family assistance rates?

[soundbeltfarm]

does anyone here have any knowledge about this?
me and my wife farm and have a few other things on the go we are in a trust and the trust earns more than the criteria but we dont give our selves a wage as such we just take benefits so we dont have to pay acc and so much paye.
we have 2 children and want i want to know is we pay a shitload in taxes and can we claim any family assistance (eg. will they look at the trusts income or will they look at what my wife and i take as income?
i dont know how better to explain how we take our monies as we dont take a wage as such just dividends and benefits.
just thought i'd ask on here to see what people who know about this might think on it .
will ring our accountant to see about this next week.
cheers

[Biff]

http://www.workingforfamilies.govt.nz/

The threshold is $75K joint income I think. Not that I qualify, not being a resident etc. But I took a look last night for a friend.

[Oscar]

So let me get this straight.
You've (or more likely your Accountant) have come up with a scheme for bludging off the rest of us poor saps, but you'd like us to help with the details?

Sounds reasonable.

[John]

So let me get this straight.
You've (or more likely your Accountant) have come up with a scheme for bludging off the rest of us poor saps, but you'd like us to help with the details?

Sounds reasonable.
Pathetic, Your becoming a right bitter one you are.

[soundbeltfarm]

So let me get this straight.
You've (or more likely your Accountant) have come up with a scheme for bludging off the rest of us poor saps, but you'd like us to help with the details?

Sounds reasonable.

do you lack confidence mate calling yourself a poor sap
actually the government make it that the harder you work the more they take out of your dollar.
if you think me or my accountant have come up with a scheme tou need to get in the real world.
everyone i know thats in a trust does exactly the same thing so its no scheme.
all it does is keeps my assests ( well the trusts assests its own)
when i use the money in the trust i pay tax on that.
and it helps for when i die my assests and equity get passed onto my sons with out paying death duty on it. but the government are going to change this rule.
there is no way you can get around paying tax , for you or me.
all im saying is if my wife was in town and she has a baby she can take maternity leave ( paid) but please correct me if im wrong...
on the farm the government dont see it like she working. she is still at home
if i can get assistance from the government for this i will. its not taking money off you poor saps.
as for bludging you tell me your tax rate then i'll tell you mine and compare.
then see if its fair.
i respect your opinion but if i can get money from our government i will.
everyone should.
im sorry if this dosnt make sense.

[toads]

does anyone here have any knowledge about this?
me and my wife farm and have a few other things on the go we are in a trust and the trust earns more than the criteria but we dont give our selves a wage as such we just take benefits so we dont have to pay acc and so much paye.
we have 2 children and want i want to know is we pay a shitload in taxes and can we claim any family assistance (eg. will they look at the trusts income or will they look at what my wife and i take as income?
i dont know how better to explain how we take our monies as we dont take a wage as such just dividends and benefits.
just thought i'd ask on here to see what people who know about this might think on it .
will ring our accountant to see about this next week.
cheers
a friend of mine with 3 dependant kids doesn't apparently qualify for family assistance because her and her partner are part owners of the farm which is in a family trust, therefore even though they draw a low wage from the farm, the long term benefits are in fact adding to their assest base if you get my drift, based on the amount of money spent per on the farm itself. I also think that whether you are gst registered or not has something ot do with it, but the best advice would be to talk to your accountant. cheers L

[Slipstream]

if you ever ring IRD (or Income Support) for any information...ALWAYS ring a second time, just to make sure that the information given is the same. :niceone:
I've been burnt a few times before I got a clue. :(

[jrandom]

NZ's tax structure for single-income families is all screwed up.

I pay vast gobs of income tax every year, my wife doesn't work, and we have two kids. In many countries, I'd get a significant break on tax because of that. Here in NZ, if my wife and I were both working and each earned half of what I do now, we'd have much more money in our pockets. So we'd be financially better off. But she doesn't work, so we're buggered.

We *should* get a tax break, and quite frankly, if there was a way of screwing some money out of the Gummint to approximate one, I'd do it. And I wouldn't feel bad about it, either.

