Nil Filings and GST Registration

This year, IRD sent out letters to people who were registered for GST but filed nil returns for over 4 years advising them that they would be deregistered for GST. The reason for this, according to IRD, is that you must be carrying out taxable activity which is defined as “continuous or regular activity undertaken by any person that supplies or intends to supply goods or services for money or other reward.”

Cancelling GST registration has implications for retained assets, if there are any, and may require the GST claimed upon purchase of assets to be repaid. Rural Accountants will be monitoring nil-filings and, if they continue for multiple years, we will schedule time with you to review your options. It’s important to review the situation in advance of IRD taking action, as it will allow ample time for your assets and obligations to be managed.

IRD will not cancel your registration without warning: if you didn’t receive notice, don’t panic! But if you do have an entity that is consistently filing nil GST returns, feel free to reach out to us today to discuss the future of your GST registration status.

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What Our Customers Think

Great local Accountants. They provide an excellent service with great explanations for the layman. They provide accounting services for non rural clients too.

Quinn Wilson, Restaurant Owner, The Wagon
What Our Customers Think


Rural Accountants is a real asset to our business.

The team at Rural Accountants pretty much manage all our administrative tasks for the group including payroll and tax planning, ensuring we don’t pay any more than necessary. They are at the forefront of technology and have helped us get up and running with Xero and Figured which is much more efficient than the way we used to work.

Sam Jones, Managing Director, Sybton Farm Ltd Partnership
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Christine is very knowledgeable, great to deal with and knows our business well. She is also a sheep & beef farmer so knows the industry really well and understands our needs.

Rural Accountants keeps us on track through strategic and forward planning meetings throughout the year. Christine knows our business inside out so she can deal with our questions instantly.

Mathew & Gemma Barham, Hawke’s Bay Farmer of the Year 2012
What Our Customers Think

What Our Customers Think

I used to work out my GST and process it manually which would take me at least a full day every two months. The team set up reconcilliation rules and other quick tools, and showed me how to do all my reconcilliations and process my GST returns through Xero which now takes me no time at all!

Mike O'Neill, Financial Services Northland Ltd
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As a farmer, Christine understands our business and how farmers and growers operate.

We use Rural Accountants to provide a full accounting service to an orcharding partnership which operates a number of orchards with a wide spread of varieties and management systems. Rural Accountants are always timely and accurate, and their annual financial accounts are extremely easy to understand and very grower-friendly.

Paul Jones, Orchardist