Big week ahead for business

A host of the Government's flagship policies come into force this week including cuts to business tax rates and workplace savings incentives.

April 1 may be April Fool's day, but it is also the start of the taxation year and as a result the date for many legislative changes to take effect.

One of the most significant changes is the cut in the company tax rate from 33 per cent to 30 per cent.

This will potentially divert hundreds of millions of dollars from the Government's coffers back into businesses to reinvest or pay out to owners and shareholders.

Workers who are part of KiwiSaver are also set to benefit from the turbo charging of the workplace saving scheme.

So far 500,000 people have signed up and those who work will now get an employers contribution of one per cent rising to 4 per cent by 2011.

To ease the pain for employers they will get a government tax credit of up to $20 per week per employee in the scheme.

Another tax credit is also claimable from April 1 for research and development.

Such spending will get a 15 per cent rebate at an estimated cost of $630 million over the next four years.

- NZPA