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Youth worker Jana Nee says getting struggling young people to make films really helps them. She's been working on a programme with 10-17 year-olds to help them with issues through creating short films.
IRD Revenue Commissioner Naomi Fergusson said that, subject to legislation being passed, this would be the biggest change to individual tax in nearly 20 years. Ms Ferguson said it hasn't been mandatory for wage and salary earners to fill out an IRD personal tax summary, but if they had and it … View moreIRD Revenue Commissioner Naomi Fergusson said that, subject to legislation being passed, this would be the biggest change to individual tax in nearly 20 years. Ms Ferguson said it hasn't been mandatory for wage and salary earners to fill out an IRD personal tax summary, but if they had and it had indicated a refund, they could have filed a return and received that refund. "In the new system all wage and salary earners' tax will be calculated and refunds sent automatically. "About 110,000 more, who also haven't been filing, will have an amount to pay they'll be notified automatically." "Getting a refund, if you're entitled to one, will be a whole lot simpler because it will be done for you. "The only reason for contacting [IRD] now will be to tell us about any additional income information that we need to know." She said the department will look at the data it has about an individual, and if it's confident there is enough information, IRD will "calculate and finalise their tax position for the year and generate an automatic refund". "It will be very important that everyone has made sure the details we hold about them bank account number, contact details and so on are fully up to date so the new system works well for them.
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The scheme involved obtaining residential home loans for the property development group LV Park through deception and bribery payments to bank employees.The Serious Fraud Office said the scheme allowed the offenders to obtain finance at a "significantly lower rate" than would otherwise … View moreThe scheme involved obtaining residential home loans for the property development group LV Park through deception and bribery payments to bank employees.The Serious Fraud Office said the scheme allowed the offenders to obtain finance at a "significantly lower rate" than would otherwise have been available for commercial development. Suspended lawyer Gang (Richard) Chen and former bank employee Zongliang (Charly) Jiang were sentenced to imprisonment at the High Court in Auckland on Friday. Mr Chen acted as a solicitor in the sale and purchase agreements and facilitated bribery payments to a bank employee. He was sentenced to six years imprisonment with a minimum non-parole of three years. He was convicted on nine charges of obtaining by deception and one charge of corruptly giving consideration to an agent. Mr Jiang is a former BNZ bank employee who facilitated the loans in return for bribes. He was sentenced to four years and nine months imprisonment with a minimum non-parole period of two years and four months. He was sentenced on 25 charges of obtaining by deception and one charge of acceptance of gifts by agent. Another bank employee was involved in the scheme but left the country in 2015. Property developer Kang Xu was sentenced to 12 months home detention for her role in the scheme after being convicted on 22 charges of obtaining by deception. Her husband Kang (Thomas) Huang was the mastermind of the scheme and the head of companies that traded as LV Park. He is currently serving a four-and-a-half-year jail sentence for his offending after he pleaded guilty in December to eight charges of obtaining by deception, one charge of corruptly giving consideration to an agent and one charge of dishonest use of a document. Serious Fraud Office director Julie Read said the scheme "relied on a high level of calculation and collaboration"."Such fraud undermines lenders' confidence in borrowers in the mortgage market. The banks were misled in a number of respects including the financial position of the purported borrowers and the level of associated risk. The SFO is committed to investigating and prosecuting this kind of large-scale offending to maintain the integrity of the financial market place."
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A man is in hospital with gunshot wounds after an incident which saw streets in West Auckland shut d…
Disabled swimmers were kicked out of a West Wave rehab pool after baby's code brown last week. They weren't impressed.
* Click the link to read the story, and as we occasionally use Neighbourly comments in the news please tell us if you wouldn't want to see yours used.
A new liquor shop has popped up by a school and kindergarten, sparking anger from some residents. …
An Auckland family are stuck in their overcrowded and mouldy state house, a month after they wer…
Tornados, lightning, torrential rain, and hail the size of baseballs are all part of the thrill. It…
Some of them said it no longer made financial sense to rent out their homes online, but they were in a difficult position because they had secured months of advance bookings from tourists. Auckland Council's new targeted rate, also called a bed tax, is being applied to online accommodation … View moreSome of them said it no longer made financial sense to rent out their homes online, but they were in a difficult position because they had secured months of advance bookings from tourists. Auckland Council's new targeted rate, also called a bed tax, is being applied to online accommodation providers through rates bills which are turning up in letterboxes this week. Thousands of other homeowners across the city are bracing for rates increases while some have seen their annual rates bills dip. The council estimates that there are 8000 Auckland properties listed on Airbnb alone, and that the tax will apply to around 3800 of them. Phil McNally, from Oneroa on Waiheke Island, rents out a one-bedroom sleepout at his home on a small Waiheke-focused website. The rates bill on his $1.8m property has shot up from $4191 to $13,628. McNally said at that cost, renting out the self-contained unit was not viable. "Our bookings have already occurred for next Christmas. So it presents all sorts of problems. It's going to be a mongrel." The bed tax is based on the value of the property, its location, and the number of bed nights it was booked for in the last year. It applies to homes and self-contained units but not single rooms in a larger home or properties which are rented out fewer than 28 days a year. The council wrote to all homeowners who are using online accommodation websites and asked them to declare how many nights their properties were booked for in the last year. It also held a briefing with Airbnb owners in Auckland this week.
