Under sections 154(1)(b), 155 and 156 of the Privacy Act 2020, the Privacy Commissioner has specified the following reporting in respect of the approved information sharing agreement listed in schedule 2A of the Privacy Act between Inland Revenue and the Ministry of Social Development (MSD) to facilitate the following public services.
- The accurate and efficient assessment of eligibility for, and entitlement to, benefits and subsidies.
- The accurate and efficient assessment and enforcement of tax obligations, including recovering any associated debt.
- The accurate and efficient assessment and enforcement of obligations relating to benefits and subsidies, including recovering any associated debt.
Inland Revenue will collate the following information annually (for the period between 1 July and 30 June) and report the information in its annual report for that year.
Scale
| Metric | Shares derived from: | 2019-20 | 2020-21 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scale | |||
| Administration of shared services | |||
| Number of records disclosed (MSD to Inland Revenue) | Commencement Cessation benefits/students | 1,081 | 610 |
| Housing Share | Note 1 | Note 1 | |
| Child support administration | 94,3782 | 94,3782 | |
| Student Loan Programme | 5,547,3033 | 24,531,906 | |
| Administration of social assistance | |||
| Number of records disclosed (Inland Revenue to MSD) | Community Service Card | 5,908,889 | 3,066,557 |
| Commencement Cessation benefits/students | 1,081 | 610 | |
| Proactive Information Share - benefits and students | 429,025 | 303,626 | |
| Housing Share | Note 1 | Note 1 | |
| Child support administration | 402,0472 | 402,0472 | |
| Student Loan Programme | 42,4503 | 387,504 | |
Benefits (quantitative)
| Metric | 2019-20 | 2020-21 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Administration of shared services (Inland Revenue) | |||
| Number of services automatically transferred | Working for Family Tax Credit (WfFTC) administration | 21,583 | 19,667 |
| Value of services stopped (over-payments) | WfFTC double payment (number) | 1,170 | 995 |
| WfFTC double payment (value) | $241,017 | Note 5 | |
| Administration of social assistance (MSD) (across product range) | |||
| Services offered or renewed (number) | Community Services Card | 203,992 | 415,134 |
| Service cancellations (number) | Proactive Information Share - benefits and students | 725 | 33 |
| Housing Share | Note 1 | Note 1 | |
| Adverse action notices (number sent) | Community Services Card | 0 | 14,473 |
| Commencement Cessation benefits/students | 4 | 1 | |
| Proactive Information Share - benefits and students | 43,930 | 15,9854 | |
| Housing Share | Note 1 | Note 1 | |
| Challenges (number received, and number upheld) | Community Services Card (received) | 0 | 75 |
| Community Services Card (upheld) | 0 | 23 | |
| Commencement Cessation benefits/students (received) | 0 | 0 | |
| Commencement Cessation benefits/students (upheld) | 0 | 0 | |
| Proactive Information Share - benefits and students (received) | 171 | 176 | |
| Proactive Information Share - benefits and students (upheld) | 79 | 36 | |
| Housing Share (received) | Note 1 | Note 1 | |
| Housing Share (upheld) | Note 1 | Note 1 | |
| Overpayments established (number and value) | Commencement Cessation benefits/students (number) | 0 | 0 |
| Commencement Cessation benefits/students (value) | $0 | $0 | |
| Proactive Information Share - benefits and students (number) | 10,971 | 5,247 | |
| Proactive Information Share - benefits and students (value) | $25,780,688 | $12,363,552 | |
| Housing Share (number) | Note 1 | Note 1 | |
| Housing Share (value) | Note 1 | Note 1 | |
| Arrears created (number and value) | Commencement Cessation benefits/students (number) | 0 | 0 |
| Commencement Cessation benefits/students (value) | $0 | $0 | |
| Proactive Information Share - benefits and students (number) | 14 | 0 | |
| Proactive Information Share - benefits and students (value) | $1,637 | $0 | |
| Housing Share (number) | Note 1 | Note 1 | |
| Housing Share (value) | Note 1 | Note 1 | |
| Referrals for suspected fraud (number) | Proactive Information Share - benefits and students | 0 | 0 |
| Housing Share | Note 1 | Note 1 | |
| Prosecutions successful (number) | Proactive Information Share - benefits and students | 10 | 5 |
| Housing Share | Note 1 | Note 1 | |
Notes
1 Housing Shares not yet commenced - MSD’s intention was to improve how it delivers services to customers by expanding the information sharing with Inland Revenue in this area. Due to other Ministry priorities, resources to implement these changes have not yet been prioritised.
2 Estimated (as agreed with the Office of the Privacy Commissioner).
3 Transactions recorded in Inland revenue’s START system that occurred between 16 April and 30 June 2020. Due to data migration as part of Inland Revenue’s Business Transformation Programme, the whole year could not be reported on.
4 The programme was on hold for most of the year, as MSD staff were diverted to other priority COVID-19 related tasks, resulting in a reduction in proactive information share (records were still received from Inland Revenue). The figure reported for ‘Proactive Information Share - benefits and students’ means ‘Clients with a case or an investigation created'. An adverse action letter may not need to be sent to the client in all situations and multiple letters may be sent in some situations.
5 The $ value of the Working for Family Tax Credit double payment could not be assessed due to a change of reporting system.
Qualitative benefits
In the 2020-21 year.
- The information sharing under this AISA has effectively helped MSD to assess eligibility for Community Services Cards and benefits and identify over-payments. It is also the most effective way for Inland Revenue and MSD to ensure customers receive their correct Working for Families Tax Credit entitlements.
- There have been no data breaches under the AISA.
- Data was continually shared through the period. However, it was not reviewed by MSD as a result of resources being diverted to the COVID- 19 response, which impacted both the Commencement Cessation Benefits/Student Match and Proactive Information Share.
Assurance
In the 2020-21 year.
- MSD and Inland Revenue have received no privacy complaints about the operation of the information sharing under the AISA.
- There has been no change to the Order in Council.