My family details and income (Online forms help)

The principal child carer is the person responsible for the day-to-day care of the children and must be aged 16 or over. This doesn't include part-time carers or childminders.

IRD number

Format eg 123-456-789 or 123456789. If your IRD number only has eight digits, you can put a 0 at the start.

If your spouse or partner doesn't remember their IRD number, they can find it at the top of any Inland Revenue return or correspondence, or they can call us on 0800 277 774.

If your spouse or partner doesn't have an IRD number, they need to complete an IRD number application - individual (IR595). They can get this from "Forms and guides" or by calling INFOexpress on 0800 257 773.

Children

You can receive Working for Families tax credits for children who are:

not working full-time (more than 30 hours a week), and
not receiving a benefit, student allowance or other government assistance, and
15 years or younger, or
16 or 17 years and not financially independent, or
18 years of age and still at secondary school or a tertiary institution. Working for Families tax credits are paid to the end of the calendar year (31 December) in which the child turns 18, or the date the child becomes financially independent, whichever is earlier.

You can't claim Working for Families tax credits for children if you receive a war pension or a war allowance that includes a parent's allowance.

Children's details

IRD number - children

If any of your children don't have an IRD number, you must fill in an IR595 - IRD number application - individual. You can get this from "Forms and guides" or by calling INFOexpress on 0800 257 773.

We pay Working for Families tax credits for eight weeks without your child's IRD number, to give you time to get the necessary information (birth certificate or other information). If we haven't received an IRD number for the child after eight weeks, the Working for Families tax credits for that child will stop.

Paid parental leave and parental tax credit

Expectant mothers and adoptive parents can receive paid parental leave payments when they take parental leave from their job to care for a new child, if they meet certain criteria.

Parental tax credit is for principal child carers who are not receiving an income-tested benefit, student allowance or ACC.

You can't receive both paid parental leave and parental tax credit for the same child. If you meet the criteria for both payments you should choose which payment would be more beneficial for your family. Once you've chosen which payment you'd like to receive, you can't change your mind. If you need information on how to decide which payment to apply for, call us on 0800 377 777.

For more information about paid parental leave, visit the Employment Relations Service (ERS) website at the Department of Labour under "Related websites", or call them on 0800 20 90 20.

For more information see the "Parental tax credit" section of our site.

Shared care

Shared care is when you share the care of any child with someone else, for example an ex-spouse. You can claim Working for Families tax credits for that child only if the time spent caring for your child totals, on average, at least one-third of the year (122 days a year).

For example, if you have custody of your child for all school holidays (usually 12 weeks a year) and every second weekend, you will qualify for Working for Families tax credits (12 weeks [84 days] plus every second weekend [40 days] = 124 days a year).

Family income sources

Please complete the details of all sources of income you and/or your spouse or partner receive to make sure you receive the right amount of Working for Families tax credits.

Salary and wages

Salary and wages include:

overtime
government work scheme payments
bonuses
taxable allowances
redundancies
paid parental leave payments
schedular payments (formerly withholding payments)
employer contributions to certain superannuation schemes.

If you're unsure of your annual income (income before tax has been deducted) you can estimate it. All you need to know is your weekly, fortnightly or monthly gross pay, then use our PAYE calculator to work out your annual income, or call us on 0800 227 773.

Business income

Includes all income from self-employment, business, partnership, overseas, or shareholder-employee salary.

Child support

Child support is money paid by parents who aren't living with their children to help financially support them. Inland Revenue Child Support administers the child support scheme.

Child maintenance

Child maintenance is money paid by parents who aren't living with their children to help financially support them. This is a private arrangement where both parties agree to the amount to be paid - it isn't administered by Inland Revenue.

Child support received from Inland Revenue

You'll find details of your child support entitlements on your child support Notice of Entitlement, or you can call us on 0800 221 221.

Child support paid to Inland Revenue

You'll find details of your child support payments on your child support Notice of Assessment, or you can call us on 0800 221 221.

NZ Super or veteran's pension

If you're unsure of your rate for NZ Super, check with Work and Income. Pensions and annuities received from New Zealand-registered superannuation funds, for example, Government Superannuation, are not included as income for Working for Families tax credits purposes. If you're in any doubt whether your pension or annuity is exempt, contact your fund's office.

