3 ways Sharesight's professional plan simplifies NZ tax returns

With the 2016/17 IRD deadline at the end of March for individuals who file through a registered agent, you’re likely scrambling to get your clients’ portfolio admin in order. And once last year’s taxes are filed, it will be time to start planning ahead for next year’s 2017/18 IRD deadline.

Here are 3 ways you can get a head-start on preparing your clients’ tax returns with Sharesight's professional plan, before they even make an appointment to see you!

1. Share access with your client

If you haven’t already done so, a great precursor to sitting down with your client to file their return is to give them access to their Sharesight portfolio. You can provision ‘guest’ access with either ‘read’, ‘read + write’, or full admin capabilities.

By providing your client with access to their own portfolio, they become more engaged with their investments and can look over the details to ensure nothing is missing. For example, your client may occasionally trade with a second (or third) broker, and these trades may not automatically be imported to Sharesight. Having your client double-check their trades and dividends, even as a one-off before the end of the financial year, could save you both the time and effort of having to follow-up on figures that don’t match up at the last minute!

2. Leverage professional-grade tax reports

Sharesight produces professional reports used by hundreds of accounting firms, financial planners, and advisors suitable to meet the ongoing performance and tax reporting requirements of their clients.

The two most accessed reports, come NZ tax time, are the Taxable Income Report and the Foreign Income Fund Report, with the latter allowing calculation using either the Fair Dividend Rate Method or Comparative Value Method to suit your client’s needs.

Another report designed with Sharesight Pro Partners in New Zealand in mind is the Traders Tax Report which calculates taxable gains for clients who hold shares on revenue account. The Traders Tax Report allows clients to carry-over losses from the previous period and optimise the sale allocation method.

For a ‘portfolio snapshot’ or ‘valuation’, you can refer to the Performance Report – or to view the portfolio at ‘cost’, refer to our Historical Cost Report. You can choose from a number of default date ranges, such as ‘last financial year’, or nominate your own required start and end dates. Sharesight allows you to export all data from these reports into either Excel, PDF or Google Drive.

If you’re not using Sharesight’s award-winning Xero integration, you can export the data to import into your preferred accounting program. And you can even provide your client with a PDF report that is personalised with your company branding.

3. Look ahead

With Sharesight handling the bulk of the historical work, and the Future Income Report predicting upcoming dividends and interest payments, you can focus on your client’s future income and tax implications, thus planning ahead for your client instead of chasing down Trade Confirmation Emails and dividend statements.

If you’re not already using Sharesight Pro, sign up for a free 30-day trial today.

FURTHER READING

• Blog –- Why do accountants love Sharesight?
• Blog –- Why do financial advisers use Sharesight?
• Blog -– Sharesight + Xero for financial advisers