Tax and accounting built for tradies 

Did you become a tradie so you could spend your evenings sorting receipts, chasing invoices, and worrying about tax? Probably not. In this article, we explore how a Lodg and PlaceMakers partnership can save you time and money 

Most self-employed tradies get into business because they’re good at what they do. But once you start working for yourself, there’s a whole lot of paperwork that comes with it. 

GST returns. Tax payments. ACC. KiwiSaver. Invoicing. Bookkeeping. Before long, you can find yourself spending more time managing the business than actually working in it. 

That’s why PlaceMakers has partnered with Lodg – to help tradies take the stress out of tax and accounting and get back to focusing on the job. 

Why tax catches so many tradies out 

When you first go out on your own, managing tax seems simple enough. You get paid, put some money aside, and deal with it later. But when jobs get busy, it’s easy for things to slip through the cracks. 

GST payments get forgotten. Tax money gets mixed in with everyday spending. Before you know it, a large bill arrives from the IRD that you weren’t expecting. 

For many tradies, there are only two options. You either pay an accountant thousands of dollars each year and hope everything is being taken care of properly, or you try to do it yourself after a long day on the tools. 

Neither option is ideal. 

“Most tradies don’t want to become accounting experts,” says Luke Kilworth, Founder of Lodg. “They just want confidence that their tax is being handled properly so they can focus on running their business.” 

A different approach to tax 

Lodg was built specifically for self-employed tradies and small business owners. Instead of treating tax as something you sort out later, Lodg helps manage it automatically as you get paid. 

When money comes into Lodg, it automatically calculates and sets aside things like: 

• GST. 

• Income tax. 

• KiwiSaver. 

• ACC. 

These payments are then managed and paid to the IRD, while the remaining money is available for you to use. The result is simple. You always know where you stand, there are no surprise tax bills, no scrambling to find money at the end of the year, and no guessing how much you owe. Just confidence that your tax obligations are being looked after in the background. 

More than just tax 

Most tradies already have enough tools to deal with – that’s why Lodg combines everything into one platform. 

Alongside tax management, Lodg includes: 

• Invoicing and quoting. 

• Live bank feeds. 

• Business performance tracking. 

• Financial reporting. 

• GST management. 

• Ongoing support when you need it. 

Everything is designed specifically for self-employed tradies and small business owners, without the complexity often found in traditional accounting software. 

Exclusive offer For PlaceMakers customers 

To help tradies get started, PlaceMakers customers can access: 

• 50% off Lodg for the first four months. 

• One-on-one onboarding support. 

• Dedicated help to get set up correctly. 

• A chance to see whether Lodg is the right fit for your business. 

Whether you’re newly self-employed or you’ve been running your business for years, Lodg is designed to make tax and accounting one less thing to worry about. 

Ready to spend less time on admin? 

Running a business is hard enough without unexpected tax bills and endless paperwork. With Lodg, tax and accounting can happen automatically in the background, giving you more time to focus on your customers, your jobs, and growing your business. 

PlaceMakers tradies can take up this offer by logging in to their Placemakers app as a loyalty member and going to the partner offer section, which would then redirect them to Lodg. It’s sitting in the same place as the other partnership offers that Placemakers have for their loyalty customers (ie, BP, Spark, and others). 

Alternatively, tradies can go directly to our PlaceMakers landing page, where discounts will be automatically applied upon sign up. https://lodg.co.nz/onboarding/business/placemakers 

Talk to the team at Lodg today and find out why more Kiwi tradies are looking for a simpler way to manage their business finances.