Audit Shield

On 31 July 2022 all the current policies come up for renewal.  As usual, you will be invited to participate in this for the year.  Audit Shield is available to all clients and with the magnitude of tax changes over the last few years, changes within the IRD system itself and increased questioning from IRD and audit activity, we do strongly recommend it. 

Audit Shield covers all professional fees incurred, ranging from a simple phone call enquiry from the IRD right through to a full tax audit and covers all tax return types filed within New Zealand.  An invoice for professional fees could range from $100 - $10,000 depending on the complexity of the questions asked and the information required to respond to the IRD.  We have historically been able to absorb these costs where minimal time is incurred, however, with the increased activity and a significant amount of our time now being spent to address the IRD questions we may need to charge for these responses in the future - this is where Audit Shield will come in handy! 

As in previous years, the majority of Audit Shield claims were made up of GST Verification, Income Tax return disclosures and Client Risk Reviews.  GST and Income Tax are the main interactions with the tax system since most business owners are both registered for GST and file Income Tax returns.

There continues to be direct notification or request of information by the IRD to you, the taxpayer.  Our recommendation is that any query from the IRD is directed back to us at all times. That way we can communicate the correct response, potentially saving you time and money in the long run.  This would be covered by Audit Shield (if accepted) when the initial contact occurs.