NZ Construction Chart of Accounts for QuickBooks: Schedular Payments + Retentions

Construction in New Zealand needs accounts a generic QuickBooks chart does not provide, and the reason is local: there is no construction reverse charge here. The tax that moves before profit is worked out is schedular payment withholding on labour-only contractors, plus retentions held back until completion. This is a New Zealand construction chart of accounts for QuickBooks Online, with those accounts built in and the GST mapping ready to apply. It comes as a readable reference CSV and a QuickBooks import CSV.

Two steps in QuickBooks, with one New Zealand catch

QuickBooks Online does not create New Zealand GST codes for you, and its chart-of-accounts import has no tax column, so the work is: turn on GST and create the rates, import the structure with the CSV, then assign the GST codes from the CSV mapping. For construction the mapping matters most on the cost accounts, where labour, materials and plant all sit at 15% GST on Expenses.

Schedular payments on both sides

Schedular withholding sends tax to Inland Revenue before anyone records a profit, so QuickBooks needs accounts for it in both directions:

• Schedular payments deducted (an asset): tax that contractors withhold from your labour-only invoices, recoverable against income tax.
• Schedular payments withheld (a liability): tax you withhold from subcontractors you pay, owed to Inland Revenue.

A labour-only contractor completes an IR330C and selects a withholding rate; the standard 20% applies if they do not. The accounts are where each side lands cleanly, separate from ordinary income and expenses.

Labour, materials and plant kept apart

The chart splits the generic subcontractor line into subcontractor labour, materials and plant and equipment hire. Schedular withholding applies to the labour element only, so labour must be separable from materials on every job. All three carry GST on Expenses at 15%, with materials showing Zero Rated as the alternative for exported goods.

Retentions and site costs

Two retention accounts, retentions receivable and retentions payable, track amounts held back pending sign-off so debtors and creditors are not overstated. The chart also adds small tools (items under NZ$1,000 can be written off immediately as low-value assets) and protective clothing and PPE, standard-rated and deductible. Progress claims and deposits taken before the work is finished are still taxable supplies, so account for the GST when each claim is invoiced rather than waiting for the job to complete.

How to use it

1. Open the CSV: each account is mapped to its QuickBooks GST code, with alternatives and a note. The schedular and retention accounts are the construction additions.
2. In QuickBooks Online go to Settings, then Import data, then Chart of Accounts, and upload the CSV for the structure.
3. Turn on GST, create the New Zealand rates, then bulk-assign the codes from the CSV, applying GST on Expenses to labour, materials and plant.
4. Keep labour and materials on separate lines on every subcontractor invoice so the withholding calculates against labour alone.

The recurring work is keeping each cost coded and split correctly:

• Dext extracts the GST and supplier from photographed bills.
• ExpenseFlow reads each receipt and bill, codes it to the right construction account at 15% GST, and posts it into QuickBooks Online, so labour, materials and plant land where job costing expects.
• Hubdoc pulls recurring plant-hire and merchant bills into the file.

One point the chart supports but cannot enforce: hold each labour-only contractor’s IR330C and chosen rate before you pay, since that drives the withholding. The accounts give you the structure; the checks are a process step.

On Xero instead? See the NZ construction chart of accounts for Xero, where the import sets the GST codes directly. For the full picture of schedular payments, see the New Zealand construction expenses guide.