Complete an income tax return – NZ

Once your income tax calculation is complete, it's time to finalise your income tax return. You have two options: you can either electronically file (e-file) the return with the IR or manually file with IR. After completing this step, it's recommended to lock the return. Once locked, you can roll over to the next tax year.

View, edit and complete a return

Click the Reports tab > Tax Return.

The type of income tax return that you see depends on the type of entity. The system automatically populates most of the data based on the Statement of Taxable Income and the Imputation Credit Account. You can complete and edit disclosures.

See Edit the tax form disclosure to learn about where the balances in the Income section come.

If you intend to file an IR10 for the entity, you will find that on the Financial Statements Summary tab. See Assign accounts to the IR10 categories to learn about where the balances come from.

On the Sense Checks tab, you can see if the system identified any data that is missing from the income tax return. You must complete all of the compulsory return disclosures before you can e-file the return.

E-file an income tax return

For instructions on how to e-file an income tax return in TaxLab, click here.

Print an income tax return

1. Click the Print arrow in the top right of your screen.
2. Click the return you want to print.
3. Download the PDF return or send it to your printer.

Lock or unlock a return

After completing and filing an income tax return, it's essential to lock it to prevent any further modifications by other users. If you e-file the income tax return using TaxLab, the return is automatically locked.

Once a specific year's income tax return is locked, you cannot make any changes to the data for that year. However, you still have the flexibility to update the progress of the income tax return task and assign it to different users.

All users with access to the entity can lock or unlock the income tax return at any time. You can check the Summary panel on the right side of the screen to see if the return is locked (yes or no).

1. Click the Settings tab > Settings.
2. In the Return Settings section > Return status setting, select Locked.

To unlock the return, select Unlocked.