Everyone who works or owns a business in New Zealand pays ACC levies and when you’re self-employed, there’s a lot to consider. First of all, there’s your CU (Classification Unit) code, which reflects the risk level of your profession.
It’s important to make sure that your CU code aligns accurately with your business activities, because if it’s not, the levy you contribute to ACC could be incorrect.
As your business grows and evolves, your work activities may also shift and that could change the risk associated with your operations. Keeping your CU code up to date and reflective of your current work means you’re appropriately covered and making the right levy payments.
With our team’s ACC advice, you can be sure you’re properly protected if you get injured and that you pay the right amount in levies.
For many NZ business owners, understanding ACC gets shoved in the to-hard-basket. In this video Nicki from Planning Pros explains the ins and outs of ACC and how it links in with private risk insurance. For more information, book in a time for a chat.
With CoverPlus, your ACC levy is based on your previous year’s earnings. You need to prove a loss of revenue to the business, which can be tricky if you have a team that would keep things going without you, even if only for a while. When you have an accident, ACC will determine your income and cover based on your tax return from the year before which may not work in your favour.
With ACC CoverPlus Extra, you set your levy based on an agreed amount of income, which you can adjust every year. This means flexibility and lets you align your levy with your current financial situation, ensuring that you pay the right amount and are properly protected. If you have an accident, there will be no argument over what you get paid.
If you don’t have other private risk insurance such as income protection cover, it’s probably not the best idea to lower your ACC cover but… it all depends on your situation. Have a chat with Planning Pros to find out more.
We’re here to help explain the ins and outs about ACC and how it works when you have private risk insurance in place. Some questions we often get asked with their answers below.
ACC only covers you if you are injured and doesn’t cover an injury which can be linked to an illness or a degenerative condition. For example, if you fall and smash your knee, and you need knee surgery, doctors could discover that you have some arthritis in your knee. This can complicate both the surgery and the income you were expecting to get from ACC.
However, if you have private medical insurance, you know exactly where you stand and what is covered. After the knee injury, if a condition is discovered which you didn’t know about, it wouldn’t affect your claim in any way.
You can always contact us if you have questions but the most accurate and up-to-date information can be found on the ACC website.
Not if we help set it up, but there are certain insurances that won’t pay out if ACC are paying you.
Yes, lots! For example, if you’re on CoverPlus/workplace cover and your business would be able to keep generating income even if you weren’t able to work, there’s a good chance you won’t get any income from ACC. (CoverPlus requires there to be a loss of revenue to the business as a result of you not working.)
CoverPlus Extra is agreed value, so it doesn’t have this issue! If there are 2 or more shareholders, we may be able to save money on one of their levies as well- for example an electrical business with two shareholders, one on the tools, one purely admin. On CoverPlus they are both charged at the ‘on the tools’ rate. If we switch to CoverPlus Extra, we can then put the admin person on an admin rate, which is lots cheaper for the same level of cover!
As long as it’s the right thing to do for your situation, yes! We can reduce the level of cover to the minimum required and usually save a significant amount every year- but this obviously has risks, so this is a big part of what we work with people on.
Yes- CoverPlus Extra is agreed value, so you can usually increase the level of cover you’re on- although depending on how much you want to increase it by you may need to be able to justify the level of cover you’re asking for. One thing to keep in mind is that for some people, insurance cover for accidents and illness will work out cheaper than just the ACC cover!
Planning Pros can sort everything in person, by phone, or with a video call.
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