If you're a prison inmate, hospital or rehabilitation centre patient for at least 13 weeks in a row, you can apply for an exemption to stop or reduce your child support payments.
Prisoners must apply for an exemption while still in prison.
Hospital patients have up to 3 months after leaving hospital to apply for an exemption.
To qualify for this exemption, your taxable income must be:
- only from investment income
- less than the minimum annual rate for that child support year.
Child support annual rates
You may still qualify if you're earning a benefit at the hospital rate or a full benefit for part of the time you're in the hospital.
Prison allowances do not count as income, though salary and wages through a release-to-work programme do. If you are receiving salary and wages from a release-to-work programme, you will not qualify for the exemption and will need to continue paying child support.
Before you start
You'll need your:
- IRD number
- postal address before going into prison or the hospital
- contact details
- expected investment and other income for the tax year.
Download and fill in the form
You can complete this form online before printing. Make sure to save your details.
Fill in the form or ask someone to fill it out for you. You can get an officer of the prison or hospital to fill it in for you. The form will need an official stamp from the prison, hospital or rehabilitation facility.
Sign the form and send it to us
Child Support
PO Box 39010
Wellington Mail Centre
Lower Hutt 5045
You can also send the form to us in myIR. See 'Other ways to do this' below for instructions.
Send us your completed form as a message in myIR.
Make sure you let us know the message is for child support. Attach your completed IR105 form and any supporting documents to the message.
You do not need to sign the form when sending it to us in myIR.
What happens next
We'll let you know the result by post.
If we accept your application, you'll get a new notice of assessment. If we decline your application, we'll send you a letter telling you why.
Your responsibilities
You must send us your application while you are in prison or within 3 months of being discharged from hospital. If you owe child support, you may still have to make those payments to avoid penalties.
If your situation changes, let us know. This way, you can make sure you're paying the right amount and avoid penalties.
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