31 March 2023 marks the end of the 2022/23 financial year. There are some things you need to consider or do over the next few days. Below is a list of important reminders and steps you can take to optimise your tax position and tidy your accounts. NB: Not all items below will apply to your business.

Cash on Hand

Have a count up of your cash on hand at 31 March including:

• Petty cash
• Cash in the till
• Any other cash floats held
• Income received but not yet banked

Bad Debts

If you have any customers that you do not expect payment from, these should be written off before 31 March (or at least before you close off your accounts receivable (debtors) ledger for the month of March). Writing off bad debts allows you to claim a tax deduction and GST this year. A debt is considered bad if a reasonable and prudent business person would be of the view that the debt will not be paid.

Trading Stock on Hand

You will need to do a stock take as at 31 March unless your sales are less than $1.3m per year, you can use this year’s opening stock value as your closing stock value at 31 March for tax purposes as long as your stock can be reasonably estimated to be less than $10,000 (excluding GST) in value. If you don’t meet these thresholds, you should do a stock take.

Take time to tidy up your stock. Write off any stock that can’t be sold, is obsolete or damaged.

Your stock should be valued at cost (excluding GST). There are other methods available – please call me if you wish to discuss other options.

Work in Progress (WIP)

Important for those in the trades or services industries. Take time now to tidy your WIP. Invoice what you can in March. Write off any WIP you consider is unrecoverable/can’t be billed.

Calculate your WIP at 31 March. This includes any materials costs and labour costs incurred up to 31 March but not yet on-charged or invoiced to your customers. WIP should be valued at cost price (excluding GST).

Revenue Received in Advance

Have you received any payments from customers prior to 31 March for goods or services that you have not yet provided?

Record all revenue or deposits received in advance (including GST).

Fixed Assets

Now is a good time to review your fixed assets register – see your last set of financial statements from the previous income year. If you can’t find it, contact us and we’ll send you a copy.

In particular, note any changes including:

• Assets sold or otherwise disposed of (traded-in, scrapped, given away, etc) Assets that are now obsolete
• Assets that you know of that aren’t on the register
• Assets that were financed or paid for privately that have gone through the books Assets that have undergone significant refurbishment
• Assets that you have constructed yourself

NB: If the cost of disposing of an asset is greater than it’s disposable value, the asset may be written off, please advise us of these.

Business v Personal

Make a note of any of the items below:

• Business expenses that you paid for privately – i.e. not through the business bank accounts Non-business receipts that were banked in to the business bank account e.g. personal funds introduced
• Personal assets that you used in the business – e.g. private motor vehicles or appliances
• Business assets that were used privately – e.g. a business vehicle used for private purposes

Employee Wages

Have you considered encouraging employees to take leave within 63 days following your balance date?

Employers may obtain a deduction for employees monetary remuneration provided payment is made within 63 days of balance date. This includes accrued bonuses and holiday pay, long service leave and gratuities. Such payments should be made by 2 June for a 31 March balance date and advised to us when sending us your year-end records.