Annual report - 2004 - Part 5

Report on our Charter commitments from the 2004 Annual Report - 1

Introduction

Our Charter has been in place since March 2001. It is our commitment to ensuring that we have an effective relationship with the community. Our Charter sets out how we will work with the community and what we aspire to in providing advice and information, acting consistently, and guarding privacy and confidentiality. This is reinforced by customers having the opportunity to question us through our Complaints Management Service.

Our Charter, along with our Code of Conduct and our strategic direction, contribute to our success in strengthening community confidence. One of the ways we measure our success is by surveying customers who have recently contacted us. During this year these surveys showed that 86% of our customers are satisfied, or very satisfied, with the service received.

However, public expectations of good service will continue to change. Therefore it is important that we develop new initiatives to enhance our current services so we can continue to meet public expectations and our Charter commitments. Over the past three years we have made significant advances in improving the way we provide services to taxpayers and social support programme clients. Our Charter commitments are grouped under five headings:

• How we will work with you
• Reliable advice and information
• Confidentiality and privacy
• Consistancy and equality
• Your right to question us

In the following section we describe some of the more important initiatives and ongoing activities that support each of our Charter's headings. We also describe the way we have worked with our people on reinforcing standards of professionalism and service.

Customer satisfaction survey

• How we will work with you
• Reliable advice and information
• Consistancy and equality

We regularly survey people who have contacted Inland Revenue and ask them about the service they received and whether they have suggestions for improvement. The overall result for Inland Revenue in 2003-04 was a customer satisfaction rating of 86% ²⁵ . High results were also achieved for call centres (87%), the 0800 tax agents' line (96%), and advisory services (97%).

^{25 The surveys have a margin of error of ± 2%}

Achieving these high levels of satisfaction for customer service in Child Support and in returns and debt collection is difficult. This is because we are often dealing with sensitive issues at a time when people may be under a considerable amount of emotional or financial pressure. Nevertheless, Child Support received improved ratings this year at 68%, and the rating for debt collection was 66%, up 9% on 2002-03. The rating for work undertaken relating to outstanding returns was 61%, up 4% on 2002-03.

We also research the views of the wider community. Early indications show high community support for the proposition that by paying tax people are contributing to society. The research, which is a regular ongoing monitor, also shows that in general the impressions of Inland Revenue are positive, particularly from those people who have dealt with the department recently.

Response to flooding

• How we will work with you
• Reliable advice and information
• Consistancy and equality

The floods in central parts of New Zealand in February 2004 required prompt action from us to contact people who were affected and to follow this up with relief measures. Changes to the legislation were enacted under urgency and were part of a government package that provided help to people and businesses affected by the flooding.

Federated Farmers publicly thanked Inland Revenue for being quick to respond and for the pragmatic approach taken to deal with people's tax affairs after the floods.

Consultation with the community

• How we will work with you
• Reliable advice and information
• Consistancy and equality

Inland Revenue has actively sought the views of individuals and organisations with an interest in tax and the social policy programmes where we have a role.

For example, we consulted widely on ways that Inland Revenue can reduce compliance costs for small to medium-sized businesses as part of the wider government initiative to promote growth and innovation in the economy.

Our Policy Advice Division has also consulted widely on proposed legislation through the Generic Tax Policy Process.

Participation in wider government initiatives

• How we will work with you
• Consistancy and equality

We participate in ongoing programmes such as Heartlands agencies that provide services in rural locations. As with our response to the floods, we worked closely with other government departments on initiatives that apply across the community:

• Working for Families
• Small and Medium-sized Enterprises programme
• New Zealand Disability Strategy
• Positive Ageing Strategy
• Statement of Government Intentions for an Improved Community-Government Relationship.

Telephone services

• How we will work with you
• Reliable advice and information

Satisfaction with our call centres remained high this year, even though call numbers were considerably higher than we had predicted. For example, both our tax agents' and general (general enquiries, family assistance, GST and student loans) lines received 21% ²⁶ more calls than we had predicted. Our predictions are based on our experience over the last few years and the impact of changes being implemented in the coming year. The increased
volume meant calls were not always answered as quickly as we planned.

^{26 462,086 more calls were received than expected on our general lines and 156,227 more calls on our tax agents' lines.}

Another important measure of our phone service is whether we resolved the caller's question fully at the time ("first call resolution"). At 90.5%, this performance measure remained virtually the same as last year.

In addition to the 4.9 million person-to-person calls to our call centres, we received 1.9 million calls to INFOexpress, our automated telephone service. To make it easier for people to request information, we introduced natural language speech recognition technology. The new technology allows callers to request options with their voice, rather than having to use the touch tone keypad on their telephone.

Results of surveying our people

• How we will work with you

In November 2003 we conducted the third climate survey of people in our organisation. The survey measured progress in relation to the values supporting our Charter, our business plan, The Way Forward, and gathered information on Inland Revenue's working environment.

We achieved a response rate of 81%, an increase of 23% on our first survey in 2001. Although this is a reflection of our management of this process, it also shows the willingness of people to contribute to improving the way we work and the increasing confidence our people have in Inland Revenue. Some key findings were:

• A high percentage (59%) of our people supported the strategic direction compared to a benchmark of New Zealand private and public sector organisations (43%).
• There was a steady increase in the level of pride and confidence in Inland Revenue as an employer with 4% more positive than they were in 2002, and 10% more positive than 2001.

Payment options

• How we will work with you

Inland Revenue has continued to expand the options available to people by arranging with banks to offer internet banking services for making tax payments. All the main banks now offer this service with one exception and we are currently working with this bank to make the service available.

A credit card payment option for student loan borrowers became available in late May 2004 to assist non-resident borrowers to repay their loans. Between late May and June nearly 300 payments, with a total value of over $272,000, had been made using credit cards. Over 70% of the payments were made with cards issued overseas. We expect that, with the addition of more credit card brands in the coming year and ongoing promotion, the uptake of the service will increase to around 1,800 borrowers a month making repayments.

In 2003, interested parties had an opportunity to respond to a government discussion document that contained proposals designed to streamline tax payment processes:

• subsidies for people who employ payroll agents to handle PAYE
• alignment of provisional tax and GST so that they were paid together
• allowing GST turnover to be a basis for calculating provisional tax payments (linked to the proposal above)
• a discount for payment of tax in the first year of business.

We are working with businesses and their representatives to resolve the issues that were raised. The government has already decided to implement the option for discounted voluntary provisional tax payments and expects to enact it in 2004, with implementation in 2005.

 

 

 

Date published: 16 Nov 2004

Back to top