Inland Revenue sends out first of nearly 2 million tax refunds and bills

Monday, 20 May 2019

Inland Revenue has on Monday begun sending out the first of more than 2.5 million automated tax statements that will tell people if they have a tax refund coming or a bill to pay.

The department is braced for calls from taxpayers about scams – both real and imaginary – as people start to receive the unfamiliar communications for the first time and as fraudsters attempt to take advantage of any confusion they generate.

Deputy commissioner Sharon Thompson said an estimated 1.65 million refunds would be going out in batches, rather than all at the same time.

About another 240,000 taxpayers are likely to get bills to pay, with the remaining assessments set to show people have been taxed accurately.

Inland Revenue had last year forecast there would be only 115,000 bills.

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Inland Revenue commissioner Naomi Ferguson revealed in March that the department had taken on an extra 325 call centre staff on a temporary basis, in part to deal with a flood of calls that the department expected as people received the automated assessments for the first time.

The automated assessments are one of the fruits of a $1.6 billion effort to simply the tax system and to move it on to new technology.

Thompson said people would receive the assessments either by email or through the post.

Inland Revenue has been braced for the possibility that scammers will try to take advantage of any confusion created by the communications, for example by sending out phishing emails pretending to come from the department.

'The main thing to remember is that if you have any doubt about whether that communication is genuine, then type ird.govt.nz into your browser and access our secure online services portal myIR from there,' Thompson said.

'If you don't have a myIR account, then it's a good idea to register for one, as that's where all your information is securely displayed.'

Bills could come as a surprise to people who had not had to pay them before, but people would have until February 7 to pay, she said.

Most people who had refunds would have them automatically paid to their bank account and 'won't have to lift a finger', she said.

'After receiving an assessment, we expect it will take up to two days before any refund reaches a customer's account.'

The value of refunds and bills is expected to drop sharply in future years as other changes brought about by Inland Revenue's Business Transformation project take effect and start to mean people are taxed more accurately on their income through the year.