Payroll Giving

One of the minor law changes made last year, is to enable payroll giving. This allows you to make a donation to charity through your employer (if they choose to participate) and you automatically get the tax rebate.

In other words if you donate $6 a week to a charity through payroll giving, then your net pay only drops by $4 a week, as the $2 a week rebate is automatically claimed back for you.

This scheme goes operative on Thursday 7 January 2010, for those who file electronically with the IRD. I’m certainly going to offer it to my employees, as it involves miniscule admin work for employers – it is all done automatically.

Also an an employee, I’d find it great. I always find it a hassle keeping all my donation receipts and then having to file for a rebate/refund from IRD. To have it happen automatically will be a real time saver.

There is a short IRD guidebook on it, plus an employee FAQ and employer FAQ.