Tax and social policy payments centred around our customers

"I remember being a young woman in the 1980s dreading the delivery of tax forms and grappling with the complex end of year tax forms that never made sense to me, and that I inevitably stuffed up. I remember the fear each year of waiting for a tax bill to arrive and wondering how I managed to get a bill when I had no control over the money that went into my account, and how I was going to pay the bill. I love the fact the system is now automated. It has reduced end of year stress for me and others I know."
An Inland Revenue customer.

This year, we finished our multi-year programme to transform tax and social policy payments. Aotearoa New Zealand now has a modern, digital system that enables customers to do as much for themselves as possible, in ways and at times that suit them. The transformed system makes it easier for customers to pay and receive the right amounts. It is:

• based around customers' needs
• easy to use
• near real-time and highly automated
• integrated with other systems and software
• responsive and flexible
• fit for the future.

Before transformation, it was getting more and more difficult for Te Tari Taake, Inland Revenue to provide the level of service New Zealanders expected and deserved, and to quickly deliver what the Government wanted us to do. We needed to change to ensure we could deliver what was expected of us.

These expectations included cutting compliance costs for taxpayers, effort for businesses and the cost of running the tax system. A key aim was to make it more difficult for people to fall into overdue debt and easier for them to manage their tax payments.

We knew we needed to be able to respond more rapidly to changes the Government wanted us to make - what we did not know was just how important this would be. When COVID-19 arrived in early 2020, customers coping with the impacts of the pandemic needed us to get support to them as quickly and as easily as possible.

We were able to move quickly to support customers and the Government's response because of the changes implemented as part of our transformation. Our people have used their new capabilities and drive to help New Zealanders during these challenging times. We've rolled out changes to our system and processes and implemented new products while dealing with pandemic restrictions, earthquakes and building evacuations.

We could not have delivered all these changes successfully without the support of our partners, colleagues and the organisations we work with every day.