[kanatakiwi]

My OH (Kiwi) worked for a law firm for part of last tax year, then worked on contract for several months. We assumed tax was taken off but it wasnt so now we will have to sort this out and pay.
My question: does he qualify for an self employed expenses?
He never registered as self employed, can he do that now in retrospect?
what about paying GST.?
sorry for the questions, (its tax time!!) but I thought it would be a simple matter to do his taxes until we got his statement of earnings and discovered he didnt pay tax on his contracting work.

advice appreciated!
Gloria

[eternalkiwi]

You can work as a self employed contractor/sole trader without any prior registration, you simply keep records of your work, income, expenses etc and file a tax return (IR3) after the 31 March.

If you are running a business, as a general rule you can claim any expenses incurred in pursuing revenue/profit generating opportunities. So any expenses incurred in earning revenue while self employed (travel, car, parking, phone, stationery, insurance, depreciation etc) can offset any income earned to reduce the tax owing at year end.

If self employed income was less than $40,000 during the last 12 months you do not need to register for GST. Therefore you do not charge GST on income or claim GST paid on expenses.

Hope this helps answer some of your questions.

Shawn

[kanatakiwi]

thanks Shawn