Businesses say paying tax is getting easier

Doing business with Inland Revenue is 23 per cent easier than it was last year, says Revenue Minister Todd McClay.

“Inland Revenue’s stated aim is to save taxpayers time and money and it is working,” says Mr McClay.

The latest business reference group survey, which looks at levels of effort dealing with government departments, shows a 23 per cent reduction in effort dealing with Inland Revenue, compare to last year.

“This is no coincidence. Our Business Transformation will completely change how people will interact with the revenue system in the future and the innovative changes that have already been made are making a difference in the lives of business owners and individual taxpayers.

“More people are doing a lot more online. In the past year 67 per cent of returns and almost 83 per cent of payments were done online.

“Businesses cite online GST filing and the ease of contacting Inland Revenue as two of the major reasons for paying their tax getting easier. By the end of June this year, 1.5 million people had speedier phone access to Inland Revenue by signing up to Voice ID,” says Mr McClay.

New Zealand has one of the world’s highest rates of enrolment for voice recognition services.

“All of these innovations help make paying tax simpler. As proof of that, the number of outstanding tax returns last year was down 21.5 per cent of the previous year. That is 234,000 fewer returns outstanding in 2015 than were outstanding in the 2014 year.

“As we move closer to the completion of Business Transformation, which achieved all of its milestones this year and is still under budget, customers will see continuing improvements to the way they interact with the revenue system.

“And each improvement save taxpayers time and money,” says Mr McClay.