The New Zealand government has confirmed in today's budget that GST will rise to 15% (from 12.5%) in October this year.

We commented on the proposed GST increase back in February. That statement is still relevant today:

We would like to confirm that if JDE has been configured properly it should be a simple matter of adding a new GST rate effective from 1 October and end-dating the current rate as at 30 September - and that this change can be made before 1 October. JDE should take it from there quite seamlessly.

That said, Jireh always recommends you first make such changes in a test environment and test your system thoroughly to ensure it functions as expected - particularly if you have modifications. Only then should you make such changes in your production environment(s).

You should also check your other systems to ensure they will handle a change in the GST rate. For example, as the February DomPost article went on to say "... the magnitude of systems changes [required] will depend on [the] software businesses are using and to what extent [they have] been customised. Large enterprise systems [like JDE] may simply require one data field to be changed, but any subsidiary systems for budgeting or spreadsheets built up over the years may have 12.5% hard-coded into them in many different places."

If you would like help with planning for, or making, this change please contact Gavin Knight - our Principal Consultant for Applications Services - on phone or by email.