Payroll Services / HR Managment

The human resources landscape changed significantly on 1 April 2016 in that:


  • Labour inspectors have increased tools at their disposal. Specifically they are now able to:
  • access information held by Inland Revenue and Immigration NZ
  • issue infringement notices of $1000 per breach (up to $20,000 in total) for less serious breaches they identify without needing to go through the ERA or Employment Court.
  • The Employment Courts ability to fine companies has increased from a limit of $20,000 to $100,000.
  • Employers can be publically named if they are found to have breached minimum employment standards.


Key risk factors:


  1. You need to have signed employment contracts for all employees.
  2. Employment agreements need to be compliant with legislation.
  3. You may not be keeping all required wage records including annual leave records.
  4. Just because you are paying PAYE does not mean that you would pass a wage records audit.
  5. There have been cases where employees who were paid as casual labourers for many years have now successfully claimed that they should have been paid as permanent employees and have been awarded significant financial compensation for not being paid public holidays and annual leave. Where the nature of the employment is unclear, the employer can end up effectively paying annual leave and 8% of wages.
  6. If you are not deducting withholding tax from certain contractors Inland Revenue could demand that you pay the withholding tax if the contractor is not filing tax returns. This could easily happen where the contractor no longer resides in New Zealand.
  7. If you are employing temporary migrants it is critical that you are aware of and follow all the associated legislation. As labour inspectors now have access to Immigration NZ records it is likely that employers of migrant workers will be targeted.




How TFS can help you:


Full Payroll Bureau Service (plans start at $25 per payrun and depends on number of employees)


  • You provide us with authorised timesheets and leave taken each pay period. We tell you what to pay staff and file your PAYE returns for you
  • We can pay staff from your funds if required
  • TFS effectively becomes you human resources department in that we will hold all your employment records and work with you to ensure that you are meeting all of your employment law obligations. This should put you in a better position if you have to deal with a labour inspector
  • All your wage records stored in one place and backed up daily to a secure location
  • Available as a cloud based service if required


Human Resources Consulting: (hourly rate or quote per job)


  • Even if we have no involvement in your payroll we can perform a human resources / payroll health check which will allow you to sort out any issues before a labour inspector identifies these issues
  • We can assist you with employment agreements and staff productivity assessments
  • We can assist you in meeting your legislative requirements as an employer
  • Review of ACC arrangements


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