You can register for PAYE at the same time as you register your business and register for GST.  But this will depend on whether you are planning on employing staff.  If you don’t have any plans to employ staff right at the beginning, then there is no point in registering. 

If you are planning on employing staff, you will need to make a decision on what type of payroll system you will be using.  Gone are the days when you picked up a wage book from the stationery shop and calculated wages manually in the book.

With IRD’s myIR system and their introduction of “payday filing”, wages need to be filed online through an online payroll system that is able to link directly into IRD’s computer system.  Yes, if you are a dinosaur, you could still calculate them by hand in a pay book, but that would mean logging into your myIR account every payday and filling out the PAYE return manually. 

I’m sure you have far better things to do on your time off the tools to enjoy yourself than doing things manually when there are payroll apps like Pay Hero and Xero that can automatically link to IRD and file these returns for you at the push of a button.

If you are wanting to pay yourself wages, you won’t be able to do this if you are a sole trader, so you may want to look at the other options of business structure.  You might want to discuss putting yourself on the payroll with your accountant before you go ahead with this though to ensure you are paying yourself too much or too little.

Don’t hesitate to reach out if you would like help getting your payroll system set up or advice on the best payroll system for your business.