Q: I don't understand my Financial Statements!
A: Have you read our guide here?

Q: 1. I take it the ($10,000) on page 7 or the ($9,999.56) on page 15 is in fact a loss? It is in brackets and says "surplus before taxation"?
A: Yes, that's correct.

Q: How do these figures work out to become tax refunds?
A: The loss is offset against your income. Let's say you earned $100,000 salary. You paid $23,920 PAYE tax.  We now take the $10,000 and deduct that from your income, making it $90,000.  Tax on $90,000 is $20,620.  The difference of $3,000 is your tax refund.

Q:  On page 8, I notice that there are Retained Earnings showing for 31/3/13 of $14,884 and then nothing for 31/3/14?
A: Yes, that's correct.  The earnings weren't "retained" as at 31/3/14. They became "retained" the day after.

Q:On page 9, it says Shareholder Loan Accounts: $2,444 and $1,629. Are these the amounts that we have contributed to the company, then divided up between us?
A: Yes, that's correct. They are determined according to your actual contributions.  

Q: On page 4 there is a Directors Report: do we have to print this out and sign it?
A: Yes please.

Q:The Annual General Meeting report (last page): do we have go out to a restaurant and action this? When do we have to have this done by?
A: No, you don't have to go out to a restaurant but it's a good idea. Keep the receipts and don't forget your parking and baby-sitter receipts.  Yes, you must action it, i.e., print, sign and return it.  When?  This will depend on what month you have to file with the NZ Companies Office. You can check their register here to see when your filing month is.

Q. Notes on page 11 under Income Tax Expense. Payable by us? Isn't this the amount IRD pay us?

A: These comments don't directly relate to whether you will have tax to pay or not. Rather, they are a standard comment in financial statements which explains how Income Tax is accounted for in the statements. Financial statements may or may not show how much income tax you have to pay. Generally, the ones we produce for rental property investment show the loss/profit from the business. We take this figure and include it in your tax return/s, and the tax to pay/refund is shown on those returns.

These questions are actual questions asked by customers. We'll be adding more examples to this page as they occur.

Other FAQs you might have:
RENTAL PROPERTY: WHAT RECORDS DO YOU NEED TO KEEP?
USING ACCOUNTANCYONLINE.CO.NZ/MY TAX QUESTIONNAIRE
HOW DO I DOWNLOAD TRANSACTIONS FROM MY BANK'S ONLINE INTERNET BANKING?
WHAT IS XERO.COM?
WHAT'S THE PROCESS FOR MY TAX RETURNS?
COMMON QUESTIONS ABOUT YOUR TAX RETURNS
UNDERSTANDING FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

It's a good question.  Here's the expert opinion of John Brown, LL.B, Dip Fin Pl:

Purpose 
Business insurance can be arranged so that business loans can be reduced or repaid not only on the death, or total disablement of the business owner, but also on the owner experiencing a critical illness or trauma, like a heart attack, stroke, cancer etc.

Often business loans are personally guaranteed by the business owner or owners and secured against personal assets including the business owners’ homes. Business insurance can ensure that such loans can be reduced or repaid on the death or disablement of that business owner. This can facilitate the release of personal guarantees and protect personal assets for the disabled business owner or the deceased’s family at what could be a very vulnerable time.

Taxation 
 There is some uncertainty whether premiums on term insurance, the purpose of which is to repay business loans, would be tax deductible. This uncertainty is due to the Inland Revenue Department stating its interpretation of this area of tax law in a Tax Information Bulletin and subsequently in an Exposure Draft - For Comment and Discussion Only, floating the possibility of a retreat from the earlier, stated position.

In Tax Information Bulletin, February 1995 pp19-20 the Revenue Department advised that, “business mortgage repayment insurance” premiums were tax deductible (under what is now section DB 5 of the Income Tax Act 2004*) and that the claim proceeds were tax free provided that they were not in the nature of loss of profits. The Bulletin also noted that the insurance did not need to be a requirement of the borrowings. 

Subsequent to this Tax Information Bulletin, the Revenue Department in 1997 published two papers, Exposure Draft – For Comment and Discussion Only, IS 9701 and PU 9702. These Exposure Drafts referred to court decisions in Australia and Canada. From these decisions the Drafts concluded that where the insurance policy provides additional valuable benefits independent of the loan such as continuing life insurance, annual bonuses, a surrender value or other valuable benefits there should be no deduction for the premium. The Exposure Drafts also concluded that as whole of life and term insurance policies do not relate solely to the loan, premiums paid for these policies should not be deductible, (under what is now section DB 5). 

While it is clear from the court decisions quoted in the Exposure Drafts that there would not be a deduction for whole of life or endowment type insurance, the court decisions quoted do not necessarily support the view, that there should be no deduction for term insurance. In addition there were Canadian tax cases where a deduction for term insurance premiums was allowed but these were not mentioned in the Exposure Drafts. To date the uncertainty created by the Revenue Department has not been finally resolved.

Is it possible to claim a deduction for a premium on term insurance (which does not provide other ‘valuable benefits’), under another section of the Income Tax Act 2004? A possible alternative to section DB 5 may be to claim the premium under section DA (1)(1)(b)(i) which covers general deductions and “expenditure…incurred…in the course of carrying on a business”.  Formerly, under the Income Tax Act 1994, section BD 2 required the expenditure to be “necessarily incurred”. While this is not explicitly stated in the Income Tax Act 2004, it is probably still inferred. Such a requirement could be more clearly established where the lender required the loan to be covered by insurance.   

Because of the uncertainty and the different ways in which a possible deduction could be approached, each taxpayer should therefore seek professional advice about the tax treatment of premiums on life insurance which has been effected in connection with the borrowing of money used in a business."  

* Under section DJ 11 of the Income Tax Act 1994, a taxpayer was allowed a deduction in respect of expenditure incurred, “in the borrowing of money employed by the taxpayer as capital in the derivation of gross income”. In the rewrite of the Income Tax Act 2004 the expression ‘a taxpayer’ is replaced with the expression ‘a person’. Section 29 of the Interpretation Act 1999 defines ‘person’ to include: ‘a body corporate’ and ‘an unincorporated body’. Under section OB of the Income Tax Act 2004 a company is defined to mean a body corporate. 

Please see this article for some explanations of jargon