Free tool · New Zealand
Main-street cash gap estimator
Pick your type of business, set your takings and costs, add the big bills — GST, provisional tax, a lease review or refit — and see exactly which months run short and what kind of funding suits that gap.
Your next 12 months
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General estimate to help you plan — not advice and not an offer of finance. Nothing you enter is stored or sent.
Talk to us about this gap →How to read your result
The chart shows your bank balance at the end of each month, starting from the cash you have today. Every month the estimator adds your takings, takes away the costs that move with sales, your fixed costs and any lump sums that fall due, and carries the balance forward. Bars that drop below the line are months when the business would run out of cash unless something changes — that's your cash gap.
The headline number is the deepest point of that gap: the largest amount you'd be short at any one time. It's usually the most useful number to take into a funding conversation, because it tells a lender how big a facility needs to be and for how long.
Why main-street businesses get cash gaps
Most gaps on the main street aren't a sign of a struggling business. They come from three places:
- Seasons. A beach-town café can take twice as much in January as in July. A city retailer's December can carry the whole year. A ski-town shop does the opposite. Fixed costs don't move with the weather.
- Lump sums. GST is collected every day but paid in one go. Provisional tax lands in August, January and May for most businesses with a March balance date. ACC levies, insurance renewals and lease reviews don't wait for a good month.
- Investment. A refit, a new espresso machine, a second treatment room or a bond on a bigger tenancy can drain a year's buffer in one invoice — even when the investment will pay for itself.
Matching the funding to the gap
The shape of your gap points to the kind of funding that suits it. A short, seasonal dip of a few weeks usually suits working capital that's repaid as the busy season arrives. A gap caused by one tax bill might suit tax-bill funding, or an instalment arrangement with Inland Revenue. A gap caused by a fit-out is better matched with a term facility, repaid over the years the fit-out earns its keep. And a gap that never closes — where costs outrun takings every month — is a warning sign that borrowing alone won't fix.
Read more in our pages on funding seasonal stock, GST and provisional tax bills and shop fit-out finance.
Getting better numbers in
Your POS system or accounting software will show last year's takings by month — use them to fine-tune the season pattern. Check your GST filing frequency and payment dates in myIR, and ask your accountant what your provisional tax instalments are likely to be. If your takings swing sharply within a month (a big cruise-ship day, a school-holiday rush), the monthly view will hide that — keep a little extra buffer.
Ready to close the gap?
If the estimator shows a gap you'd like to plan for, start a 60-second enquiry and tell us the size of the gap, the months it runs and what's causing it. There's no credit check to ask, your details stay with one team, and a person who understands main-street trade will ring you to talk it through. The more accurately you describe your takings and bills on the form, the better we can match you first time.
Cash gap estimator: common questions
What is a cash gap?
A cash gap is a stretch of months when the money going out of the business — wages, rent, stock, tax and one-off bills — is more than the money coming in plus what's already in the bank. Profitable main-street businesses get cash gaps all the time, usually because of seasons and lump-sum bills rather than poor trading.
Where do the season patterns come from?
They're illustrative shapes based on how each type of business commonly trades across a New Zealand year — for example, retail peaking before Christmas and summer tourism quietening from May. Your own pattern will differ, so fine-tune each month using your last year of takings from your POS or bank statements.
Should I enter takings including GST?
Enter takings as they hit your bank account (usually including GST if you're registered) and then add your GST payments as a lump sum. That mirrors how cash really moves: you collect GST through the year and pay it to Inland Revenue on your filing dates.
When is provisional tax due?
For a business with a 31 March balance date using the standard or estimation option, Inland Revenue's instalment dates are 28 August, 15 January and 7 May. The estimator places your instalments in those months. Other options, such as AIM, use different dates.
Is the funding suggestion an offer?
No. It's general information about which kinds of funding tend to suit a gap of that size, length and cause. A person will confirm what's genuinely available once they understand your business. There's no credit check to ask.
Does the estimator save or send my numbers?
No. Everything is calculated in your browser and nothing you type here is stored or sent anywhere. If you want to talk about the result, start an enquiry and tell us the size and timing of your gap.
No credit check to ask
Finding out what's possible leaves your credit file untouched. A credit check only comes into it once you choose to go ahead.
Not handed round town
Your enquiry isn't fired off to a queue of lenders. It stays with one team that works out where your business genuinely fits.
A local-minded person
Someone who understands how a shopfront trades reads your enquiry and phones you. Straight answers on the form help us get it right first go.
Got a gap on the chart? Let's talk about it
A one-minute enquiry, no credit check to ask, and a person who understands main-street trade rings you back with options that fit.
No credit check to ask
Not handed round town
A local-minded person