Frequently Asked Questions
Using Afirmo FAQ
Afirmo is an innovative app especially for small businesses and self-employed people. Afirmo means you can set up a business from scratch (sole traders, partnerships and companies) including all the necessary business and tax registrations (IRD, GST, NZBN etc). Afirmo helps you with integrated tax, insurance, money and marketing tools. Afirmo is your one-stop-business-support-shop for setting up and running your side hustle, your main hustle, and your small business.
No – at Afirmo we very much understand the pressure points in setting up, owning and running a small business and we bring services to you at price points that will make sense to you. Afirmo charges one off fees for setting up a new business, and affordable monthly plans for scaling your business. We can also file your GST and Income Tax returns for an additional charge if you want some extra help with these. Our prices are very competitive and more affordable than other software companies, and third-party professional advisors such as accountants and lawyers.
Yes, we would love to talk with you! To make that easy for you, so you do not have any waiting time getting through to us (time is money in small business!) we have built an appointment booking service. Our Customer Support Team are all based in New Zealand. Book an appointment and let’s connect!
Yes, absolutely. Afirmo is a registered Inland Revenue Tax Agent, accredited partner of MBIE (Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment) who operates the Companies Office, a registered financial services provider and an AML reporting entity governed by the DIA (Department of Internal Affairs). We also partner with Bank of New Zealand (BNZ) as our bank partner and RMA Financial as our insurance broker partner.
Yes absolutely! Xero is an online accounting platform that doesn’t offer business advice or preparation and filing of Income Tax returns for you. Afirmo does provide tax and business advice and tax services you need. If you use Xero for your accounting records, you can use Afirmo for your tax management and support. Pro tip – Afirmo provides easy to use accounts preparation online, simpler than Xero. Check out our full comparison Afirmo vs Xero here. Afirmo offers an easy-to-use accounts preparation on-line tool that is far simpler than Xero. Check out our full comparison of Afirmo vs Xero here.
Yes, absolutely. Afirmo looks after your confidential information and we adhere to our privacy policy. We use Amazon Web Services (AWS) as our cloud service provider. AWS have bank grade security systems to protect your data.
Any time you are ready. Why wait? You can use Afirmo’s Business set up Tools when you are ready to set up your business. You can set up as a sole trader, partnership or a company. You can set up your business at any point online with Afirmo. When your business has been set up you can start capturing business set up costs on your Afirmo profile. You can use Afirmo’s automated Tax Module as soon as you have set up your business including processing GST refunds for any set up costs.
Yes, absolutely. Check out Afirmo’s Learning Hub on Afirmo.com – there are many free resources there to help you get started and to help you scale your business.
Yes, Afirmo is here for you for your entire business journey, from the moment you have that great idea, to getting your business IRD number, your NZBN, getting a logo, a website, invoicing, quotations, and insurance and tax management. We are with you every step of the way. Sign up today and get that idea out of your head and into reality.
Only if you want them to! You can use Afirmo and still use your accountant if you want to, or you can use Afirmo’s Tax Specialists and Accountants to help you with tax questions and file your income tax and GST returns for you. You choose.
The Afirmo app is a web-app, which means it’s an app that is available via the internet. We are working on a dedicated mobile app that can be downloaded from the app store (apple) or the Google Play (iOs).
Business Set Up FAQ
When you log in to Afirmo, we will take you through an onboarding process (only takes a couple of minutes) during which, you can either Set Up a new business or tell us your existing NZBN and we will import your data automatically into the app to save you time. Afirmo’s Set Up Tool will help you choose the right business entity option for your circumstances.
Yes, you can Set Up a company if you live overseas and with Afirmo, but there are some specific rules you will need to follow. You will need either (i) a New Zealand resident director or (ii) an Australian resident director who is also a director of an Australian company. You will also need a physical New Zealand based mailing address as your registered office address. In good news if you are an overseas based Afirmo customer, we can offer you a registered office address service or a nominee director service. Easy!
Yes, if you intend to carry out an activity (trade) you will need an IRD number. If you are a Sole Trader, your personal IRD number is used as your business IRD number. For a company, when you register with Afirmo, we will obtain an IRD number for you. Partnerships also need a business IRD number. We will help you with all that within Afirmo’s Business Set up Tool.
Afirmo does not currently offer immigration support but if you appoint us as a nominee director for your company, we can support your local visa applications.
Afirmo offers a range of digital marketing services including domain names, a logo builder and a website builder. These will help you get online quickly and at a price point that makes sense, and personalise your business stationery, including sales invoices and quotes.
Refer to our Insurance FAQ for Insurance related questions.
