Smart SME strategies to ease pressure this provisional tax season.

Forget the Ides of March – it’s the seemingly innocuous date of May 7 that is causing stress for many small to medium Kiwi businesses. Finding the cashflow for large tax payments – along with end-of-year bonuses and other bills – can create a perfect storm for companies already navigating the turbulent waters of economic uncertainty.

However, a financial management tool known as ‘tax pooling’ is being used by thousands of Kiwi companies to keep the cashflow tap running while also fulfilling their obligations to Inland Revenue. Using the services of Kiwi company Tax Management New Zealand (TMNZ), business owners can reduce the pressure on cashflow and maintain business growth even during the current tight economic conditions.

Matt Rama, Chief Commercial Officer at TMNZ, says tax-pooling legislation introduced in New Zealand more than 20 years ago means businesses can effectively defer their tax payments by financing them. TMNZ arranges for payments to the IRD to hold in its tax pool accounts on the due date, then the client pays the money back, either at the end of a fixed term or in instalments, at a lower rate of interest than commercial banks would charge.

Rama says May 7 is a particular crunch date for many businesses, as the third and final provisional tax instalment is due for most Kiwi companies.

“It is the wash-up tax payment date for businesses that have a total tax liability over $60,000, and so is generally the largest tax instalment. Further, if the business is coming out of tax losses incurred in prior years, they may not have had to pay any tax for the earlier two tax payment dates, so this payment could be particularly large,” he says. “This often creates a cashflow challenge, especially when the 7th of May also coincides with a GST payment date.” Businesses may also have bonus payments that need to be paid to staff for the year ended March 31, be stocking up on inventory for the winter season, or facing other funding or cashflow issues.

TMNZ was founded by Ian Kuperus in 2003 as the first company set up to help Kiwi businesses manage their tax obligations using pooling. Kuperus was named EY Entrepreneur of The Year in 2013 for his innovation in this sector, which has seen more than 100,000 taxpayers save more than $500 million by using TMNZ’s flexible tax-payment solutions.

Rama says TMNZ offers a range of solutions tailored to suit different businesses. A popular option is for TMNZ to finance a client’s provisional tax payment at a fixed interest rate for a set term, typically up to mid-June 2026 when financing a May 7, 2025 tax payment. The interest rate is usually slightly less than the residential mortgage rate for the same period – and, significantly, unlike a bank, the company doesn’t need any security against the loan.

“Banks don’t like lending to pay tax, because they want to have a tangible asset that they can have security over,” Rama says. “Business owners can find themselves thinking, what else can I do – sell my car, mortgage my house? But this is a way to give them some breathing room, so they can use their bank to fund assets for their business, and use TMNZ to fund their provisional tax at a better interest rate.”

As an example, Rama says a business owner might be able to finance their May 7 tax instalment for 12 months at 5% p.a., compared to a business borrowing rate of more than 9% p.a. “That can be a significant saving. A difference of about 4% p.a. on $100,000 would save you $4000 in interest.”

Businesses can also “buy” back-dated tax from TMNZ, to save about up to 20% of the “use of money” interest cost that IRD would ordinarily charge them.

Rama says the current state of the economy, paired with worldwide economic uncertainty, especially around tariffs, means Kiwi businesses are wanting to manage their money carefully.

“Volatility is the most difficult thing to deal with,” he says. “Businesses have pricing pressures, where costs are still high, but it is difficult to increase sale prices and keep market share. Funding costs are starting to reduce, which should start to relieve some pressure, but getting access to funding can be challenging, especially if their balance sheet has been eroded during the tough times.”

Rama says business owners and their accountants can feel safe using TMNZ’s services, as the tax pooling account and all the bank accounts used to handle client funds are trust accounts, with NZ Guardian Trust as the independent trustee. TMNZ is also highly experienced in the field with a team of more than 60 across the country, including chartered accountants, tax leaders, lawyers and tech specialists.

“We’re the trusted market leader with the largest pool of tax in New Zealand – at times holding over $10 billion – and we have the oldest tax in our pool, dating back to 2009,” Rama says. “This means we’re best placed to provide the breadth of tax-payment solutions to suit the unique needs of SMEs.”

Get ahead of the May 7 crunch with TMNZ’s free SME tax cashflow guide.