Average Kiwi Tax Refund Up 23% - Research

The average refund for New Zealand taxpayers has increased by 23% over the past three financial years according to new research.

MyTax which analysed more than 300,000 tax returns says that the mean tax refund across all salary bands is now $521.

CEO of MyTax.co.nz Lester Binns says while wage earners in the $60,000 and $70,000 income brackets have been among the biggest winners, with increases of 33%-35%, it is those in the under $10,000 which have made the most gains with refunds up 73% to an average of $421.

Binns says there are a number of factors that make it more likely to receive a refund.

“Our research shows that the higher number of employers you have had in the past year, the more likely it is that you are owed money by IRD.

“Workers who have had just one employer for the year have about a 50/50 chance of being due a refund, those with two employers are 1.8 times more likely to get money back and for those with three employers, 2.1 times more likely,” he says.

Binns says that employees of businesses using a manual payroll process have almost certainly overpaid income tax and will be due a refund.

“The manual payroll system tends to have a number of rounding, and often human calculation errors which over the course of a year add up to an overpayment of hundreds of dollars.”

Binns says wage earners with any of the following characteristics to their employment over the past year are more likely to be due a refund: change of job, bonus or wage increases, exchange of annual leave for wages, and incorrect tax codes.

Binns says taxpayers wanting to check if they are owed a tax refund should contact the IRD, a registered accountant or a personal tax agent.