You might be on holiday, but tax isn’t
Inland Revenue (IRD) is not one for acknowledging the holiday season.
Now that drought has been declared by the Primary Industries Minister Nathan Guy, Inland Revenue says it will exercise discretion towards affected farmers.
The drought has been declared a medium-scale event on the east coast of the South Island from North Otago to Marlborough inclusive.
A spokesman for Inland Revenue told Rural News IRD will look at the financial situations of farmers to see how best to help them through this tough time.
Relief options include income equalisation deposits, for which discretion is allowed to make it even more useful, and assistance with the payment of tax when there is hardship.
The income equalisation scheme allows farmers to better manage peaks and troughs in their income by allowing money to be put aside from a better year and withdrawn against a not-so-good year. This preserves cash that can be applied for drought recovery and helps average tax rates for the year.
As fuel and fertiliser prices rise and with uncertainty in the future, farmers are being urged to go over their budgets with a fine-tooth comb.
Federated Farmers says reforms of local government announced last week will be music to farmers' ears.
Hinehou Timutimu, the 2026 Fonterra Dairy Woman of the Year, says she feels privileged to have won the award.
Irish meat processor Dawn Meats has acquired Alexander Eyckeler GmbH, a long-standing German customer and partner of Alliance Group, for an undisclosed sum.
ACT's new immigration policy has come under fire from farmers and the Government.
A hypothesis in a major dairy research programme that bulls genetically proven to be low methane producers could pass this trait onto their lactating daughters has been proven to be incorrect.

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