I lost money last year - what happens to those losses?

Tax losses from prior years carry forward against future taxable income in NZ. So if you made a loss last year, you can offset that loss against profits in the current year, reducing your tax bill.

How Afirmo handles this:

• Once Tax Agency Authority is active, the tax team can see your full IRD history including any losses carried forward
• Losses are applied automatically against current year taxable income
• Your real-time tax dashboard reflects the offset
• The tax return at year-end shows the loss utilisation clearly

Conditions for using carried-forward losses:

• For companies - shareholder continuity rules apply. If shareholding has changed significantly (less than 49% continuity), the loss may be forfeited. Live chat can scope this if your shareholders have changed.
• For sole traders and partnerships - losses generally carry forward without continuity restrictions.