What business expenses are tax deductible?

Jun 28, 2023

A tax-deductible expense can be deducted from a business’s gross income to reduce its taxable profit.

What expenses can a business deduct from their income?

New Zealand businesses can claim several different expenses as deductions. Some examples of these are:

• Business related vehicle expenses
• Depreciation on any business assets
• Employee wages, salaries and superannuation costs
• Insurance and legal expenses
• Interest on any business loans
• Office expenses such as stationery, and telephone costs
• Rent or lease payments on business premises.
• Repairs and maintenance of business assets and many more.

Expenses claimed must be directly related to the business and not of a private nature. You need to be able to prove that the expense was incurred in the production of generating income or running the business.

How can a business claim these tax-deductible expenses?

Businesses can claim these tax-deductible expenses by including them in their annual income tax return. To do this, you need to keep an accurate and detailed record of all the expenses incurred throughout the year that relate to your business operations.

How can I keep a record of these business expenses?

Using accounting software, like Xero, is very helpful to capture these expenses.

This is something we can help you with too!