However, the message has not got through to everyone. McNally said he never received any correspondence from the council. In these situations, the council charges the full rate - which is equivalent to the charge for a motel at full occupancy 180 nights of the year. For McNally, that meant a business rate of $9605 and a bed tax of $3189. He plans to appeal, saying he only rented the sleepout on 142 days of the last year."My main problem is the communication from the council," he said. "We don't really know where we stand." Auckland Council manager of financial policy Andrew Duncan said anyone who felt their bill was not accurate could contact the council with further information and it would be amended.The rate was initially applied to hotels and motels. After the industry complained about an uneven playing field, it was extended to Airbnb, Bookabach and other websites."We have listened to their concerns and decided to make rates fairer," Duncan said. He said the council had been careful to develop a charging system that reflected the scale of each commercial operation. Not all ratepayers were stung by their bills this week. Overall, 57 per cent of Auckland households had a rates increase of less than 2.5 per cent and 43 per cent had an increase of more than 2.5 per cent. One in 10 households had rates rises above 10 per cent. Many of the largest increases were in the South Auckland suburbs of Manurewa, Otara, Papatoetoe, Mangere, Papakura and in West Auckland, where house price growth was highest during the last revaluation cycle. Ritz Lal, who bought an apartment in Manukau in 2015, said his rates had almost doubled.
His home had risen in value from $335,000 to $400,000 in that time, and as a result his rates jumped from $1417 to $2667. "Fortunately it is affordable for me but that's a crazy increase. Certainly not something I or others would have budgeted for."
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Owner Foodstuffs announced the ban on Friday, and it will also include Raeward Fresh, Gilmours, Trents, Henry's, and On The Spot convenience stores. Customers at any of these stores will no longer be offered a plastic bag at the checkout from January 1 2019, or from the end of February 2019 at… View moreOwner Foodstuffs announced the ban on Friday, and it will also include Raeward Fresh, Gilmours, Trents, Henry's, and On The Spot convenience stores. Customers at any of these stores will no longer be offered a plastic bag at the checkout from January 1 2019, or from the end of February 2019 at Liquorland. Foodstuffs managing director Steve Anderson said: "The plastic bag ban, our work to improve and remove plastic packaging where appropriate, our leadership in soft plastics recycling and the ban on microbeads and plastic cotton buds - all add up to major changes in the way we look after New Zealand." Mr Anderson said since the company began talking about plastic bag reduction it has seen between a 20 to 36 percent drop in plastic bag usage in its stores..Some of its stores have already gone plastic bag free including New World Devonport and Four Square in Raglan, Matakana and Martinborough. From August 29, New World in Howick and Marton and PAK'nSAVE Silverdale will go plastic bag free. Mr Anderson said customers at New World, Pak'nSave and Four Square will see more reusable bags. "By the end of March next year we will have given away a reusable bag to pretty much every New Zealander. We see our beautiful bags everywhere; on the beach, in the park, at the gym, in our stores and they've even been spotted at our competitors' stores. That's perfectly okay. The more we all change to reusables, the faster we stop plastic bags ending up in the environment." In Australia there has been widespread frustration known as 'bag rage' after a plastic bag ban was introduced, with customers frustrated that they had to pay to buy more environmentally friendly options. "We don't anticipate the same reaction in New Zealand. Perhaps it's because Kiwis are keener to look after what we have. "We're all neighbours, we're one big family - we look out for each other and our patch. New Zealand is ready to roll with no plastic bags at the checkout from 1 January, 2019. So are we." Countdown is phasing out single use plastic bags at all of its stores by the end of 2019. It will phase out single-use plastic bags at 42 more stores from August 13, making 52 or one third of its supermarkets plastic bag free.
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Hey neighbours, It's been a long hard winter and for many, power bills have been going through the roof. Have you been affected?
We're looking into ways we can all keep these costs down for a story on Homed and would love to hear from you if you have particularly large or small bills.… View moreHey neighbours, It's been a long hard winter and for many, power bills have been going through the roof. Have you been affected?
We're looking into ways we can all keep these costs down for a story on Homed and would love to hear from you if you have particularly large or small bills.
Do your power bills come in way higher than your friends and family? Do you know why, or does the amount always take you by surprise? Maybe, like the family who created an effective solar panel heater out of drink cans, or the blogger who enjoys free power generated by a converted washing machine, you've found a creative way to minimise your bills. If so, how do you do it?
Whether your bills are high and you're looking for ways to reduce them, or you have some secrets to low power bills that you're willing to share, we'd love to hear from you. Email homed@stuff.co.nz and one of our reporters will be in touch.
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Youth worker Jana Nee says she has found a great way to help struggling youth. Seventeen young peo…
A Unitec student might have found a solution to Auckland's housing crises amidst the slums of develo…
The latest figures from Statistics NZ show the oldest workers had the highest rate of work-related injury claims in 2017. Last year there were 190 claims per 1,000 full-time employees who were over the age of 75. In comparison, the overall rate for all ages was 101 claims per 1000 full-time … View moreThe latest figures from Statistics NZ show the oldest workers had the highest rate of work-related injury claims in 2017. Last year there were 190 claims per 1,000 full-time employees who were over the age of 75. In comparison, the overall rate for all ages was 101 claims per 1000 full-time employees. "Although working people aged 75 plus made up the smallest age group, with the lowest number of work-related claims, they were almost twice as likely to make a work-related injury claim as all workers," government injury information manager James Clarke said.
Almost a third of work-related claims in the older age group were in the agriculture, forestry, and fishing industry.
However, it is not just those in the older age group who are getting injured on the job. The second-highest rate of work-related claims was in the youngest age group, people aged 15-24 years old. In 2017, there were 133 claims per 1,000 full-time employees. The construction industry had the highest proportion of claims for this age group, making up 18 per cent of all their claims. A total of 231,100 work-related injury claims were made in 2017.
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