Open a new bank account first
Open a new bank account for your business, and get a credit card just for your business. This will make it very easy to account for your business transactions. Note: if you are registering a company, then you need to take your company registration document with you. Business call accounts are good for lower fees, higher interest.
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Save 20% for paying your tax
You must remember that one day you will need to pay your tax. Ensure you leave about 20% of everything you get paid by customers in your account, or in a high interest savings account. You will need that money to pay your tax later. You should not touch nor borrow that money without a very careful budget.
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Put your invoices and reciepts in a box
You must keep all tax invoices and receipts, especially those over $50. Keep them all in a box. At regular intervals, staple similar invoices together in date order. This will make it much easier to sort through later. Keep a new box for each GST period.
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Claim home office expenses
Office Space - If you have a room dedicated to your business then you can claim the floor area as a percentage of the house total area. eg a bedroom would be about 10% of your total floor area. So you can claim 10% of your electricity, insurance, rent (or interest on your mortgage + rates, but not the principle repayments).
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Claim car expenses and depreciation
Car expenses and gas. Keep a log book of all business trips so you know what percentage of your vehical usage is for business.
Car depreciation (only if you are a sole trader) based on the percentage of business use. You can also claim a GST component of your car's value at the start of your business, then pay back the depreciated GST value when your business ends.
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Claim other expenses off your tax
50% of your telephone expenses if you use your home line.
100% of your internet expenses assuming you do not use it for personal use.
100% of your mobile phone expenses assuming you have a prepay phone for your personal use.
Stationery
Coffee, tea, milk, sugar used for business meetings
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Claiming Assets
Your digital camera is probably a business tool in most online businesses. You can claim the market value of your secondhand furniture in your office. There are many other Assets that you can transfer using "book value" entries in your GL
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