N E W S
Nick Goodson
Ribu Dhakal
www.engineeringnews.co.nz 15
IRD puts cash in Kiwi employee pockets
The new automatic tax assessment
• 442,154 customers who have been
process has reached the halfway
told they have already paid the right
mark with Inland Revenue successfully
amount of tax throughout the year or
refunding more than $300 million to
who have had a small bill written off.
New Zealanders.
The total value of refunds paid out
“By the end of July, everyone assessed
so far is $319 million with recipients
for a refund will have been notified and
receiving an average payment of $434.
have that money in their bank accounts,”
There are bills to pay worth $57 million
says IR’s deputy commissioner Sharon
with an average amount owing of
Thompson. “There are roughly 1.2
around $387.
million assessments still to be issued,
Ms Thompson says while the automatic
and they’ll be sent out in batches over
assessment process is going to plan,
the next five weeks.”
the demand on Inland Revenue’s
Ms Thompson said that some people
services is at record levels.
had told IR that they expected their
“We knew there would be increased
refunds sooner. “We understand
pressure and we planned for it but the
people’s concerns,” she said, “and
volume of calls through our contact
next year we’ll be aiming to get refunds
centres is such that we continue to
out sooner. But for this year the end of
experience significant overloading.
July was always our target. It’s our first
“Many people want to know the
year with the new system and we’ve
whereabouts of their assessment, but
deliberately taken more time, to be sure
the simple message is that it’s coming.
we get it working the way it should.
We plan to reach all salary and wage
“So far we’re really pleased with the
earners by the end of July.
way assessments are going. It’s a key
“Customers have been patient and
function of our new system, affecting
we’re grateful for that. From now on
around 2.5 million taxpayers, and it’s
we want to help them avoid paying too
vital that we get it right.”
much tax throughout the year so we
More than 1.3 million assessments
can minimise the annual ritual of waiting
have been issued since the first batch
until June or July to be refunded.
went out on May 20, which include:
“Our new system will spot when people
• 735,046 refunds
are overpaying tax on their income or
• 147,300 bills to pay
their investments and we’ll work with
customers to help them get it right.
Most of the time it will mean making
sure they’re on the right tax code or the
correct prescribed investor rate (PIR).
As a result of these efforts, the amount
we send out in refunds each year will
start to decrease.”
Inland Revenue’s new system has been
up and running for almost two months.
Since it went live on April 26 it has
handled:
• 13.9m logins to myIR
• 1.1m payday filing returns
• 1.2m Working for Families payments
made worth 272.8m in total
• 228,263 IR3 returns filed by individuals
• 447,483 GST returns
“There’s been a huge amount of
change to process in just two months
and it’s been impressive to see how well
all our customers and our people are
managing it,” says Sharon Thompson.
“Feedback from tax agents in particular
has been invaluable and we have heard
and taken on board their frustrations
with some of the changes. We now
have a website where agents can track
how we’re managing the adjustments
and enhancements they’ve requested.
And they can go onto the site to find
out more about how the changes affect
them.”
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the lakes are low and / or gas shortages
occur.
The Glenbrook plant uses Waikato
coal to make steel, he explains. This is
the same quality coal that the Huntly
Power station uses, but coal is a mineral
input in the steel making process.
Most steel globally is made with coking
coal, but the Glenbrook process
has been designed to use the local
coal. Bathurst Resources advise that
70% of coal mined in the Waikato is,
and will be, supplied to the Glenbrook
steel plant as a raw material and 25%
will be used for electricity generation.
“The protestors call to ‘put an end to
this’ needs a reality check,” says Mr
Baker.
“We can stop making steel in New
Zealand, but the lost jobs, export revenue
and steel production will simply
be replaced overseas – probably with
higher emissions. Other technologies
will ‘push out’ coal and demand
from the Huntly Power station will decrease
over time – but while demand
exists that demand will be met by responsible
mining companies such as
Bathurst Resources, or the coal will
be imported.
Canterbury
students excel
Two Uninversity of Canterbury
Engineering graduates are among
the eight New Zealand graduates
heading to the United States in
a couple of months to pursue
further study and research in
areas of innovation, science and
technology.
Ribu Dhakal and Nicholas
Goodson are both traveling to
California in 2019 as Fulbright
New Zealand Science and
Innovation Award recipients.
Ribu will research liquefaction of
reclaimed soils at the University
of California Berkeley, in Berkeley
California, towards his PhD at UC.
Ribu, who attended Christchurch
Boys' High School, graduated with
a BE (Hons First Class) in Civil
Engineering from UC in 2017 and
began his doctoral studies in Civil
Engineering at UC in 2018.
Nicholas is from Wellington,
and will complete a Master of
Science degree in Aeronautics
and Astronautics at Stanford
University in Palo Alto, California.
From Onslow College, Nicholas
graduated with a BE (Hons First
Class) in Mechanical Engineering
from UC in April 2019.
/www.engineeringnews.co.nz