Our Blog

LION FACTS – KEY DATES

At Greenlion our days are filled with determining facts and figures and a lot of that work falls around specific dates. To help you plan for your 2026/2027 year, we’ve noted important dates below. Remember to keep these key dates in mind when setting your business goals and budgets and planning your cash flows. START […]

OPENING THE FRONT DOOR

Do you recall buying your first property? For most of us, home ownership was accompanied by competing degrees of excitement and fear. We loved the freedom having a place of our own gave us. At the same time, we were well aware of the financial commitment we’d taken on in the form of monthly mortgage […]

THEREIN LIES THE QUESTION WATSON

Are certain pieces of equipment or machinery essential to your business operations?  Do you need to update these on a regular basis to remain in business and competitive?  If the answer to either or both of these questions is a resounding ‘yes’,   you should be asking yourself a third question … should you purchase the […]

PASSING THE BATTON

Many successful business owners reach a point in their lives where they ask themselves, what’s next?  Accompanying that burning question is what should I do with my business?  The answer may lie in selling the business.  To maximize the chances of a successful transfer to new hands, much work needs to be undertaken in advance […]

DE-RISKING YOUR BUSINESS

The only thing for certain in business is change.  Indeed, change is constant, often due or at least commenced, by evolving political, legislative, economic policies.  With change comes business risk. Given change is a certainty, planning for it makes sense because this reduces business risk.  To assist with this, we share below some tips we […]

A BOOST FOR BUSINESS

In a bid to drive economic productivity and growth, the National Government has introduced the investment boost initiative. At a micro level, this tax incentive provides businesses with additional funds in the form of tax savings, hopefully resulting in companies becoming more competitive. Under this new scheme, from 22 May 2025, businesses are able to claim 20% […]

GETTING OFF THE HAMSTER WHEEL

As a business owner, do you ever feel you are on a hamster wheel, constantly running, but failing to make progress?  Sometimes this is caused by working in your business as opposed to on your business. You might think this is semantics, but experience has shown that those that appreciate the difference are more likely to […]

ZERO COST TO EMPLOYERS - BENEFIT TO EMPLOYEES

Most employers would not be averse to helping their employees save on the tax they pay, especially if in doing so it was relatively cost neutral to their businesses. This is exactly what the recently introduced salary sacrifice public transport allowance permits. Giving Up Income To Get A Benefit Under this remit, employees voluntarily give up […]

PROVIDING FOR YOUR RETIREMENT

New Zealanders who read the news are acutely aware our population is growing older.  We’re living longer too and having fewer babies.  These facts mean New Zealand superannuation costs have increased and are likely to continue to do so.  This raises the question of whether superannuation payments will be available to those who retire in […]

BUYING MONEY THE SMART WAY

You’d be living under a rock if you didn’t know interest rates have been steadily declining.  This is due in part to the official cash rate (OCR) decreasing over the last 11 months.  Depending on what camp you sit in you'll either be pleased or disappointed with the lower rates.  Borrowers who've recently borrowed will […]

PROPERTY CAN BE TAXING

New Zealand is one of the few countries where a comprehensive capital gains tax system doesn't exist.  That said, there are a range of rules on our statute books that do tax land sales.  Probably, the most commonly known test is what’s referred to as the the ‘bright-line test’. This is interesting, because despite being widely […]

HOW LOW CAN WE GO?

OCR AND INTEREST RATES. If you’ve been living in New Zealand for the past couple of years, you’ll know we’ve been at war with the inflation beast.  This has affected the cost of doing business and the cost of living.  Ultimately, the effect of high inflation is businesses paying more for the inputs they need […]

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