Business

Photo: RNZ / Rebekah Parsons-King Inland Revenue is proposing simplification of the way GST is applied to managed funds, which will result in a drop in tax take of $22 million a year. It issued an exposure draft on Friday, outlining how it believes GST should be applied to managed funds' fees. At the moment, management of retirement schemes is exempt from GST, but fund managers have different approaches to the way they apply GST to non-KiwiSaver funds. Some charge GST on 10 percent of fees, because they calculated that the split of their work between GST-exempt arranging of financial services and financial advice, which incurs GST, was about that level. But some managers have shifted to applying GST to 100 percent of fees - this allows them to claim GST on 100 percent of their costs, too...

Immigration NZ is investigating Nandita's previous employer over claims of exploitation. (File image) Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone An Ashburton family, whose son is still recovering after being attacked at school, say they are also dealing with having been exploited as migrants to New Zealand. They are only staying on in the country to seek justice for their family, they say. Earlier this month, a Year 9 Ashburton College student was left with a fractured eye socket, neck injury and concussion after being allegedly assaulted in class by another student. The boy's mother, who has asked to just be known as Nandita, said the family was under huge stress because they had been working under the Accredited Employment Work Scheme, but left their jobs two months ago because she claims they wer...

RNZ's money correspondent Susan Edmunds. Photo: RNZ Do you have a burning money question you want answered? Email susan.edmunds@rnz.co.nz Could my 30-year-old daughter, a solo mum of three, possibly qualify for a home loan? Her income is $800 a week and she works four days. I would give her $25,000 for a deposit. She has no KiwiSaver. I took your numbers to mortgage broker Glen Mcleod to have a look at what might be possible. In general, what matters when it comes to buying a house is having enough of a deposit to qualify for a loan, and enough income to service it. Your daughter may be able to access a First Home Loan that would lend 95 percent of the purchase price of her home. In that sense, a $25,000 deposit could allow her to buy a house worth $500,000. But the key question here i...

The Hangar has had to increase its coffee prices by 30c a cup. (File image) Photo: LUIS ROBAYO The hospitality crunch is worse than it has ever been, cafe owners say, as job cuts and the cost of living bite. Kris Bartley, the owner of Sweet Release cafe in Wellington, said she had the worst day of sales in her 10 years in business this week. "People just don't have money. People who do are saving their money in case they lose their jobs, which is totally fair." Read more: Her customers were usually working professionals and students, but public sector job cuts had hit hard, and some customers had also expressed concerns about safety in Manners Street where the cafe was situated, she said. Fewer people than ever were coming into the store and it was harder than during Covid. "During Cov...

The Country Cobbler in the Dunedin suburb of Mornington is set to close unless Greg Fox can find a buyer for the shop (file picture). Photo: 123RF A Dunedin cobbler is counting down the days to when he hangs up his tools one last time. Greg Fox has been repairing shoes, bags, belts and even motorcycle leathers at Country Cobbler in Dunedin's Mornington for the past 25 years. He has been looking for a buyer for his business and also hoping the owners of the mountain of unclaimed shoes make it back to collect them in time before his door closes. "The plan is if I can't sell it I'll just pack up and take everything home with me, and that's the sort of finish really of the Country Cobbler." Fox said he was closing the business because he was 67 and wanted to retire to spend more time with h...

Photo: Alexa Cook/RNZ Winstone Pulp International, which employs 230 workers across two large North Island mills, is looking at closing its entire NZ operation due to high wholesale power prices Local mayors are lobbying the government to crack down on "price gouging". Ministers have been meeting with several manufacturers this week. Forestry manufacturers say there has been progress in talks with government ministers over the energy price crunch that threatens hundreds of jobs in the sector. The energy sector argues it has been investing heavily - but some experts dispute that. Several forestry product mills met with ministers this week urging the government to help bring wholesale energy costs under control otherwise hundreds of jobs will be lost. Hawke's Bay forestry manufacturin...

Woolworths and New World offer "member pricing" to people who are part of their loyalty programmes. Photo: 123RF There is a risk non-loyalty club members are paying a higher price for groceries than they should, Consumer NZ says - although this is denied by supermarkets. Both major supermarket operators now offer "member pricing" to people who are part of their loyalty programmes. Woolworths has member pricing as part of its Everyday Rewards, and New World has the Clubcard scheme. People who are not members or who do not present their cards do not receive the advertised discounts, which can sometimes mean paying significantly more. Consumer NZ spokesperson Gemma Rasmussen said her organisation was dubious about loyalty programmes. "I think there's definitely a psychology to it where peo...

How can businesses be feeling so positive? Commentators say it may be because things just can't get worse. Source link

Photo: 123rf Consumer confidence rises for the second straight month. Pessimists continue to outweigh optimists - overall sentiment remains subdued. Households feel it's still a bad time to buy a major household item. Further interest rate cuts could change the mood quickly. Consumer confidence has risen for the second straight month as households feel more upbeat about future conditions, but overall sentiment remains subdued. The ANZ Roy Morgan survey showed sentiment up 4 points to 92.2 in August, following last month's 5 point rise - although it remained well below its 10-year average of 109. A reading below 100 indicated pessimists outweighed the optimists. Households continued to feel more subdued about current conditions, but they were more optimistic when looking further ahead. ...

Photo: RNZ/Marika Khabazi TVNZ has posted a large full-year loss as advertising revenue fell and it wrote down the value of assets while signalling more cost cutting. The state owned broadcaster reported a loss of $85 million against a $1.7m profit the year before, driven by a $62m write down in asset values, which were not specified, and a $39m drop in revenue. The pre-tax loss before one-offs was $28.5m at the lower end of its forecasts in the middle of the year. Chief executive Jodi O'Donnell said TVNZ had made progress on its transformation with gains in streaming audiences and digital revenue. "Despite this, and our careful management of costs, our financial performance reflects a constrained economy, market disruption and a difficult advertising market." "It has been an extremely c...