There is a new option for managing provisional tax the Accounting Income Method (AIM) starting in April 2018. Businesses with an annual turnover under $5 million will have the option to calculate and pay their provisional tax at the same time as their GST. The calculation will be based on information in the GST return with adjustments made for income and expenses that do not have GST, such as wages.

Consider using AIM to work out and pay your provisional tax if:

• Your income is seasonal
• Your income fluctuates from month to month
• Smaller, regular payments suit you better

Software providers will be making additions to their software over the next few months to allow users to calculate their provisional tax using the AIM method. You can’t change to this method part way through a financial year, you need to select this method before your first GST return of the year.

If AIM doesn’t suit your business, you will still be able to carry on using one of the existing three options for provisional tax. If you think AIM would work for you, call me or your usual advisor to discuss further before April.