[Motu]

We've been on a single income for 25 yrs - once every Kiwi family was the same,now single income families are a minority and they just have to tough it out for their ideals.I'm a little envious of those flash bikes yous others have,but I've been sorting through the discards of the wealthy for so long I've got to enjoy it....I know my place in this world...at the bottom.

[riffer]

NZ's tax structure for single-income families is all screwed up.

I pay vast gobs of income tax every year, my wife doesn't work, and we have two kids. In many countries, I'd get a significant break on tax because of that. Here in NZ, if my wife and I were both working and each earned half of what I do now, we'd have much more money in our pockets. So we'd be financially better off. But she doesn't work, so we're buggered.

We *should* get a tax break, and quite frankly, if there was a way of screwing some money out of the Gummint to approximate one, I'd do it. And I wouldn't feel bad about it, either.


Mate - welcome to life as a SITCOM. (Single Income, Two Children, Oppressive Mortgage).

Just be bloody grateful you don't also have to pay child suport on the two that don't live with you.

[Oscar]

Pathetic, Your becoming a right bitter one you are.


Bitter? I paid tax last year equivalent to three unemployment benefits. Why should I be bitter?

[Oscar]

do you lack confidence mate calling yourself a poor sap
actually the government make it that the harder you work the more they take out of your dollar.
if you think me or my accountant have come up with a scheme tou need to get in the real world.
everyone i know thats in a trust does exactly the same thing so its no scheme.
all it does is keeps my assests ( well the trusts assests its own)
when i use the money in the trust i pay tax on that.
and it helps for when i die my assests and equity get passed onto my sons with out paying death duty on it. but the government are going to change this rule.
there is no way you can get around paying tax , for you or me.
all im saying is if my wife was in town and she has a baby she can take maternity leave ( paid) but please correct me if im wrong...
on the farm the government dont see it like she working. she is still at home
if i can get assistance from the government for this i will. its not taking money off you poor saps.
as for bludging you tell me your tax rate then i'll tell you mine and compare.
then see if its fair.
i respect your opinion but if i can get money from our government i will.
everyone should.
im sorry if this dosnt make sense.

My tax is rate is the maximum one.
I didn't say you were bludging, although you do seem to be pretty defensive about something. My beef (excuse the pun) is with the farming sector as a whole, they always seem to be bleating (another pun) about something or another which involves preserving their nice life style. In a nutshell, farmers seem to think they have a god given right to reduce their tax, pay bugger all toward ACC, yet have a fully equipped hospital five minutes away down a sealed road where-ever they happen to live. They also crap on about being the backbone of this country's economy, but are a buncha NIMBY's when it comes to power lines...

And since you appear to have missed my original point - if your accountant is so smart, why are you asking for tax advise on a motorcycle board?

[ManDownUnder]

Mate - welcome to life as a SITCOM. (Single Income, Two Children, Oppressive Mortgage).

Just be bloody grateful you don't also have to pay child suport on the two that don't live with you.

Go to your boss, ask him to take your wife on the payroll. Go half each in your pay.

Pay her some rediculous hourly rate so she oly needs to do 2 minutes work per week and get the same take home pay you do, and your rate drops through the floor...

You get the same amount, split between two of you, just as frequently and the Tax Dept gets a little less...

ok - there has to be a glaring problem with that approach... anyone care to point it out (coz I'm wondering If I should do it too now that I mentioned it...)
?!?
MDU

[Motu]

That's what we do - but try and get a loan when you only earn $15,000 a year,a two edged sword.

We had an accountant once who reckoned his main job was to make us pay less tax,so basicaly he made us run at a loss on paper..a good look for tax purposes,but not for much else.

[avgas]

So let me get this straight, they give a family, that all ready gets $75,000 a year a benefit. Yet i only get $4/week because i have a father, which i have not lived with (or got any money) for 6 years, who earns over 45K?
Im all for the family benefit (if got a nephew who would qualifiy - and i think my sister would struggle without it), but some people ask me why i hate NZ - its because NZ has given me nothing.
Its only designed for the takers here, i mean if you take away the nice people, the nice country side etc etc........you end up with a cross between cuba, New York....and hell

[jrandom]

You get the same amount, split between two of you, just as frequently and the Tax Dept gets a little less...

ok - there has to be a glaring problem with that approach... anyone care to point it out

The glaring problem is that fact that if your wife isn't actually working for the boss, with the 'salary' representing a sane market rate for the job, it's tax evasion and fraud. *Criminal* offenses.

