This section contains data on the number of draft rulings issued that are counted under the timeliness measures and the average time to complete those draft rulings
Inland Revenue has introduced new timeliness measures applying from 1 July 2010. These provide a target for the delivery of 90% of draft rulings (and contrary views) within three months of receipt of an application (qualifying applications), unless the application:
raises more than eight legal issues;
has not had a pre lodgement meeting and that requirement has not been waived; or
is an advance pricing agreement.
Applications that do not satisfy one of these 3 criteria are classified as non-qualifying applications, and have a six month delivery timeframe from the date of receipt.
The limitation to eight issues is designed to encourage applicants to focus on the key, most important issues on which they seek certainty, rather than applying for rulings on a large number of "nice to have" matters.
Average time to complete rulings refers to the time (in months) between the date of receipt of the application, and the date the draft ruling date ruling is issued. It does not include the following:
time between when the fee estimate was sent to taxpayer and the date fee estimate was accepted by the taxpayer;
or the time if a project is put on hold.
For the purposes of year on year comparison, the new 2010 timeliness measures have been applied retrospectively and on a best estimate basis against cases completed in the 2008/09 and 2009/10 years.
Under the new measures, timeliness is recorded from date of receipt (as opposed to date of allocation under the previous measures). IR also categorises the applications as either qualifying or non-qualifying instead of the previous low/medium or high complexity categories.
Defined category
Definition
Active customer
A customer with:
any registered activity within specific time period, or
a salary and wage earner whose only relationship with Inland Revenue is having PAYE deducted and paid on their behalf by their employer within specific time period.
Defined category
Definition
Adjudication categories
From the 2005 year complete adjudication cases are classified into categories of:
decided fully for the Commissioner
decided mostly for the Commissioner but not the full amount or grounds/reasons
decided fully for the taxpayer, and
decided mostly for the taxpayer but not the full amount.
Defined category
Definition
Custodial parent
A person is an eligible custodian of a child if that person:
is the sole or principal provider of ongoing daily care for the child or shares ongoing daily care of the child substantially equally with another person, and
is not living with the person from whom payment of child support is sought as the legal spouse of that person or in a relationship in the nature of marriage.
Defined category
Definition
Customers in debt
Individuals or entities with overdue debt amounts.
Defined category
Definition
Entity type
Includes: companies, diplomatic missions, government departments, individuals, Māori authorities, partnerships, societies/clubs, superannuation funds, trusts, unit trusts.
Defined category
Definition
Filing channel
We distinguish between three groups of filing channels:
e-Filing (a system for registered tax agents to send and receive information electronically)
paper-based filing, and
web (online) filing.
Defined category
Definition
Geographic area
At detail level includes the following Inland Revenue district offices:
Auckland: Manukau, Takapuna
other North Island areas: Gisborne, Hamilton, Napier, New Plymouth, Palmerston North, Rotorua, Tauranga, Wellington, Whangarei
South Island: Christchurch, Dunedin, Greymouth, Invercargill, Nelson, Timaru
"corporate" offices for customers not allocated to a specific geographic area.
At aggregate level district offices may be combined into three major areas: Auckland, other North Island and South Island, as shown above.
Defined category
Definition
GST turnover
GST turnover is calculated from GST returns as the sum of gross sales in the year ended 31 March.
For a two-monthly filer, this would mean the sum of gross sales on six successive GST returns, with the last return being for the period ending 31 March.
The GST tables only include GST collected or refunded by Inland Revenue. GST collected on imports by the New Zealand Custom Service is not included.
Defined category
Definition
Individual
Customers not registered for GST or PAYE and not belonging to large enterprises (LE) and non-profit organisations (NPO).
Notes:
This includes individual customers receiving income from business (eg, rental property, shares) but not registered for GST or PAYE.
Where there are overlaps between LE, NPO, SME and individuals, entities are allocated to the group with higher priority. The priorities are:
large enterprises (LE)
non-profit orgs (NPO)
small and medium enterprises (SME)
individuals.
Defined category
Definition
Large enterprise (LE)
A non-individual entity which by itself or as a part of a business group has a turnover exceeding $100 million (calculated based on GST101 returns), or
an entity belonging to certain specialist segments as follows:
Crown
financial
high-wealth individuals
manufacturing
non-resident entertainers
non-resident contractors
resources
services.
Defined category
Definition
Liable (non-custodial) parent
A parent who does not take care of the child on an ongoing basis, excluding those who are not paying Child Support but have debt in Child Support.
Defined category
Definition
Non-profit organisation (NPO)
All entities exempted from income tax and not belonging to large enterprises with the following exemption types:
society club income < $1000
amateur sports clubs
charity
dairy herd society
district societies
scientific and industrial research
veterinary service clubs, or
all entities except building societies and friendly societies with "other" exemption type.
