Matt: working for himself

Matt has just left school. He's currently employed as a house painter but dreams of owning his own business. Matt wants to get organised so that he can quickly get his business up and running.

Matt sees an advertisement for the What's Tax? website in an issue of Tearaway. He wonders if this website will help him find out what to do when he's self-employed, so one day when it's too wet to paint he logs on and finds the Working for yourself  section.

Matt sees an overview of what his responsibilities would be if he was self-employed. He then links online to see how to file his Individual income tax return (IR3) and gets more information on starting his own business from the main Inland Revenue site.

Matt checks what tax credits he may be entitled to and determines he will be entitled to the independent earner tax credit (IETC) which will lower the amount of tax he would have to pay for the year.

Matt finds out from the What's Tax? KiwiSaver page that if he does start his own business and wants to join he'll need to contact a scheme provider directly. Matt links through to the KiwiSaver website to find out more information about KiwiSaver.  He also checks out Sorted - a website that provides free independent advice about money matters including KiwiSaver.