Why Inland Revenue's myIR online service makes so much sense
You could say the ongoing digitisation of people's lives is a fait accompli. Everything is digital, from family photos, to doing your shopping, and even money. Digitisation has taken over almost every corner of modern life - and with very good reason. It makes things faster, easier and simpler.
Now, thanks to the myIR service from Inland Revenue, filing GST online is also easier and simpler. It may even surprise you to learn that filing GST through myIR has been around for a while now - since August 2012.
Why? Well, it makes sense on so many levels. The vast majority of people these days have ready access to the internet. And people increasingly expect services that used to be paper to be provided online. It's the way of the future.
250,000 businesses can't be wrong
The statistics speak for themselves. As of February 2015 more than 250,000 businesses have used the myIR service to file over 2 million GST returns online. In its first year alone over 140,000 businesses filed around 440,000 returns - 20% of all GST returns filed. And it's growing. In the year to date (June 2014 - Feb 2015) nearly 40% of all returns were filed through myIR, saving a few trees in the process.
Save time
And it's easy to see why. There are many ways myIR can save you valuable time. The calculations, for instance, are done for you, so there's less room for error, and no more crossing out! You can also delegate someone else to do your returns on your behalf - which is great for businesses that use their book keeper, accountant or employees - to look after their GST.
Another great time saver is the fact that it stores all your electronic GST returns in one simple place. And now that Inland Revenue has started making all their statements and notices available electronically as eDocuments you can then access these files quickly, should you ever need to view, download or print them for your own records. Easy.
Stay alert to GST
Customer feedback has also been very positive around the service. Many types of organisations and individuals use myIR, from sole traders to large businesses. People say it's easy to use, and they love the way it actively sends you another email reminder three days before the due date if you've forgotten to file. Invaluable if you want to avoid late filing penalties.
