Inland Revenue unable to answer phone calls because of 'high-demand'

Tuesday, 15 October 2019

Inland Revenue is refusing to take calls due to overloading at its contact centres.

The department said on its website on Tuesday afternoon that it was unable to accept calls from people who had queries about income tax, who wanted to update their details, or who needed an IRD number because of 'high demand'.

That meant people with those queries could not even be placed in a queue and put on hold.

**READ MORE:

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It was accepting calls on other topics such as GST, KiwiSaver and student loans, and from people who wanted information on employing people, but warned of a wait time of up to 43 minutes.

Inland Revenue has experienced severe overloading at its contact centres before, but that has typically coincided with busy seasonal events, such as the end of the tax year.

The department has been approached for comment.

It was continuing to accept messages through its MyIR website.