Personal tax summaries (PTS)
| Note | |
|---|---|
| From 1 October 2008 personal income tax and Working for Families Tax Credit rates will change. For more information see the News and Updates article. We'll update this page when the changes take effect. | |
What is a personal tax summary (PTS)?
A PTS is for salary and wage earners and shows your income and tax deduction details for the year. These details are based on the employment, pension or benefit information provided to us each month by your employer. Your PTS tells you if:
- you've overpaid your tax and are due a refund, or
- you've underpaid your tax and have tax to pay.
Will I be sent a PTS?
We'll automatically send you a PTS by mid-July if you:
- received Working for Families Tax Credits (previously family assistance) from us
- received Working for Families Tax Credits (previously family assistance) from Work and Income and earned over:
- $35,000 for 2007 and future years
- $20,356 for the 2005 and 2006 tax years
- $20,000 for the 2004 and previous tax years
- have a student loan and have not had enough money deducted from your salary, wage or benefit income
- used the wrong tax code
- used a special tax code
- used a casual agricultural employee (CAE) or an election day worker (EDW) tax code and earned more than $200 from that source
- received income as an IR56 taxpayer only. See "Find out more" below.
We send your PTS in July because we need to process all the employment details that your employer sends us at the end of the tax year.
Do I have to request a PTS?
Some people who don't automatically receive a PTS need to request one in August.
| You must request a PTS if you... | and you... |
|---|---|
|
received income between $38,000 and $60,000 |
received more than $200 of interest taxed at less than 33% |
|
received income over $60,000 |
received more than $200 of interest or dividends taxed at less than 39% |
|
received income over $38,000 |
received more than $200 of taxable Maori authority distributions |
|
paid child support through Inland Revenue |
received more than $200 of interest, dividends or taxable Maori authority distributions |
|
have a student loan and earned over the repayment threshold of $17,784 (for the 2008 tax year) |
received more than $200 of interest, dividends or taxable Maori authority distributions |
Use our online questionnaire
From April, you can check if you need to request a PTS for the tax year just ended by using our questionnaire Do you need to file an IR3 return or receive a personal tax summary?
Who should request a PTS?
You may be entitled to a refund if you:
- are entitled to the child tax credit (formerly rebate) and/or the income under $9,880 tax credit. See "Find out more" below for information about tax credits.
- earned less than $38,000 and received dividends
- had more than one job during the year
- worked for only part of the year
- can claim expenses against your income. See What expenses can be claimed on your PTS? below.
Work out if you should request a PTS
If you request a PTS and it calculates that you have tax to pay, you'll have to pay the amount shown. To check if you're due a refund before requesting a PTS, you can use the Personal tax summary calculator.
You'll need your income details to use the calculator. You can get these from:
- our Look at account information service (you'll need to be registered to use this service), or
- your summary of earnings. You can request a summary of earnings by using the Request a summary of earnings service under "Get it done online".
If the result is a refund, you'll need to request a PTS to get your refund.
How to request a PTS
From August, you can request a PTS by using the Request a personal tax summary service under "Get it done online". You'll need to have the following information when you request one:
- any interest, dividend or taxable Maori authority distribution details
- whether you're entitled to the child tax credit (formerly rebate) or the income under $9,880 tax credit
- any expenses you can claim.
You'll receive your PTS within approximately 45 working days.
Note
You can request a PTS for any of the last five years but not earlier. For example from 1 April 2008 you will no longer be able to request a PTS for the tax year ending March 2003.
What expenses can be claimed on a PTS?
You can claim the following expenses on your PTS:
- a fee charged by someone for completing your tax return
- commission on interest or dividend income (but not bank fees)
- interest on money you borrowed to buy shares or to invest, as long as the investment will produce some income that's taxable
- premiums on loss of earnings insurance, provided the benefit from the insurance policy is taxable income.
Getting a PTS if you also receive Working for Families Tax Credits, have a student loan or pay child support
Working for Families Tax Credits (previously family assistance)
If you receive Working for Families Tax Credits from us, you'll be sent a form at the end of the tax year, which shows your family details that we've used to calculate your Working for Families Tax Credits entitlement.
You need to check that the information on this form is correct. If you need to make any changes to your family details shown on the form, you just need to call us and we can update your details.
Student loans
If you have a student loan and receive a PTS, we'll also send you an end of year repayment calculation to square up your student loan repayments.
Find out more: The end of year square up process for student loans
Child support
We use the income details from employer monthly schedules to work out child support annual assessments. If you're liable to pay child support and you receive more than $200 of interest, dividends or taxable Maori authority distributions (even if they were taxed at the right rate) you need to request a PTS. This is so we can include this information when calculating your child support liability.
What happens next
Your PTS will show if you're due a refund, if you have tax to pay, or if you've paid the correct amount of tax. See "Find out more" below for information about how to understand your PTS and what to do if you have a refund or tax to pay.
What happens when
| Date | What happens |
|---|---|
|
June and July |
PTS sent |
|
August |
Request a personal tax summary service available online |
|
Once PTS is sent |
Refunds less than $200 issued automatically |
Find out more
Next steps
Date published: 01 Jul 2008
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