[suebeenz]

Just curious if any board members have been audited by the IRD, and if so, do you have an idea as to what triggered it?

The reason I thought to ask is because I was reading up on IRS (US) audits, and read that one way to dramatically increase your chances of being audited is to claim a home-office deduction.

Thanks :yes

[KildareKiwi]

Hi Sue

I'm a NZ Accountant returning to NZ from Ireland later this year.

From my time in practice in NZ (a bit of a distant memory I must admit), most IRD audits were generally triggered from a GST perspective as opposed to from a general income tax point of view. General exceptions to this rule would relate primarily to large income tax refunds, which might raise an eyebrow from the IRD.

Concerning use of home office adjustments, these are a completely legitimate tax deduction, provided of course that you operate an office from home. Basically you need to keep all of your associated bills - power, rates etc. You then need to establish the proportion of your home (based on size) which is used as an office (in relation to the total buildings size) & multiply this percentage by your bills.

Hope this is of help.