Sterling Accountants Limited : Chartered Accountants, Christchurch, New Zealand

CHRISTCHURCH EARTHQUAKE INFORMATION


Our thoughts and concerns go out to our clients, colleagues and the entire Canterbury community during these difficult times.

Our office has re-opened and our temporary hours are Monday to Friday 9.00 am to 4.00 pm until further notice.

If you have been affected by this event we can help with:

• EQ claims and business insurance claims (our costs are often covered by your insurance)
• Cash-flow planning (for the next 6 months)
• Liaise with the IRD on your behalf
• Assist with emergency business and employee grants

Useful websites:

Recover Canterbury - www.recovercanterbury.co.nz
Provides practical advice and information for business recovery

Ministry of Social Development - www.msd.govt.nz
Earthquake and Employment Assistance Information

Inland Revenue Department - www.ird.govt.nz
Information for Individuals and Businesses

Christchurch Earthquake - www.canterburyearthquake.govt.nz
Earthquake support packages and information

ACC - www.acc.co.nz

Get Ready Get Thru - www.getthru.govt.nz
Information on how to get ready for a natural disaster

Temporary IRD Postal addresses are as follows:

Payments - IRD, PO Box 39050, Wellington Mail Centre, Lower Hutt 5045
Returns - IRD, PO Box 39090, Wellington Mail Centre, Lower Hutt 5045

Helping Christchurch businesses    

For the many Christchurch businesses who have lost their accounts and servers in the recent earthquake, Xero wish to help you start trading again. Xero are offering you the opportunity to recreate your financial accounts in Xero - free of charge.

To produce the most accurate set of numbers, just access your bank transactions between 1 April 2010 and 31 March 2011 or up until the present day. These can be imported into Xero and with our help we can quickly process data going back 12 months. We can then complete your end of year accounts to 31 March.

If you are already using Xero then please contact us and we can work through some options with you.

You can find out more about this offer at xero.com

Dealing with the Canterbury Earthquake

Businesses are able to claim a deduction for repairs to their business premises as an expense in their income tax and GST returns. If the work done is more than just repairing the building for example improvements, this amount is considered a capital nature and non deductible.

Insurance payments that reimburse or replace capital assets don't need to be included in your income tax return.

If your insurance payment is to replace revenue expenses for example, loss of profit insurance or business interruption insurance, you'll need to include this as income in your income tax return.

Any insurance payments you receive for irreparable damage caused to depreciable property are treated as if you've sold the property.

If you receive more than the book value, you'll need to include it as income in your income tax return the lesser of:

• the difference between the insurance payment and the book value, or
• the total amount of depreciation that you have claimed for that asset

If you receive a compensation payment for the loss of land (either in the form of monetary compensation or from a land swap) this will generally be capital in nature and will not be included in your income tax return (this is not applicable to businesses dealing in property, subdivisions or land developments).


We are here to help, contact us on 341 3014.