This category is limited to activities to prevent returns and debt becoming overdue, and to collect unfiled returns and overdue payments, whether for the Crown, other agencies or external parties.
| Budgeted to spend | Spent | Achieved |
|---|---|---|
| $107.3 million | $107.8 million | 7 out of 9 measures |
How we performed
This year, we continued our focus on compliance and enforcement work, getting overdue returns filed and recovering more tax and overseas-based student loan borrower debt.
In 2024–25, we:
- collected $4.3 billion cash from debt activities
- assessed $1.4 billion of tax revenue from overdue returns being filed.
Debt
This year, overdue tax debt increased to $9.3 billion (excluding overdue debt related to student loans, child support and Small Business Cashflow Scheme loans). The increase is a result of the economic environment and changes to reporting and definitions of overdue debt. See the following pages for more details on debt.
Revenue is available to fund government programmes and services
Budget 2024 Major Spending Decisions
$4.3 billion in overdue tax debt collected
We provide options for customers to pay off what they owe in instalments while they get back on track, minimising the costs they incur by paying late. There were 207,000 instalment arrangements set up in 2024–25, up from 198,000 in 2023–24.
Unfiled returns
At 30 June 2025, there were 1.575 million overdue returns, up slightly on 30 June 2024 (1.539 million). Overdue returns with material value have been less frequent than in prior years. We balanced our effort on returns of value, while focusing on increasing value from our other compliance activities.
Performance measure results
This year, we achieved 7 out of 9 targets, similar to 2023–24 where we achieved 6 out of 8 targets.
| Performance measure | 2023–24 actual | 2024–25 target | 2024–25 actual | 2025–26 target |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Value of assessed revenue for every unfiled return dollar spent | $71.63 | $45.00 | $51.87 (achieved) | Measure retired see page Disclosure of judgements |
| This measure demonstrates the cost-effectiveness of our work to recover revenue from returns filed late. The return is considered late if it is not filed within 7 days of the due date (over 5 days late for employer information returns). The measure is retired from 2025–26. The total value of revenue assessed from late-filed returns will continue to be reported as an impact indicator and for reporting on the results of the Budget 2024 investment in compliance.
While over the target, the 2024–25 result reflects the impact of increased costs through the Budget 2024 investment and a decrease in overdue returns with material value. We balanced compliance efforts across a range of compliance activities, including audits. |
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| Cash collected for every debt dollar spent | $67.69 | $40 | $53.08 (achieved) | $40 |
| This measures the average cost of how much cash we received for overdue debt compared to the amount spent on debt collection activities. We continue to see strong cash collection results because there is more debt to be collected, since overall tax debt continues to grow. Payments increased by 6% from 2023–24 and costs increased by 35% with the increased investment in compliance activities in Budget 2024. |
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| Percentage of child support assessments paid on time | 72.5% | 70% | 75.8% (achieved) | 70% |
| This is the percentage of liable parent child support obligations that were paid in full and by the due date. Obligations are considered paid in full if the balance of assessments and credits is less than $1 by the due date. | ||||
| Percentage of student loan customers that meet their obligations | 82.9% | 85% | 83.2% (not achieved) | N/A see page Disclosure of judgements |
| This measure looks at the number of customers with overdue student loan repayments compared with the total student loan borrower population. Separate measures and targets for New Zealand-based borrowers and overseas-based borrowers will be introduced from 2025–26. Not achieved—Repayment levels for New Zealand-based borrowers remain high at 94.8%, up slightly on 94.6% for 2023–24. Repayments from overseas-based borrowers increased 2 percentage points, from 29.3% in 2023–24 to 31.3% for 2024–25; this reflects our increased focus and investment through Budget 2024 in this priority area. |
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| Percentage of unfiled returns that are finalised within 6 months | 42.3% | 60% | 43.3% (not achieved) | Measure received see page Disclosure of judgements |
| This measure looks at the percentage of returns not received by the due date that are then received within 6 months of becoming past due. It includes all tax returns except employer information returns. The measure is retired from 2025–26 and will be replaced with the measure ‘percentage of returns filed within 6 months of the due date’. Not achieved—An improvement in results from 2023–24 reflects the increased focus on compliance activities this year. We continued to prioritise finalising returns of higher value, assessing $1.4 billion in revenue from late-filed returns. We also continued to reduce unnecessary return filing through activities such as moving some IR3 filers to the individual income tax assessment automated process. |
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| Percentage of collectable debt value over 2 years old | 33.2% | 40% or less | 39.95% (achieved) | 40% or less |
| Collectable debt excludes balances where collection action has been suspended or is currently unlikely to be recovered. This is primarily due to objections, disputes, legal proceedings, insolvency procedures or in the event of the customer’s death. | ||||
| Percentage of new customer debt resolved within 6 months | 58.3% | 50% | 63.3% (achieved) | Measure retired see page Disclosure of judgements |
| The measure looks at when customers first go into debt through to when they are no longer in debt. If this is within 6 months, the measure is met. The increase in results from 2023–24 reflects a reporting improvement for 2024–25 that consolidates results for customers with more than one debt product. The 2023–24 result is based on customer debt by product. The 2023–24 result using the updated methodology would have been 63.1%. The measure is being retired from 2025–26, replaced by 2 new measures ‘percentage of payments made within 6 months of the due date (target: 95%)’ and ‘percentage of payments made within 6 months of the due date by value (target: 98%)’. These new measures focus on the efforts of our people and systems to help customers pay on time or get back on track when they miss payment deadlines. |
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| Percentage of tax debt value under an active repayment plan | New measure | Improving value over baseline | 14.4% (achieved) | Improving value over baseline See page Disclosure of judgements |
| This measure looks at the value of all tax debt under a repayment plan with no missed payments compared with total tax debt owed. The baseline result at 30 June 2024 was 13.7%. The measure for 2025–26 will be based on collectable tax debt rather than total tax debt. See page for more about this change. Disclosure of judgements |
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| Percentage of New Zealand liable parent child support debt cases resolved within 12 months | 83.7% | 80% | 84.3% (achieved) | 80% |
| This measure looks at the percentage of new child support customers in New Zealand whose debt is repaid within 12 months. | ||||
All targets are unaudited.
What it cost
| Revenue | Actual 2024 ($000) | Actual 2025 ($000) | Unaudited revised budget 2025 ($000) | Unaudited budget 2025 ($000) | Unaudited forecast 2026 ($000) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue from the Crown | $84,522 | $106,073 | $106,073 | $104,405 | $114,827 |
| Other revenue | $187 | $184 | $1,272 | $1,272 | $1,272 |
| Total revenue | $84,739 | $106,257 | $107,345 | $105,677 | $116,099 |
| Total expenses | $83,886 | $107,788 | $107,345 | $105,677 | $116,099 |
| Net surplus or (deficit) | $853 | $(1,531) | - | - | - |
Last updated:
19 Nov 2025