Over $160 million in outstanding tax refunds still unclaimed, Inland Revenue data shows
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There is $162 million in outstanding tax refunds still unclaimed for the past six tax years, Inland Revenue data shows.
Most people who pay tax through the PAYE system have their income tax assessment automatically generated by Inland Revenue each year, which can result either in a bill or an incorrect amount of tax has been paid.
If IR holds information about a person's bank account, the money can be paid directly to them.
But data released under the Official Information Act shows that there are still 53,371 refunds from -019 p unclaimed, worth $17. 2 million.
Roughly the same number from 2020 are unclaimed, and slightly more in 2021, although they are worth only $15.3m.
Recent years have larger amounts pending, including 148,205 refunds worth $61.1 million from the most recent tax year.
As a percentage, these unclaimed refunds are not large - ranging from 1.2 percent in 2019 to 3.4 percent for the 2024 year.
Inland Revenue said the smaller percentage of refunds still unclaimed in earlier years reflected more time having passed in which people could claim their refunds.
"Examples might be where someone has a debt arise in a more recent period, and the refund is used to offset that, or where we've been provided someone's bank account details, so the amount has been refunded."
One woman who contacted RNZ, Sharon Beattie, earlier wrote to MP Deborah Russell to say she had trouble providing her bank details to get her tax refund.
She was worried others might struggle, too.
"Having forgotten my long-ago used MyIR details, I sought to reset my - also long ago used - RealMe profile, because the IR website said I could use this to access MyIR. Fiddling around with RealMe tried my patience to the extreme, and also required a high level of digital skill- taking pictures - copying video instructions etc, not to mention multiple logouts due to the website playing up."
She said she eventually called IR and was helped by someone on the phone.
Robyn Walker, a tax expert at Deloitte, said some people might have concerns about whether they made an error in a different year or tax type and might leave their refund with IR as a means to pay any additional tax obligation that was discovered.
"I'm sure there might be logical reasons for other people not to seek a refund, it may be that they are relatively small amounts or potentially they don't have an available bank account for the refund to be paid into, which would be strange but potentially could be conceivable in some situations."
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