Cooking the Books podcast: The tax realities of making a side hustle work

There are better options than endless tax spreadsheets and filing cabinets. Photo / Getty Images

Each week the NZ Herald and Newstalk ZB's Cooking the Books podcast tackles a different money problem. Today, it's how to stay ahead of the tax man if you're side hustling, or self-employed. Hosted by Frances Cook.

One good way to grow your wealth can be to start your own business.

Whether you're starting out with a side hustle, or jumping straight into it by launching a full-time business, it's a move that pays off for a lot of people.

That's because if it works, you're not limited to your salary – your wealth grows as the business does, and you could even sell the whole thing one day.

But all of that will backfire if you make an enemy of the taxman.

Even when the IRD is trying to be helpful, it can be hard to figure out what to do, when, and how to file it.

Not to mention, can you get any money back from them?

For the latest Cooking the Books I talked to Hnry co-founder James Fuller. We discussed what your tax obligations actually are, common traps, and the changes the tax system has gone through recently.

For the interview, watch the video podcast above, or play the audio here.

If you have a question about this podcast, or question you'd like answered in the next one, come and talk to me about it. I'm on Facebook here, Instagram here and Twitter here.

You can subscribe to this podcast on iHeartRadio, Apple podcasts app, or Spotify, to make sure you never miss an episode.