Donations, childcare and housekeeper tax credits
- Who can claim a tax credit
- Find out if you qualify for a tax credit
- Maximum amounts you can claim
- Sharing receipts - married couples, civil unions and de facto relationships
- Claiming your tax credit
- Notification of your refund
- Updating your claim for the same tax year
If you:
- made financial donations to a donee organisation, or
- paid for childcare or a housekeeper (in certain situations)
in the last tax year, you can claim part of it back as a tax credit.
You'll get a refund, unless you:
- have arrears, or
- ask for it to be transferred to another account, or
- made your donation through payroll giving.
Who can claim a tax credit
You can claim a tax credit if you:
- earned taxable income (such as salary or wages, benefit, NZ Super, self-employed income, interest and dividends) during the year you're claiming for
- were resident in New Zealand at any time during that tax year (including non-residents)
- are an individual (not a company, trust or partnership), and
- meet the criteria in the "Find out if you qualify for a tax credit" table below.
Note
You'll need to include your receipts with your claim.
Find out if you qualify for a tax credit
|
You can claim a tax credit for ... |
if ... |
|---|---|
| donations |
you have receipts to show that you donated $5 or more to:
See Donee organisations under "Find out more" below to check whether the organisation you donated to is approved. |
| childcare |
your child(ren) was either under 18 or unable to work because of a disability, and:
You also need to have receipts to show that you paid for childcare.
Exceptions: |
| a housekeeper | you have receipts to show that you paid for a housekeeper, because you (or your partner) were disabled or physically unable to do housework. |
Maximum amounts you can claim
The maximum amounts you can claim are not limited by the amount of tax you have paid or are liable to pay. However you are limited by the certain amounts as set out below under "Donations", and "Childcare and housekeeper payments".
Donations
| If donations are made in the tax year ending ... | then you can claim the lesser of ... | Find out more |
|---|---|---|
| 31 March 2009 and future years |
|
See Greater tax incentives for charitable donations for the new thresholds. |
| 31 March 2003 to 31 March 2008 |
|
|
| 31 March 2002 and previous years |
|
Childcare and housekeeper payments (for all tax years)
You can claim the lesser of:
- 33% of the total payments you have made, or
- $310 ($940 x 33%), or
- 33% of your taxable income.
Note
Your claim is worked out on the cost of childcare for all children that are eligible, not per child.
Important - further limitation
The total qualifying donations, childcare and housekeeper payments you can claim can't exceed your taxable income. If you have a spouse or partner, they may claim your excess receipts (see "Sharing receipts" below.)
Otherwise, if your claim does exceed your taxable income, your donations and payments made will need to be reduced to the level of your taxable income.
Sharing receipts - married couples, civil unions and de facto relationships
If you have a:
- spouse
- civil union partner, or
- de facto partner
who is eligible to make a claim, they can claim the balance of your donation, childcare and housekeeper payments, up to the relevant maximum. This applies whether the receipt is in one person's name or in joint names. If you do share your receipts with your spouse/partner you will need to advise us of their details when you make your claim.
Donations tax credit
The maximum donation tax credits are based on individual claims. If one partner has donated more than the maximum amount, their partner can claim the balance (up to their maximum amount).
Example
Mary and John have donated $50,000 to their child's school for the tax year ending 31 March 2009. The receipt was issued in both names.
Mary's taxable income is $40,000 so she can only claim a maximum of $40,000. The remainder of the donation can be claimed by John.
His taxable income is more than $10,000, so he can claim the donation tax credit for the remaining $10,000
Childcare and housekeeper tax credit
Either partner can claim the maximum amount in full, or both partners can file separate tax credit claim forms, as long as the combined claim isn't more than the maximum amount. For example, if you paid $940 or more, you can split the claim with your partner, provided the combined total of both claims doesn't exceed $310.
Note
There are different rules for the tax year ending 31 March 2007 and previous years. If you were in a de facto relationship, both you and your de facto partner are each able to claim up to $310.
Claiming your tax credit
If you're claiming a donation, childcare or housekeeper tax credit, find out first if you can claim these tax credits.
You can claim a tax credit for the previous tax year (1 April to 31 March) from the following April. We'll only accept an early tax credit claim form (prior to April) if you're:
- completing the claim on behalf of a deceased person, or
- going overseas permanently or for a significant amount of time.
Note
If your donations were made to an approved donee organisation through your employer's payroll giving scheme you can't use the IR526 for these donations. You received the tax credits for these at the time of your donation.
You can use the IR526 to claim tax credits for donations not made through payroll giving.
What you need to complete the claim form
- Your IRD number
- Your bank account number
- Receipts for donations, childcare or housekeeper payments. Find out about replacement receipts.
What you need to do
| Tell me how... | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Get a tax credit claim form |
If you claimed one of these tax credits (formerly rebates) last year:
|
| 2 |
Complete the form |
Fill in only the questions on the form that apply to you. You don't have to do any calculations. We'll do them for you. |
| 3 |
Send the form to us at one of the addresses below |
Remember to attach all your receipts for donations, childcare and housekeeper payments.
|
Where to send your completed claim form
| If you are closest to ... | then send the form to Inland Revenue at ... |
|---|---|
| Takapuna or Manukau | PO Box 1454, Waikato Mail Centre, Hamilton 3240 |
| Hamilton, Tauranga, Rotorua, Gisborne, New Plymouth, Napier, Palmerston North or Wellington | PO Box 39090, Wellington Mail Centre, Lower Hutt 5045 |
| Whangarei, Nelson, Greymouth, Christchurch, Timaru, Dunedin or Invercargill | PO Box 3752, Christchurch Mail Centre, Christchurch 8140 |
Notification of your refund
We'll send you notification of your refund amount within six weeks which will be direct credited to the bank account you nominated on your form, unless you:
- have a debt with us, or
- ask for it to be transferred to another account.
Updating your claim for the same tax year
If you send in your form and later want to make another tax credit claim for the same tax year, just send us your receipts with your name, address and IRD number and we'll update your claim.
Find out more
Date published: 18 May 2010
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