Site provides tax refund checks

An Internet site launched by Otago and Southland business people helps taxpayers check if they are entitled to any of the millions of dollars in unclaimed tax refunds owed to Otago taxpayers, organisers say.

"It's a bit like finding a Lotto ticket in the bottom of the drawer," Geoff Mathews, a Queenstown-based businessman, said this week.

"It costs nothing to go online and check whether you are owed a refund."

Mr Mathews is a shareholding director of TaxRefunds.co.nz, the company which developed and runs the site.

The site (www.taxrefunds.co.nz) provided a free, no obligation assessment of whether people were owed a tax refund, he said.

TaxRefunds.co.nz had spent 10 months developing the site to create a faster and less intimidating means of checking whether people were owed a a tax refund.

Several thousand people had already used the system in the two weeks it had been running, with those eligible for a refund gaining nearly $500 on average, he said.

The company's system was ultimately capable of handling many more inquiries a day and public demand was expected to "ramp up", he said.

In prelaunch trial assessments by the company, a South Island freezing worker had received a tax refund of $4781 for a five-year period and a shop manager received more than $2900 for a four-year period.

Half of the workforce of one Oamaru firm had been processed and 79% were eligible for a refund.

Company officials said it had been estimated $700 million in tax refunds had gone unclaimed throughout the country since 2000.

This was because many salary and wage earners were not required to file a tax return, and many people with dependent children were unaware they could claim a Working For Families tax credit.

Using that national figure, company officials had estimated a further $33.7 million in unclaimed refunds could be due to Otago people, they said.

But an IRD spokeswoman said IRD had repeatedly stated it did not accept the $700 million figure.

The correct figure was lower than that, but was unknown, the spokeswoman said.

The core principle of New Zealand taxes was self-assessment and, in many cases, tax returns did not have to be filed.

Until taxpayers confirmed their income and requested a personal tax summary, the IRD did not know whether taxpayers owed IRD money or were due a refund, the spokeswoman said.

Customers could use a personal tax summary calculator at www.ird.govt.nz to see if they were due a refund or owed money.

They could also request a summary of earnings via the IRD automated phone service on 0800 257 778, enabling them to work out whether they had tax to pay or were owed money.

They could then advise IRD about their correct income situation and request a personal tax summary, she said.

Mr Mathews said the TaxRefunds.co.nz Internet site had two calculators that could estimate if a refund was owed for up to the past five years: one for wage and salary earners without dependent children; and one for those with dependent children.

The company employed 15 full-time staff, including 11 people at a call centre in Oamaru, and was administered and overseen by chartered accountants McKenzie Craik Ltd, he said.