Hnry's founder and chief executive James Fuller says some contractors and small business owners put making expense claims in the too-hard basket. Photo: 123rf
Accountancy firm Hnry is adding a debit card to its arsenal to help sole traders manage their expenses in real-time.
Hnry estimates around $1.2 billion of small business expenses go unclaimed every year due to lost receipts and missed claims.
Founder and chief executive James Fuller said the debit card linked to a customer's Hnry account would ease some of the burden of doing business.
He hoped the service would attract new customers who wanted a simpler way to manage tax and compliance.
"Maybe you're a tradie, you go to a hardware store ..." James Fuller said.
"You pay using your Hnry card, you'll get a notification via your Hnry mobile app that you've just made a purchase.
"You take a photo of your receipt, and you're done."
Hnry's accounting team would then review that expense.
"We'll make sure you get the right tax relief and adjust your tax rate," Fuller said.
"Every time you get paid through your Hnry account you'll be paying the exact right amount of tax because all your expenses will be taken into account."
Some contractors and small business owners put making expense claims in the too-hard basket.
"If you have to keep track of a huge stack of receipts to hand over to your accountant at the end of the financial year - as well as having to reconcile and classify things yourself in accounting software - you're not going to do it," Fuller said.
"It's a shame because claiming expenses can make a huge difference."
Hnry is Australasia's fastest-growing accountancy service and currently employs around 100 staff.
Its home base is in Wellington, where it was founded five years ago, and it has a smaller office in Sydney.
Fuller said he hoped he was making a difference to people's lives by taking care of their tax payments and filing in a pay-as-you-go model.
"Innovations like this make it a really exciting time for sole traders to go and earn however they like from whomever they like," he said.
"They have confidence they will be taken care of from a tax and compliance perspective and that they will get the maximum value from their business expenses."
Hnry is working with Australian payments fintech Novatti Group Limited to deliver the new service.