popular.
Tamati agreed to produce a sample of toys to get an idea of demand. Celine agreed to pay him a percentage of the profits.
All the toys sold in the first week and Celine had such great feedback that she asked Tamati to supply toys on a regular basis. The 2 of them signed an agreement confirming their profit-sharing arrangements.
More customers bought Tamati’s toys. Production increased and Tamati moved to a 3-day week at the law firm.
He set up an account at a building supply firm and created a spreadsheet to schedule his jobs and keep up with orders.
He renegotiated his profit-sharing arrangement with Celine to ensure he covered his costs and made a profit.
By then, Tamati was selling 20 toys a week.
Tamati’s activity has moved from a hobby to a business. He intends to make a profit, he’s operating in an organised way, and the scale of his operations has increased significantly.
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