Defined category
Definition
Overdue child support debt
The amount of an employer’s or a liable parent’s liability which is in arrears (due, but not paid), together with overdue custodial parent overpayments.
Notes:
Child support debt excludes debt New Zealand child support is collecting on behalf of overseas agencies.
This amount includes any penalties applied to the debt. Note that only the overdue penalties component is recognised as a debt from the Crown perspective.
Defined category
Definition
Overdue debt case age
The period of time after the debt case is opened.
Defined category
Definition
Overdue debt cases
A debt case is created when a due date for payment has passed without full payment being made. Other overdue debt elements may be added as they become overdue. The case will close when all overdue debt has been fully resolved.
Defined category
Definition
Overdue debt element
A specific tax type and time period for which a debt is due. A customer can have one or more debt elements.
Defined category
Definition
Overdue student loan debt
The amount of repayment obligation for a tax year that has remained unpaid by a borrower after the due date.
Notes:
The definition applies to both residents and overseas based borrowers.
This amount includes any penalties applied to the debt.
Defined category
Definition
Overdue tax debt
The amount of tax that remains unpaid after the due date for payment. This includes any penalty and interest applied to the debt.
Defined category
Definition
Overdue Working for Families Tax Credits debt
When recipients were paid more than their entitlement and consists of the remaining amount they fail to repay by the due date and any penalty and interest applied to the debt.
Defined category
Definition
Paying (non-custodial) parent
A parent who does not take care of the child on an ongoing basis, excluding those who are not paying child support but have debt in child support.
Defined category
Definition
Percentage of payments made on time
A ratio of number of late payments to a total number of payments per tax year. A payment is considered to be paid on time if it is paid in full within seven days after the due date.
Notes:
A seven day tolerance is applied.
For twice-monthly PAYE customers, a payment is considered to be on-time if the full amount is paid within seven days of the second due date.
Defined category
Definition
Percentage of returns filed on time
A ratio of number of late filings to a total number of filings per tax year. A return is considered to be on time if it is filed within seven days after the due date.
Notes: A seven day tolerance is applied.
Defined category
Definition
Registered customer
Registered customers include all customers registered with Inland Revenue, either individuals or entities.
Defined category
Definition
Revenue collected
Includes only taxes and duties collected by Inland Revenue. Figures are unconsolidated.
Note: The Treasury publishes monthly financial statements prepared on a consolidated basis, meaning they eliminate tax transactions between departments, state-owned enterprises and Crown entities.
Defined category
Definition
Revenue collected from non-custodial parents
Includes all revenue collected within each tax year by Inland Revenue including payments related to other time periods.
Defined category
Definition
Shortfall penalty
A penalty imposed as a percentage of a tax shortfall (a deficit or understatement of tax), resulting from certain actions on the part of a taxpayer. Shortfall penalties apply to most taxes and duties except student loan repayments and child support repayments by liable parents.
Defined category
Definition
Small and medium enterprise (SME)
All entities with an active relationship for GST or PAYE that do not belong to large enterprises or non-profit organisations, and
all non-individual entities without active registration for GST or PAYE not belonging to non-profit organisations.
Defined category
Definition
Source deductions
Source deductions include:
pay as you earn (PAYE), and
ESCT (employer superannuation contribution tax), formerly known as the specified superannuation contributions withholding tax (SSCWT).
Defined category
Definition
Tax agent
A tax agent prepares the annual returns of income for 10 or more customers in one of the following ways:
a practitioner carrying on a professional public practice
a person carrying on a business or occupation in which returns of income are prepared, or
the Māori Trustee.
A tax agent must be a registered Inland Revenue customer.
Defined category
Definition
Taxable income
Taxable income for individuals is income on which their personal income tax is assessed for the March year.
For people with IR3 tax returns or Personal tax summaries, this is income from all taxable sources less allowable deductions and losses. People with negative income because of losses are recorded as having nil taxable income in the tables. For people who are non-filers, taxable income is assumed to be their total PAYE gross earnings in the year ended 31 March. PAYE gross earnings can include income from employment, and also taxable welfare benefits, New Zealand Superannuation, earnings-related ACC, student allowances, and paid parental leave.
Defined category
Definition
Weighted overdue debt case age
The average age of the case elements weighted by their dollar value.
Defined category
Definition
Working for Families Tax Credits
The Working for Families Tax Credits (WfFTC) consists of the following credit types:
CTC - child tax credit (was "independent family tax credit")
FTC - family tax credit (was "family support")
IWTC - in-work tax credit (was "in-work payment"), replaced child tax credit from April 2006. Customers who received child tax credit before 1 April 2006 and don"t qualify for in-work tax credit may continue to receive child tax credit
MFTC - minimum family tax credit (was - guaranteed minimum family income and then family tax credit)
PTC - parental tax credit.
Note: WfFTC was collectively known as "family assistance".