As we near the end of the financial year it might be time to think about pulling together your 2022 financial year information. Our admin team has been working extra hard to get your accounts scheduled and 2022 questionnaires ready to send off when the new financial year rolls around. In the meantime, here’s what info you should be looking to have at the ready.
Accounts Payable and Accounts receivables
We’ll need to know what payables and receivables are outstanding at 31 March 2022. So, it might be a good time to run your eyes over your Xero account and triple check you have accounted for all your receivables and payables correctly. You’ll also need to note down if any receivables need to be written off as bad debts. It could also be a good opportunity to chase customers for outstanding invoices, just to get the extra few cents in before year end!
Bank Info
We can’t do much without grabbing your end of year bank details. If you don’t have a Xero account, or your Xero bank feeds aren’t active, you’ll need to export an excel CSV statement for each business bank account (no need to hand over your personal stuff). If you have active bank feeds on your Xero account, we’ll just need bank statements showing the closing bank balance as at 31 March for all bank accounts showing on your Xero account. If your business holds petty cash, we’ll need a rundown on how much cash is on hand at 31 March.
Hire Purchase / Contingent Liabilities
Will you have any contingent liabilities outstanding at 31 March? A contingent liability is any liability that may occur depending on the outcome of a future event. So, what does this look like in reality? Contingent liabilities can come in the form of legal proceedings, warranties on products sold, or change of government policies that effect your industry for example. We’ll need any information that relates to the liability. We’ll also need any lease agreements relating to leasing property, plant and equipment during the financial year.
Donations
We’ll need proof of any donations made in the business name, or your personal name during the year. So, get hunting for those donation receipts!
Fixed Assets
Did you purchase any fixed assets during the year? A fixed asset is any item purchased over $1,000, with the intention to use in the business for longer than a year. Think office equipment, vehicles, computer equipment and machinery. We’ll need those pesky receipts, so don’t forget to ensure they’re either saved down to the transaction in Xero, or you have them ready to go in an easy access folder.
Loans and Finance Leases
Any new business loans drawdowns this year? You’ll need to provide any loan agreements relating to the new loan. Regardless of if you have an existing loan, or a new loan, we’ll need confirms from the bank stating how much interest and principal was paid off during the year and the closing balance of the loan on 31 March.
Claim a portion of your Home Office
Do you spend some long nights in the home office dealing with the admin side of your business? Good news – you can claim a portion of your home office costs! We’re going to ask for details on the size of your house, the size of your office and the total annual home office expenses (things like rates, rent, interest on your mortgage, electricity, gas, rubbish collection – the works.) We’ll provide you with an excel spreadsheet in your questionnaire where it calculations your available deduction!
Insurance invoices
Receipts, receipts, receipts! We’ll need your insurance invoices for the year. So, make sure you’re ready to hand them over. It might be worth getting in touch with your insurance provider and get them to flick through the full years’ worth of invoices.
Investments and Interest Income
Did you receive any dividends, PIE income, or interest income during the year? You’ll need to provide any documents relating to this income ie: dividend statements showing the total dividends received during the year, and any interest income statements from your bank. If you’re an eager investor, we’ll need your investment performance summary for the year – so might be best to get onto your investor profile about getting this prepared for you.
Private Use of goods and vehicles
Were any business goods, or fixed assets taken for private use during the year? One of the key examples is using the company car for private purposes ie: on weekends, or after work. We’ll need the number of days the vehicle was ‘available for private use’, it doesn’t matter whether it was actually used privately, the key is whether it was available. FBT will be charged on those days the vehicle was ready for some private time!
Employee Info
We’re going to need a run down of payments made to employees during the year. So, you’ll need to provide a report showing the total leave liability at year end, total wages paid to employees during the year, and details of any holiday pay or bonuses paid to staff (or planning to pay to staff) 63 days post balance date (so from 1 April 2022 to 2 June 2022).
Property Rental Info
All info is good info (most of the time)! We’re going to need to get all rental property information from you quick smart. This means ensuring we have all the details of the rental income received and all rental expenses paid for during the year. We’ll also need to grab a copy of any body corp invoices, or property management statements for the year.
There may be some cases where we come chasing you for further info on anything mentioned above, but best to be prepared for that case! Remember, there is always room to leave any further comments on the queries, so if you think you have any relevant information (that we haven’t asked for specifically), fire away and let us know what we missed.
Check out our video explaining how to answer your 2022 questionnaire:
