Robert Russell, Commissioner of Inland Revenue

Inland Revenue plays a crucial role in supporting the economic and social well-being of New Zealanders. Our job is to collect and distribute revenue on behalf of the Government and the tax revenue we collect goes towards funding essential services, like healthcare, education, policing, and roads.

We know that most New Zealanders do their best to get their tax and social support payments right.

We try to make it as easy as possible for people to get it right by providing information, self-assessment tools and online services.

While most individuals and businesses do want to comply, there are some who face challenges that make it hard to comply. Certainly, we know this is the case for some people in Christchurch now. We will continue to support our customers experiencing real hardship, offering help and assistance wherever we can.

For the small number of individuals and businesses who are reluctant to comply we make sure their activities don't go undetected for long. We know there are those who simply get it wrong and those who choose to cheat the system.

When someone doesn't pay their share of tax, the burden of payment falls on other people. By doing the right thing yourself, and helping other people do the right thing, you are making your contribution to the services and the lifestyle we all value.

Our Compliance Focus Document, that's its title, outlines how we are working with those people who do not pay what they owe. It also summarises what you can do to support compliance and make New Zealand a great place to live.

We will continue our focus on industries such as hospitality, scrap metal, fishing and aquaculture, tourism, agricultural and horticultural industries to improve compliance.

We're also visiting people running their businesses online and not declaring that income.  We're keeping a close eye on individuals and businesses participating in short-term residential accommodation around major events, like the Rugby World Cup this year. We've also added ACC providers and the construction industry to our areas of interest.

Looking back at what we said we'd do last year, I'm really pleased to report some positive results and achievements. Some of the highlights, for me, involve situations where we identified issues early and acted quickly.

For example, we've been trying some innovative, targeted ways of reminding customers of their obligations.  As part of an early intervention debt campaign we sent txt messages to customers before their payment became overdue, resulting in more than $48 million in debt being repaid.  New debts have reduced, particularly debts less than one year old, and on-time filing has increased.

The Student Loans programme is producing positive results as well.  We've gone off-shore to reach defaulting debtors living in Australia and the UK.  Since the campaign began in October last year, more than $2 million of overdue debt has been repaid.

The way we are building relationships with other organisations, like the Hospitality Association of New Zealand and the Investment Savings and Insurance Association, as well as other government agencies is another key to our success.  We are educating, informing and encouraging compliance with and through them.

At times, compliance visits, investigations and prosecutions produce unexpected, but welcome, results, like a single $2.2 million voluntary disclosure from the hospitality industry.

All of this together has resulted in an extra $118 million in revenue, which exceeds the Government's targeted return on investment for the 2010-11 year.

In 2009/10 we collected almost $50 billion - in fact almost 90 per cent of core Crown revenue.

Our goal for the year ahead is to build on those successes. The cost of tax evasion is one all New Zealanders bear, but it's one none of us can really afford.

Hon Peter Dunne, Minister of Revenue

This year's Budget saw the government place renewed emphasis on economic recovery.

The Christchurch earthquakes are a reminder of how important it is that we all pay the right amount of tax.  Rebuilding Christchurch and enabling its citizens, its families and business to play their part in our economic revival means we need everyone to pay their share.

Inland Revenue plays a central role in collecting and distributing money so that funds are available for government programmes.  Inland Revenue also administers many of our social policy programmes, enabling people to participate in society.

Revenue is needed for every successful programme the government implements, like lowering the road toll, reducing family violence and immunisation programmes that protect our elderly and our young. And it's needed to pay for our roads, hospitals, schools, emergency recovery and other things we all benefit from.

As part of Budget 2010, the government allocated $247.5 million over ten years so that Inland Revenue could focus on reducing debt, targeting those involved in the hidden economy and increasing compliance with our property tax regulations.

With this, Inland Revenue has intensified its efforts to prevent people falling into debt with great results. The Hidden Economy area has exceeded its return on investment goal and property compliance is on track to do the same for 2010-11.

I'm pleased by the progress made so far and I'm confident in Inland Revenue's approach. I look forward to hearing about many more successes in the coming year.