A Guide to Exporting from QuickBooks to an IR10 for NZ Businesses

Tax time can be stressful. For New Zealand business owners, getting the IR10 form right is critical, as it's the summary of your financial performance that you submit to Inland Revenue. Using QuickBooks year-round is a great advantage because you've already done most of the heavy lifting. The main challenge is transferring that data from your software to the tax form correctly.

QuickBooks doesn’t have a magic “Export to IR10” button. Instead, this guide will focus on which reports to run and how the numbers from those reports align with the boxes on the IR10 form.

What the IR10 Asks For

Before you open QuickBooks, it’s helpful to understand what the IR10 form requires. Think of it as a high-level summary of your Profit and Loss statement, where Inland Revenue wants a clear view of your income and expenses.

Typically, the IR10 will request:

• Gross income from sales or services
• Cost of goods sold (if you sell products), broken down into opening stock, purchases, and closing stock
• Gross profit
• A list of expenses in specific categories (e.g., rent, wages, vehicle expenses, repairs and maintenance, depreciation)
• Final net profit or loss

The goal is to generate a report from QuickBooks that provides these exact figures, making the process of filling out the form as simple as possible.

Pre-Export Checklist: Is Your QuickBooks File Ready?

The report you export will only be as accurate as the data you've entered. Taking a little time to clean up your file before pulling reports will save you a lot of stress.

1. Chart of Accounts: This is your financial filing system. Your expense accounts in QuickBooks should match the categories on the IR10 as closely as possible. For example, if the IR10 asks for "Repairs and Maintenance," having an account with that exact name will prevent confusion.
2. Reconcile Everything: Ensure all bank accounts, credit cards, and loans have been fully reconciled for your financial year (typically ending 31 March). Reconciliation confirms you've captured every transaction, so you can be confident your reports are complete.
3. Check for Personal Spending: It happens—a personal coffee on the business debit card or a non-business subscription. Scan your expenses and move any personal spending to an owner's drawings or funds introduced account.
4. GST Considerations: The numbers you enter on the IR10 must be GST-exclusive. If your business is registered for GST, make sure your QuickBooks reports are set to exclude GST. QuickBooks handles this well, but you must remember to select the correct option.

Key Reports: The Route from QuickBooks to IR10

Once your file is tidy, it's time to get your data. The single most important report you'll need is the Profit and Loss statement (also known as an Income Statement).

How to Generate the Profit and Loss Report

1. Navigate to the Reports tab from the left-side menu in QuickBooks.
2. Find and select the Profit and Loss report.
3. Set the date range to cover your entire financial year. For most New Zealand businesses, this is from 1 April to 31 March.
4. Customize the report. Choose between the 'Cash' or 'Accrual' accounting method based on how you file your taxes. If you are GST-registered, ensure you select the option to show figures as GST Exclusive.
5. Run the report. You can export it as a PDF or an Excel spreadsheet. We recommend Excel because it's more flexible if you need to add numbers together.

Connecting the Dots: Matching Your Report to the Tax Form

With your exported Profit and Loss report open, you can begin filling out the IR10. It’s essentially a matching game.

• Your QuickBooks Total Income or Total Sales figure should generally match the IR10's Gross income from sales or services box.
• The Cost of Goods Sold section in your QuickBooks report contains the numbers for the IR10's Cost of Sales calculation. You will need to enter opening stock, purchases, and closing stock into separate boxes on the IR10. QuickBooks tracks this data if you use its inventory features.
• The totals from your various expense accounts on the Profit and Loss report are transferred to the corresponding boxes on the IR10. For example, the total from your 'Rent' account in QuickBooks goes into the 'Rent' box on the IR10.

Sometimes you may need to combine a few lines. For instance, if your QuickBooks report has separate lines for 'Internet' and 'Phone,' but the IR10 has a single box for 'Telecommunications expenses,' you simply add those two numbers together and enter the total in the IR10 box.

Final Advice

Following these steps will make completing your IR10 significantly less stressful. Keeping your data organized in QuickBooks throughout the year transforms tax time from a frantic search through shoeboxes of receipts into a straightforward data entry task.

However, remember this guide is for informational purposes only and does not replace professional financial advice. Accountants and registered tax agents do more than just data entry; they can assist with complex areas like depreciation calculations, Fringe Benefit Tax (FBT), adjustments for shareholder salaries, and ensuring you meet all your obligations. If you feel uncertain, having a professional review your numbers before filing is a smart move.