New Tax Advantaged Ride to Work Scheme Launches in New Zealand
Tauranga, New Zealand
There’s a new ride-to-work scheme available in New Zealand that has been set up by the bicycle industry members for the industry. Their target is helping independent bike retailers sell more bikes through supporting businesses implement Fringe Benefit Tax (FBT) tax offsets for their staff.
The Wheel Deal has been developed by a team including Dan Wallace, owner of Vallkree NZ and Electrify NZ Tauranga and Michael Tritt, Director at Electric Bikes NZ.
Being from the bike retail sector themselves, they understand the challenges that the sector has gone through post-Covid, with margins being squeezed. They also understand what it takes to build, maintain and support customers with their bikes.
“We wanted to create a model that was more dealer-friendly,” said Wallace. “We’ve tried to keep our fee structure simple and fair, and we’ve been getting a fantastic response from dealers across the country.”
The New Zealand Government changed the tax rules in 2023, so that employers do not have to pay Fringe Benefit Tax when providing a bike or scooter to their staff for commuting purposes.
This has created the opportunity for employees to effectively pay for a bike out of their pre-tax income, by agreeing to a salary sacrifice with their employer.
Employees can realise some huge effective savings by buying a bike or scooter this way.
The Wheel Deal have created a streamlined process for both Dealers and Employers, with an online portal making sales easy. Our goal is to partner with all bike retailers across NZ and drive sales into your stores.
Having just gone live, the Wheel Deal is now moving forward to implement the scheme with a number of employers, including some with a nationwide presence. “So we’re looking for dealers all across New Zealand right now,” says Dan “and we’d love to be able to send some sales your way, so please get in touch and we can walk you through how it works.”
NZ dealers interested in signing up for the Wheel Deal can contact Dan Wallace on dan@thewheeldeal.nz or 022 0635046 or Michael Tritt on michael@thewheeldeal.nz or 022 4748631.