And it will get picked up as soon as the IRD audits the boss's company.

And then everyone will be walking funny for *years* afterwards.

[jrandom]

So let me get this straight, they give a family, that all ready gets $75,000 a year a benefit.

No, you're not getting it straight.

They are giving that family a tax cut. It just happens to be in the form of the family paying standard income tax amounts, and the Gummint giving a portion back. The family is still a net contributor to the country's tax income, not a burden on it.

And it works that way because it's a FAMILY. And they need the money, and this country needs the working middle class to be breeding, not getting vasectomies because they can't afford kids, which would mean that the next generation would be comprised entirely of career beneficiaries and immigrants. You want *that*?

$75,000 a year before tax sounds like a lot, but it's not. Not in every situation. Trust me. If it was a lot, I wouldn't be riding around on a 12-year-old motorcycle and having to scrimp cash to afford a new brake lever so that it could get a WOF.

[soundbeltfarm]

My tax is rate is the maximum one.
I didn't say you were bludging, although you do seem to be pretty defensive about something. My beef (excuse the pun) is with the farming sector as a whole, they always seem to be bleating (another pun) about something or another which involves preserving their nice life style. In a nutshell, farmers seem to think they have a god given right to reduce their tax, pay bugger all toward ACC, yet have a fully equipped hospital five minutes away down a sealed road where-ever they happen to live. They also crap on about being the backbone of this country's economy, but are a buncha NIMBY's when it comes to power lines...

And since you appear to have missed my original point - if your accountant is so smart, why are you asking for tax advise on a motorcycle board?

everyone has a right to reduce their tax and i dont feel bad about trying to lower it at all.
we try to pay bugger all ACC because when you get injured ACC are to dumb to see how the farming system works.
the cows still get milked ( they have to)
so income is still coming in.
even though you are not doing it.
thats why i went to a trust (well part of it)\
my wife got injured and ACC wouldnt pay 10% what she is worth because i done all the workload so ACC said she wasnt worth what we were wanting.
i know you can get cover plus extra but its cheaper to go private.
you also go on about our lifestyle.
would you be o.k with me walking all over your property with you being able to do anything about it.
and if i got injured you are liable?
i doubt it.
but if you agree thats cool i'll come onto your property get injured then you will pay for my rehab therefore i dont need ACC.
also with the powerline issue thats cool to
they devalue property.
so is it o.k if i come put a maxi powerpole and line with huge current running through your backyard?
o.k the poles arnt going to be put in our yard , but the point im making is
the valuation of land will decrase in both scenarios.

[750Y]

http://www.workingforfamilies.govt.nz

my understanding is that any income derived from any source is factored into your 'income' calculation. this means that trust income is not included in a family's income unless the benefits paid out to the household are above the threshold for the particular benefit in question. call the ird to clarify this.

also, there are benefits which are avaliable to taxpayers such as 'accommodation allowance' which provided Your earnings are under a certain level people can qualify for it.

ring them to find out.

[ManDownUnder]

http://www.workingforfamilies.govt.nz

my understanding is that any income derived from any source is factored into your 'income' calculation. this means that trust income is not included in a family's income unless the benefits paid out to the household are above the threshold for the particular benefit in question. call the ird to clarify this.

also, there are benefits which are avaliable to taxpayers such as 'accommodation allowance' which provided Your earnings are under a certain level people can qualify for it.

ring them to find out.

Trusts - lots (and LOTS) of rules.... benefits derived from, earnings of, sham trusts etc etc etc. I'm expecting the tax commissioner to start hauling them in and examining them REAL close soon... and declare a lot of them shams... then strip the otherwise protected assets from them (i.e. those that couldn't previously be accessed because of their protected status...)

Good luck with them, and make sure you get good advice.

I did!
MDU