Everyone who earns money in New Zealand must pay income tax, including businesses, contractors and the self-employed. Taxable income can come from a variety of sources, including wages, salary, profit, interest payments and dividends. If you're:
- a sole trader files an individual income tax return (IR3)
- in a partnership, each partner needs to file their own return and your business needs to do a partnership income tax return (IR7)
- set up as a company, your business needs to file a companies income tax return (IR4).
Ask Inland Revenue if you're not sure how you're registered.
You’ll also need to include either a copy of your business’s financial records, or a form summarising your income and expenses (IR10).
You can file all your returns online, or download the forms you need from the Inland Revenue website (external link).