How do you close down a business?

Closing doesn’t mean that you do not have to pay any more taxes. Some of your taxes may be easily over looked during this time and here are the proper steps explaining how to get it right.

• Cancel your GST registration - IRD must get notified of the last date you will be filing your GST. This must be deregistered on the correct period or you might end up needing to file another GST return even though you are not in business anymore.

• Deregister as an employer – If the business was employing it is important to deregister as an employer and file the final return. Failure to deregister may give problems to your employees as IRD may think they have 2 employers. Failure to file and pay your final return may lead to criminal charges.

• Dispose assets – It is important that assets are adjusted and included in both the final GST return and final tax return. Failure to do this properly may lead to an IRD audit.

• File final tax return – at the end of the tax year all income and expenses must be disclosed until the date the business has closed. Many businesses fail to do this that is why they still receive unnecessary letters and overdue returns from the IRD

• Getting removed from company’s office - If you run the business as a company it is important that it get removed from the Companies Office Register. Approval will be needed from IRD and a business cessation from may be needed to be filled up.

Still confused on how to close down your business? Contact us and we will make sure it is done promptly and correctly.

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