Annual Report 2006: Commissioner's introduction
From the Commissioner
Senior management team: David Butler, Naomi Ferguson, Colin MacDonald, Robin Oliver, Martin Smith and Carolyn Tremain
Inland Revenue's roles are to collect revenue for the government and disburse payments to customers through our social support responsibilities. The results we achieve contribute to the Government's priority areas of economic transformation, families - young and old, and national identity.
In the past year our achievements included:
- collecting $46.8 billion in revenue
- responding to 8.2 million customer contacts including child support
- collecting $1.8 billion in overdue payments
- assessing an additional $980 million in audit discrepancies
- distributing $839 million in family assistance.
During 2005-06, we also:
- delivered Government's commitments relating to Working for Families and student loans
- implemented full tax policy and administrative work programmes
- addressed customer expectations and compliance risks arising from a growing and diverse customer base
- recognised the need to respond quickly to changes in compliance and our operating environment.
New Zealand's tax system is fundamentally sound and we must continue to work at keeping it that way. During the year, we worked hard at addressing risks to revenue and maintaining the integrity of the tax system. Our activities focused on making it easy for customers to understand what they needed to do to comply and responding to non-compliance when this arises.
An important part of tackling deliberate non-compliance is our ability to apply the full force of the law when this is necessary and appropriate.
We continued to invest in our capability and infrastructure to ensure we successfully deliver on our outcomes. This included:
- further developing our people to provide them with the skills and knowledge they need to do their work
- implementing new technology-based systems to improve our performance, for example the introduction of an advanced telecommunications platform.
International relationships
We continued to build relationships with other tax administrations and international organisations. These relationships provide the opportunity to share experiences on administration and policy issues and identify risks to the tax base. They also allow us to be involved in developing appropriate solutions to those issues.
In 2005-06, Robin Oliver (Deputy Commissioner, Policy) was elected Deputy Chair of the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development's Committee on Fiscal Affairs. This is a great achievement for Robin as the Committee has an important role in setting international standards for taxation law and shaping tax policy thinking.
Key Government initiatives
During the year we invested significant resources in development work on Government initiatives, particularly in meeting the Government's election commitments. The introduction of interest-free student loans and the expansion of Working for Families both had major implications for us in terms of implementing and resourcing the changes.
We also continued to prepare for the introduction of the proposed KiwiSaver programme.
A key Government initiative is its Business Tax Review. As part of the Review, our Policy Advice Division, working with The Treasury, have advised Ministers on options to produce better incentives for productivity gains and improved competitiveness with Australia. This resulted in a discussion document that was released in late July 2006.
Inland Revenue's strategic business plan
During 2005-06, we refreshed our longer-term strategic direction and desired future, which are important platforms for achieving our outcomes over the next five years. The plan contains a balance of what needs to change and what needs to continue. It proposes the continuation of our efforts to create an environment which encourages compliance. It also strengthens our focus on optimising organisational efficiency and reducing compliance costs over time.
Associated with the refreshed strategic business plan, we have made changes to how we organise ourselves to ensure:
- a more focused approach to gaining an insight into our customers
- better cohesion in our assistance work
- greater alignment of our audit, technical and legal activities.
I am proud of what we have achieved and am confident that we will continue to deliver improved service in the coming years.
David Butler
Chief Executive and Commissioner of Inland Revenue
Date published: 29 Nov 2006
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