Student allowance

You need to estimate how much student allowance you'll receive from StudyLink. You can access the StudyLink website from our "Related websites" section.

Accident compensation

Enter the amount you and/or your spouse or partner have or will get from the Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC), private insurer or employer.

In-work tax credit

This is a payment for families who normally work the following minimum number of hours a week:

a two-parent family where one or both parents between them normally work at least 30 hours a week
a single parent normally working at least 20 hours or more a week.

You're not entitled to in-work tax credit if you receive an income-tested benefit, student allowance or parent's allowance (only in relation to war pensions and war allowances). If you receive NZ Super you must work the required hours to be entitled to in-work tax credit.

Learn more about in-work tax credit under the section"Working for Families tax credits - Learn about Working for Families tax credits" on our site.

Minimum family tax credit

This is an extra payment to ensure that a family's annual income (net income after tax has been deducted) doesn't fall below $20,540 a year ($395.00 per week) for the tax year ending 31 March 2010.

To claim this payment, at least one parent must be working for salary or wages and work the following hours:

in a sole-parent family, at least 20 hours a week
in a two-parent family, a total of at least 30 hours a week for one or both parents.

Learn more about in-work tax credit and minimum family tax credit under the section "Working for Families tax credits - learn about Working for Families tax credits" on our site.

Date stopped living together

This date is the date that you and your ex-partner stopped living together. This can't be a date in the future.

Date started living together

This date is the date that you and your ex-partner started living together. This can't be a date in the future.

Child date of birth

This is the date that the child was born. It can't be a date in the future.

Date care started

This is the date that the child started living with you, or will start living with you.

Date care ended

This is the date that the child stopped living with you or will stop living with you.

Is this child in New Zealand, and a New Zealand resident?

In order to meet the residency criteria for Working for Families tax credits, you must meet one of the following criteria:

the principal caregiver must be "resident" and present in New Zealand for a continuous period of 12 months at any time, and also tax resident at the time of the claim, or
the child has to be both "resident" and present in New Zealand.

"Resident" refers to a person who is lawfully resident and not simply under a visitor or study permit or a temporary work permit.

Child born on or before 31/12/05

If the principal caregiver was unable to meet the first point in the residency criteria but the child was born in New Zealand, then that child will be eligible for Working for Families Tax Credits.

This is because under the citizenship law, a child born in New Zealand was a New Zealand resident irrespective of the residency status of its parents.

Child born on or after 1/1/06

A child born in New Zealand (or in the Cook Islands, Niue or Tokelau) on or after 1/1/06 will only be a New Zealand citizen if at least one of their parents:

is a New Zealand citizen, or
has permanent residency (ie is entitled to be in New Zealand or Australia indefinitely), or
is entitled to reside indefinitely in the Cook Islands, Tokelau or Niue.

A child born in New Zealand will be a New Zealand citizen provided they are not a resident of another country. We will need evidence from Internal Affairs/Immigration if you advise us that the child is a New Zealand citizen on the basis of them otherwise being stateless.

This means that parents who are not "resident" will no longer be able to claim Working for Families tax credits for children who are born in New Zealand on or after 1/1/06.

Parents who are not "resident" will continue to be able to claim Working for Families tax credits for children born in New Zealand on or before 31/12/05.

Contact the Department of Internal Affairs about citizenship applications under "Related websites" if you want to know more about this.

Bank account details

Format eg 12-1234-1234567-12
(where Bank = 12, Branch = 1234, Account = 1234567, Suffix = 12)

Note: It's important that you fill in all the boxes, so if your branch or account number isn't long enough, put zeroes in at the start of the number.

eg Branch 234 would be entered as Branch 0234.

We must pay Working for Families tax credits to the principal child carer, so the bank account must be in your name. If the payment is going to a joint account, you must be an account holder.

Credit union account holders

To get your Working for Families tax credits direct-credited to a credit union account:

Contact your credit union and ask for their "holding account number". Enter this number in the space provided for the bank account number.
In the reference number field, enter the reference number(s) your credit union needs to transfer your payment to your account.
Tell the credit union to transfer your payment from the holding account to your own account. You'll need to give them your IRD number, so your payment can be matched to your account.

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Date published: 24 Aug 2009

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