Welcome to our September Newsletter!

This year is flying by so fast! With lots of exciting things going on behind the scenes at The Accounts Department, I’m looking forward to seeing how the rest of the year unfolds. This month, we have for you logbooks demystified, organisation through project management software, maintaining energy levels and my beautiful Granddaughter turned one!

Before I sign off, some important IRD dates

• 28 September – GST returns and payments due
• 15 January – Provisional tax instalments, student loan interim payments, GST and employers’ returns and payments due

Coming up next month… an update on my tiny house developments.

Until then, enjoy!

Michelle xx

 

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Calculating the business portion of vehicle running costs

 

• If you use your own vehicle in the business, you can claim the running costs for income tax.
• If you use the vehicle strictly for business, you can claim the full running costs, without making any adjustments.
• If you use the vehicle to travel from home to work, or any personal travel, you will need to separate the running costs of your vehicle between business and private use. (Travel between home and work is not classed as business use.)

Using a logbook

To work out the business % of running costs, you must keep a logbook for at least three months every three years. You will need to record the distance, date and reason for the trip in the logbook. You can use the difference between the odometer readings at the start and end of the three months to work out the percentage of vehicle expenses you can claim.  Here is an IRD approved example:

 

 

Total distance travelled in three months: 2,610 km
Distance travelled for business 360 km
360 divided by 2,610 x 100 = 13.8%
Ross can claim 13.8% of his vehicle expenses as a business expense.

• You can use the result of your three months’ recording to claim the business share of your vehicle expenses over the next three years, provided your business use of the vehicle does not change by more than 20%.
• You should still keep records of the total vehicle running costs and record the total distance travelled for the income tax year.
• If you do not keep a vehicle logbook you may claim up to 25% of the vehicle running costs as a business expense. However, you could be asked to substantiate the percentage claimed.
• Alternatively, you may use Inland Revenue mileage rates to make a claim on your vehicle.

Standard mileage rate for motor vehicles

The mileage rate for motor vehicles is 73 cents per kilometre for both petrol and diesel fuel vehicles.

From the 2016-17 income year, different rates apply for hybrid and electric vehicles:

• Hybrid – 73 cents per kilometre.
• Electric – 81 cents per kilometre.

 

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Tech tip of the month: How To Organise Your Entire Life With Trello

Trello’s boards, lists, and cards enable you to organize and prioritize your projects in a fun, flexible and rewarding way.

Trello is an awesome project management tool that makes collaboration easy and even fun. But this visual list tool can do so much more, whether you’re organising work projects, family chores, travel plans or just about anything else. Here are some ways to put Trello to use for managing your entire life.

A Trello board is basically a web page containing lists laid out horizontally on the page so you can get a bird’s eye view of your project. Items within the lists, called cards, can be dragged and dropped onto other lists or reordered within lists.

Individual cards themselves can contain checklists, images, attachments, deadline dates, coloured labels, and discussion notes from others who share the board. You can have as many boards as you want — one for “House Stuff”, for example, one for “World Domination” and so on. It gets better, Trello is largely free and comes with an app, so you can sync it across all of your devices.

For more ideas on how to use Trello, click here.

 

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A TAD Funny

 

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Keeping your energy levels high while you work.
When our mobile phone runs out of battery, we know it’s time to plug it in, to recharge, but when we run out of energy ourselves, what’s the solution?

Feeling stressed or tired isn’t uncommon. Yet while most of us understand the importance of recharging our batteries, few of us actually do anything about it.

Just like balancing the books, managing your energy is about making sure your energy expenditure is balanced with energy renewal.

Want to feel more energy throughout your workday? Here are seven strategies to get you started on your own personal energy project.
1. Audit your habits – look for the things that sap your energy. Do you skip breakfast and rush to work? Small changes can reap big rewards.

2. Schedule rest – Rest is typically undervalued and even demonised, If you want to feel more energetic, give rest breaks a higher priority, and don’t feel guilty about it. Take regular breaks during your work day and plan that relaxing holiday.

3. Sleep well – Good-quality sleep gives you the energy to take on a new day. On the flipside, a  bad night’s sleep can flatten your productivity.

If you’re not sleeping well through the night or waking up feeling tired, try skipping the afternoon coffee, avoiding alcohol at night, and getting to bed at the same time each night – early enough to get eight hours of sleep.

If your mind won’t shut down, try writing down your thoughts earlier in the evening. You can clear your head for sleep and come back to your list in the morning.

4. Don’t worry – One of the major sources of wasted mental, emotional and physical energy is through the stress associated with worrying over future things that haven’t happened and ruminating over past events that have already come and gone.

Mindfulness meditation and cognitive behaviour therapy are both effective ways to learn to worry less.

5. Get mindful – Mindfulness training is one solution that big businesses such as Google are implementing to decrease employees’ stress and improve their performance and wellbeing. Mindfulness can be as simple as paying attention – “being aware, engaged and on task,6. Breathe deep –

Grabbing a natural energy boost can be as easy as breathing deeply into your belly. Lie down, or sit comfortably, with your hands on your belly. Breathe in and out deeply and let the belly move up and down with the breath. Practice for at least two to 10 minutes daily. Slot it into your workday between projects, when you need an energy boost or to calm yourself.

7. Prioritise self-care – Caring for others is honourable, but caring too much can send you into compassion fatigue, says Schwartz. “This comes from expending too much energy on behalf of others and too little on behalf of oneself, so you end up getting burnout and breakdown,” he says.

Becoming more aware of the energy drains in your life, and how best to replenish your energy, can make you better at looking after others and, ultimately, lead to a more productive you.

Yoga and mindfulness are also some excellent activities to help tune your mind and body to be the best version of yourself.
To read the full article, click here.

 

 

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