Hiring new employees? Questions about annual leave?
Drive Accounting works with many businesses across a range of industries and fields and interestingly two of the most common topics that have come up recently are:
Hiring new employees and their wage/salary deductions - this has been very relevant as some businesses ramp up for a busy summer season.
Employee annual leave - as other businesses start to wind down for the holidays, annual leave at this time of year is critical to your employees' wellness and the health of your business.
Below we've shared some helpful information on both topics and links to where you can find out more details. Of course we encourage you to call us with any questions as these are important topics that all businesses want to get right!
IRD deductions from wages and salaries
While it is common knowledge that when paying an employee you'll need to make deductions, it is important to understand that these deductions can vary depending on your employee's situation:
- PAYE
- child support
- student loan repayments
- KiwiSaver employee contributions
- KiwiSaver employer net contributions
- employer superannuation contribution tax (ESCT).
We've included the IRD link below to explore more detail if this is something that you would like information on.
https://www.ird.govt.nz/employing-staff/deductions-from-income/deductions-from-salary-and-wages
And of course, the team at Drive is always here to help and make things easy - talk to us if you have any questions or need advice.
Holidays and annual leave
This is another common topic, especially with the upcoming holidays, that we like to cover off with our clients. We encourage all our clients to make sure their employees are taking time away from work - to have downtime and relax with friends and family, to be able to focus on their personal needs, and to simply take a break. This time away from work is both beneficial to your employees' personal wellness and to the health of your business. Below is a list of 'musts' all businesses need to do when it comes to annual leave:
Give employees at least four weeks of paid annual holidays (not including public holidays or sick leave), either in full each year on the anniversary of their start date, or building up throughout the year
Let them take at least two weeks at once if they want to
Consider any request to pay out up to one week of their annual holiday entitlement, unless you have a policy stating you won’t cash up any annual leave
Keep records of all leave to avoid disputes
Give employees at least 14 days’ notice before an annual closedown
Give employees at least 14 days' notice if you are requiring them to take annual holidays.
For more information, we've included a helpful link below:
https://www.employment.govt.nz/leave-and-holidays/
We realise that with each business there are different scenarios that can impact annual leave across your group of employees which can be confusing at times, please get in touch with any questions - we are here to help.