Solving “Payday Pressure” for a High-Growth NZ Retailer
Multi-location boutique retail (New Zealand)
The business was scaling fast but payroll and GST were slowing everything down. The owner was consistently missing the IRD payday filing window, which led to ongoing follow-ups from Inland Revenue and constant admin stress.
The Challenge
What the client was facing
While launching a third store, the client was held back by three operational bottlenecks:
- KiwiSaver + ESCT complexity: Multiple KiwiSaver contribution rates across staff, plus ESCT calculations tied to income bands easy to get wrong without a clean system.
- GST liability blind spots: Bookkeeping was only done monthly, so GST wasn’t visible until it was almost due creating cashflow pressure.
- Holiday pay confusion: Irregular shifts made annual leave and holiday pay calculations inconsistent, triggering repeated staff questions and internal disputes.
Our Solution
How we solved it
We implemented a structured, cloud-based workflow designed for NZ compliance:
- Faster Payroll + Payday Filing Discipline
Moved the client to an NZ-optimised payroll workflow and ensured every pay run was filed within 24 hours, comfortably inside the IRD filing window. - Real-Time GST Visibility (Daily Reconciliations)
Introduced daily bank reconciliations and transaction coding, giving the owner an always-updated view of expected GST so tax funds could be set aside gradually instead of scrambling late. - Leave + KiwiSaver Audit & Clean-Up
Reviewed leave settings and holiday pay handling to improve accuracy and reduce employee queries. Streamlined KiwiSaver contribution handling and ensured employer contributions and ESCT stayed aligned with wages.
Results
Results & metrics achieved
- IRD compliance: Achieved consistent on-time filing, removing late stress and follow-up letters.
- Financial visibility: The owner gained a live view of store-level margins across all locations, improving inventory decisions.
- 31 March readiness: Books became “tax ready” early in April, enabling earlier tax planning and smoother year-end preparation.
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