We're using more 3rd party data to protect the integrity of the tax system than we ever have before. Data sharing makes it easier for you to pay the right tax and get the right entitlements. It also makes it much harder for those trying to avoid their obligations.
A lot of data is shared between us and the Ministry of Social Development (MSD) on wage subsidy claims. We matched MSD data to our information and identified risks for them to investigate. We've also been able to identify customers registering for GST or as an employer to make false claims. We stopped these customers from registering and getting the subsidy.
We'll be using the data we have received from MSD to identify self-employed customers that claimed the subsidy and do not declare it as income in their 2021 tax return when due. We've also identified many self-employed customers potentially operating outside the tax system where they received the subsidy but have not filed tax returns for 4 years or more.
Recently, we've used internet service provider (ISP) data to:
- identify and stop customers from claiming the Small Business Cashflow (Loan) Scheme loan outside of New Zealand by using a VPN or proxy address.
- track a cluster of returns filed with manipulated fields to the same IP address, and stop incorrect refunds going out.
We use information from other sources as we need to, including from EFTPOS transactions, loyalty schemes, crypto-currency exchanges, overseas bank account transactions, and much more.