More than 4000 people with child support debt totalling $20 million were nabbed crossing New Zealand's borders between July 2008 and March this year.
In September, the Inland Revenue Department (IRD) and New Zealand Customs entered into a data-matching arrangement which allowed the IRD to know when child support debtors entered or left the country.
Customs checked names provided by the IRD against the arrival and departure information it held, and when a match occurred it gave the relevant information to the department, allowing them to make contact and discuss payments, a spokeswoman said.
In the nine months to March 31, the IRD received notifications of border-crossing for 4608 people with child support debt.
Repayment arrangements totalling $20.1 million had been entered into, she said.
About 80% of the 14,300 liable parents living overseas with child support debt had existing arrangements to repay their debt.
The spokeswoman said the scheme had not been in place long enough to give it a thorough assessment but believed "it is getting results".
She described it as "another tool" for the IRD to use in ensuring parents provided financial support for their children.
New Zealand and Australia also had a reciprocal agreement in place for the collection of child support, which resulted in more than $20 million being received from Australia and $8 million being collected for them between July 2008 and March this year.
Child support debt was more than $1 billion, but about two-thirds of that was penalties for late payment which had compounded.
In the year to June 2008, the IRD collected $367 million in child support payments, she said.
- ellie.constantine@odt.co.nz.