Tax FAQ
Knowing your tax obligations in New Zealand is super important because if you are in business and not taking care of your tax properly, you can get into hot water with the taxman. The Inland Revenue can apply interest and penalties if you get it wrong. But if you keep good records and stay on top of your tax, you can get some sweet tax and sleep easy at night!
The dates when tax payments are due depend on a range of things including what you did last year. With Afirmo, we sort out your deductions and can pay your tax for you if you choose, so you don’t need to worry about missing these dates.
For more information, check out our tax payment due dates.
HEADS UP: If you’re starting a business as a sole trader, you don’t need to pay tax on your profits until the end of your first year in business. Other integrated tax platforms will take your tax before you’re due to pay it and earn interest on your money – not us though, we’ve got your back.
Yes, you can join any time in the year. You can catch up with your accounting and tax once signed up. We’ll give you a hand with any transactions that need to be added for earlier periods.
Yes you can! Afirmo will request your tax records and any tax overpayments from your previous tax tool provider, and either refund the repayments to you, or add them to your Afirmo issued BNZ trust account for you to save for future tax bills. You choose!
Yes, we know that some accounting tools don’t allow income tax to be dynamically calculated and an IRD return prepared. You can use any accounting tool for your business accounting and Afirmo for your business tax management (for example Xero for accounting, and Afirmo for tax if this is your preference).
Check out our full comparison of Afirmo vs Xero here.
Businesses with an annual turnover of $60,000 or more are required to register for GST. Also in some cases it may be better to register early and claim GST on your expenses. Our friendly team of professional accountants will take you through it!
Afirmo uses the bank transaction data to provide you with valuable business insights and our tax tool will calculate deductions on your cash payments. All while keeping you in complete control of your data – and you can disconnect at any time!
You can manage the connection by visiting our trusted partners at my.akahu.nz.
Yes, absolutely. Afirmo can be trusted because we are a registered tax agent with Inland Revenue. This means that Inland Revenue have granted Afirmo the right to file tax returns and make tax payments on your behalf. We employ accountants and tax professionals to ensure that you get the best advice possible. Tax professionals have also helped us design our automated Tax Tool so you know the calculations are correct.
As your tax agent, Afirmo will be able to get these records from Inland Revenue, or your previous accountant, or previous online tax tool provider, with ease. They are obligated to hand over the information, so you are not disadvantaged by moving to Afirmo at any point.
No. While Afirmo and Xero both provide online accounting services each offer very different services. Afirmo is an easy-to-use simple tax and accounting system designed so you don’t need to know very much at all about accounting. Xero is a complex accounting system that to operate, requires a reasonable knowledge of accounting. Check out our full comparison of Afirmo vs Xero here.
No Afirmo is not like Hnry. Afirmo is a one-stop-shop for small businesses – Hnry is only an online tax service provider. Check out our full comparison of Afirmo vs Hnry here.
Insurance FAQ
Afirmo’s Insurance Tool means you can (i) upload your insurance policies to your Afirmo profile, so you can get reminders when policies are set to expire (ii) get a quote from our brokers for any insurance types (iii) schedule an online meeting with our insurance brokers (iv) enter your Business Industry Classification code (BIC) and let Afirmo tell you about the possible insurances you should consider based on that classification.
Because Afirmo has partnered with a leading NZ based brokerage called RMA Financial. RMA is a full-service insurance brokerage that works with the best insurance companies in the country. These can be found here.
RMA financial may get commissions from insurance companies and they may pass some of these commissions to Afirmo, dependant on the insurance type and insurer. This is normal in the insurance industry and is built into insurers standard pricing so it won’t cost you anything.
Embedded insurance means Afirmo can embed our insurance service into the app based on other customer activity e.g. we can tell when you have bought a new asset (based on your bank data or expense claim) and can see if you want an insurance quote – or we can see if your revenue has growth above your business interruption policy limit. This embedded nature allows us to uniquely work with you to assess your insurance needs to keep your risk down and keep you covered.
Money Tool FAQ
Afirmo has partnered with Bank of New Zealand (BNZ) to offer you a bank wallet account. This means that BNZ has issued Afirmo trust accounts, and Afirmo adds bank accounts under these trust accounts so you can use them to receive sales invoice receipts and save for tax bills.
You don’t need to – but it is very helpful if you do. By linking your bank account, or by using Afirmo’s BNZ trust account, we can then see your business bank transactions and you can either match these to sales invoice or expense claims or add a category to them in order to produce a set of accounts. Afirmo uses this data to calculate your GST and income tax liabilities. You can save for these liabilities in the app, so you stay on top of your tax liabilities.
A business wallet is a sub-account of the BNZ trust account. This means that any cash you hold with Afirmo is held in a BNZ account. Afirmo cannot access these funds as they are held on trust for you as our business customer.