You might be on holiday, but tax isn’t
Inland Revenue (IRD) is not one for acknowledging the holiday season.
Now that drought has been declared by the Primary Industries Minister Nathan Guy, Inland Revenue says it will exercise discretion towards affected farmers.
The drought has been declared a medium-scale event on the east coast of the South Island from North Otago to Marlborough inclusive.
A spokesman for Inland Revenue told Rural News IRD will look at the financial situations of farmers to see how best to help them through this tough time.
Relief options include income equalisation deposits, for which discretion is allowed to make it even more useful, and assistance with the payment of tax when there is hardship.
The income equalisation scheme allows farmers to better manage peaks and troughs in their income by allowing money to be put aside from a better year and withdrawn against a not-so-good year. This preserves cash that can be applied for drought recovery and helps average tax rates for the year.
Oamaru-based livestock handling specialist Te Pari has bought Combi Clamp, the New Zealand manufacturer of Combi Clamp manual sheep handlers.
Agriculture Minister Todd McClay has admitted that a scheme bringing workers from Pacific nations to work on orchards has become too hard to navigate but says changes are coming.
A new app designed in New Zealand aims to help sheep, beef and deer farmers capture, analyse and use body condition score data more effectively.
Canterbury farmer Andy Macfarlane has been appointed to the board of AgriZeroNZ, the public-private partnership designed to accelerate the development and deployment of emissions reduction tools for New Zealand farmers.
For over 50 years Mel Ewers has been supporting the apple sector navigate through compliance and quality assurance issues.
The apple sector is enjoying a bumper harvest season.

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