We will increasingly work with other agencies where we can contribute and create greater value for our country. IR is also looking to work more with third parties in the private sector to deliver better services to New Zealanders.
Simpler and more integrated public services
IR actively participates in broader system work and supports other agencies in their system leadership roles to make it easier for New Zealanders to take ownership of their personal information and data and to interact digitally with government and the private sector.
We worked with the Department of Internal Affairs Te Tari Taiwhenua (DIA) on the Digital Identity Services Trust Framework. Legislation enacting the framework came into force on 1 July 2024 and we were significantly involved in its development. We continue to work closely with DIA on developing the supporting mechanisms for the framework, including rules and regulations and how they are administered.
The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment Hīkina Whakatutuki (MBIE) is the lead agency for the Consumer and Product Data Bill. We are engaging with MBIE to ensure we support the goal of enabling New Zealanders to securely share data held about them with third parties.
IR is represented on the group convened by DIA to look at service modernisation, including developing a roadmap for digitising government services. We’re working with DIA to identify opportunities across the public sector to accelerate the development of customer-centric digital services.
Co-designing digital solutions
We know it’s important to have strong relationships with third parties and work with them to make tax administration more efficient and effective. As part of our digital ecosystem work, we are exploring how we can work with a wider range of third parties and share data more easily with other organisations.
To build capability, IR is using the OECD work on Tax administration 3.0 as a guide and actively participating in the digital transformation working group. We have set up a Digital Advisory Group with membership from Digital Service Providers Australia New Zealand (DSPANZ), an industry association representing the business software sector.
Most digital interactions with the tax system are now handled via gateway services, facilitated by third-party software and cross government information-shares. During peak periods, gateway services handle around 65 million transactions a month and we expect this to grow significantly as the digital ecosystem expands.
We are taking steps to ensure we are better equipped to fully realise the benefits delivered by gateway services and can better engage with and support the software development community.
We are progressively implementing a solution to centralise knowledge, relationship and developer management, issue management and onboarding to create a one-stop-shop for developers using gateway services to support customers’ digital compliance. Once fully implemented, this will deliver a better developer experience, ensure IR can continue to successfully deliver change with digital ecosystem partners and be ready to meet future demand and opportunities.
Contributing to productivity and economic growth
In line with the Government’s priority for economic growth and improved productivity, IR has been considering what more we can contribute, beyond the day-to-day tax administration that provides a stable revenue base for New Zealand and the compliance activities we do that reduce unfair advantage across the business community.
We’re continuing to support further digitisation of government services, optimising our use of data and analytics and completing changes that will bring in new areas of revenue efficiently. As noted in this summary of our year, IR is also focusing on reducing the compliance effort of small businesses, providing large companies with more certainty about their tax matters and implementing Government revenue policy changes effectively.