Meet Kira and Grant
Before anything ships, we run it against two composite test personas — deliberately different situations, chosen to stress-test opposite ends of Findie’s guided flow.
Kira
34, Tauranga — teacher, tour guide, and a growing advisory practice
Kira works three jobs at once: he teaches Te Reo and Te Ao Māori part-time at a local school (18 fixed hours a week), guides tours casually for a local iwi (8–20 hours a week depending on the season), and runs a growing self-employed advisory practice helping government agencies engage properly with Māori communities.
The advisory side is the one he’s building on purpose — it’s gone from $10k to $25k to $55k over three years, and he expects to clear the $60k GST threshold this year. Everything else, though, has been getting away from him: every dollar lands in one account, he’s not confident he’s meeting his obligations, and IRD keeps emailing him about late filing.
He’s just started poking around ChatGPT but hasn’t really found his footing with it yet.
- ScopeIn scope — self-employed advisory income, plus two PAYE jobs. Two employers means a secondary tax code applies to the second one.
- GSTHeading past $60k this year — registration becomes compulsory, not optional.
- Provisional taxFast-growing, uneven income points toward the ratio method over the flat standard option, once he's over the $5,000 RIT threshold.
- ACCHe's on CoverPlus automatically. CoverPlus Extra is worth a look: his income varies and is growing, and CoverPlus is based on his last completed year, which would understate what he's earning now. Whether he can apply depends on his self-employed hours and earnings.
- KiwiSaverAlready enrolled via the teaching job; not a priority to add more right now.
- RecordsEverything in one account today — the flow flags separating it out, without treating the mixing itself as a problem.
Chosen to stress-test: mixed income across two PAYE jobs, fast-growing self-employment income, and a customer starting from very little confidence or existing structure.
Grant
47, Christchurch — structural/civil engineering contractor
Grant contracts to councils, infrastructure consultancies, and the odd private developer, usually for one or two clients at a time on contracts running months to over a year. He’s been doing this for more than a decade, income is steady at around $180k this year, and he already knows the compliance rhythm cold.
He isn’t struggling — he pays a Christchurch accountant $3,500–4,500 a year for his annual accounts, GST returns, and provisional tax advice, and the relationship works fine. But it’s become his biggest avoidable cost for what he suspects is mostly routine processing. He’s comfortable with Claude and ChatGPT already, and he’s testing whether an AI-led approach can match his accountant’s accuracy for a fraction of the price. He knows what “good” looks like, so he’ll notice if something’s cutting corners.
- ScopeIn scope — pure self-employment, no PAYE job, so none of the mixed-income branching applies.
- GSTWell over the threshold at $180k. Payments basis still applies (that only changes above $2M), 2-monthly filing fits his established rhythm.
- Provisional taxEstablished history, steady income, comfortably over the RIT threshold — the standard option is a clean fit, no need for ratio or AIM.
- ACCSteady income means the automatic CoverPlus, based on his last completed year, works fine — no reason to consider CoverPlus Extra.
- KiwiSaverEnrolled via a previous job; not currently prioritising extra contributions.
- RecordsAlready well organised via Xero and his accountant — the flow largely confirms what he's already doing right.
- CalendarUses a tax agent, so his IR3 falls due 31 March the following year, not the standard 7 July.
Chosen to stress-test the opposite end from Kira: pure self-employment, steady rather than variable income, an already-compliant customer evaluating whether Findie can genuinely replace paid advice.