Inland Revenue systems re-open after final major upgrade

Inland Revenue’s secure online service myIR has re-opened, along with its phone lines and some offices, after the final stage of Inland Revenue’s multi-million-dollar programme to upgrade and simplify the tax system. 

Inland Revenue closed last Thursday afternoon and reopened as planned this morning. 

During this closure, IR migrated more than 128.7 million accounts so that all our tax and social policy products - such as child support - are now in our new system which has also been upgraded to the latest version. 

Because the shutdown coincided with a major filing date, businesses will have up to 4 November to file and pay their 1, 2 and 6-monthly GST returns for the taxable period ending 30 September; and pay their provisional tax instalments for income tax period 31 March 2022 that are usually due 28 October.  

Customers who want to apply for the third Resurgence Support Payment, can do so again. Applications stay open until a month after all of New Zealand returns to Alert Level 1.

2.8 million child support assessments were brought into new system. Improvements to our system mean that from November, we’ll be able to pay Child Support payments to customers by the 23rd of the same month, as long as the payment has been made on time.
 
From November, new liable parents (plus parents re-entering the system) who are working will have the Child Support deducted directly from their pay through their employer. 

The improvements to myIR simplify the way information is presented, making it easier for customers.

They will have better visibility of their obligations and payments in myIR and be able to do more for themselves, including registering online and advising of any changes in circumstances. 

The layout will adapt to fit the size of any screen without loss of functionality, making it seamless to use myIR across different devices. That’s important because most of our Child Support customers use a smartphone to access myIR.

Simplified navigation will allow customers to easily find and do what they need to do. 

The upgrade means we’re no longer running our services off two systems. That change brings even greater functionality and efficiency for our customers and the ability for us to respond more quickly to events like Covid -19.