This category is limited to the provision of services to help Ministers fulfil their responsibilities to Parliament and the New Zealand public, other than policy decision-making responsibilities, and to provide information and assistance to the public to make them aware of their obligations and entitlements.
We provide services and information to help taxpayers and other customers meet their payment obligations and receive payments they are entitled to, and help Ministers fulfil their responsibilities to Parliament and the New Zealand public.
We provide certainty and clarity through public guidance, taxpayer rulings and advice, dispute reviews and an escalation service for technical issues.
This year, we focused our resources on delivering the Government's COVID-19-related initiatives and supporting customers who were adversely affected by the pandemic. This meant that we prioritised COVID-19 support and social policy payments. The trade-off was reducing some services.
We continued to give certainty and clarity, developing public guidance on various topics including:
- the deductibility of meal expenses for people who are self-employed
- tax obligations of online content creators
- how to return foreign-sourced income
- how to use foreign exchange rates
- the deductibility of abnormal expenditure caused by COVID-19
- the taxation implications of the Clean Car Discount Scheme
- GST obligations for importers (a joint initiative with Te Mana Ārai o Aotearoa the New Zealand Customs Service).
Through taxpayer rulings, we give our interpretation of how the law applies in specific circumstances. This year, we ruled on arrangements worth $8.40 billion with associated tax of more than $1.59 billion. The demand for rulings was relatively strong. The significant transactions we ruled on involved business reorganisations, financing arrangements, charities and capital reductions. We often ruled on the application of general and specific anti-avoidance provisions. We provided our first rulings on the new company loss carry-forward continuity of business activities provisions. We also ruled on cryptocurrency transactions and issues of permanent establishment.
This year, we achieved 10 out of 12 measures for the 'Services to Ministers and to inform the public about entitlements and meeting obligations' category in the 'Services for customers' appropriation, the same result as in 2020-21.
| 2020-21 actual | Performance measure | 2021-22 target | 2021-22 actual | 2022-23 target |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 85% | Percentage of customers who perceive that Inland Revenue does enough to inform them of their rights and obligations[1] | 85% | 81% (not achieved) | Measure retired (refer to 'Changes to measures and targets') |
| Not achieved - We expect that the decrease in customers' perceptions that we do enough to inform them of their rights and obligations was influenced by the longer response times they experienced this year. The result may also reflect where customers self-serving in myIR are getting used to changes made in October 2021, when we improved and customised some elements. We acknowledge it can take a while for customers to get used to the changes. | ||||
| 79% | Percentage of customers who perceive that resolving issues with Inland Revenue requires low effort[1] | 80% | 78% (not achieved) | Measure retired (refer to 'Changes to measures and targets') |
| Not achieved - In 2021-22, we focused on supporting customers through the COVID-19 pandemic and upholding the integrity of the tax and social policy system. These priorities and increased customer demand, particularly web messages, meant it took us longer to respond to some customers than we would have liked. | ||||
| 3 minutes 46 seconds | Average speed to answer telephone calls | 4 minutes 30 seconds or less | 4 minutes 14 seconds (achieved) | 4 minutes 30 seconds or less |
| 98.2% | Percentage of returns filed digitally | 97% | 98.7% (achieved) | Measure retired (refer to 'Changes to measures and targets') |
| 100% | Percentage of all rulings reports, adjudication reports and public items that meet the applicable purpose, logic, alternatives, consultation, and practicality standards | 100% | 100% (achieved) | 100% |
| 27 | Number of published or finalised public items that give the Commissioner's interpretation of the law | 25 | 26 (achieved) | Measure retired (refer to 'Changes to measures and targets') |
| 100% | Percentage of public items (including relevant public consultation) completed within 18 months of allocation | 85% | 100% (achieved) | 85% |
| 97.4% | Percentage of adjudication cases completed within 10 weeks of receipt | 90% | 94.7% (achieved) | 90% |
| 96.8% | Percentage of taxpayer ruling applications that have a draft ruling completed within 10 weeks of receipt | 90% | 92.5% (achieved) | 90% |
| 100% | Percentage of non-qualifying ruling applications that have a draft ruling completed within 6 months of receipt | 90% | 100% (achieved) | 90% |
| 96.3% | Percentage of submissions by the applicant on any draft ruling responded to within 1 month of receipt | 90% | 93.9% (achieved) | 90% |
| 95.4% | Percentage of short-process rulings that have a draft ruling completed within 6 weeks of receipt | 90% | 100% (achieved) | 90% |
Changes to measures and targets
1 Actual performance measured using a sample of the customer population from our Customer Satisfaction and Perceptions Survey. The survey asks customers to rate their experiences on a 5-point scale. Results represent customers who gave a score of 3 or more. ↩
All targets are unaudited.
| Actual 2021 ($000) | Actual 2022 ($000) | Unaudited revised budget 2022 ($000) | Unaudited budget 2022 ($000) | Unaudited forecast 2023 ($000) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | |||||
| $241,023 | Revenue from the Crown | $268,884 | $268,884 | $232,374 | $311,933 |
| $911 | Other revenue | $1,350 | $1,045 | $1,045 | $1,045 |
| $241,934 | Total revenue | $270,234 | $269,929 | $233,419 | $312,978 |
| $240,565 | Total expenses | $256,119 | $269,929 | $233,419 | $312,978 |
| $1,369 | Net surplus or (deficit) | $14,115 | n/a | n/a | n/a |