You must file your return and pay any tax you owe before you can apply for us to waive a penalty.
Check if you meet the criteria
You need to tell us the reason for your late filing, non electronic filing or late payment.
Penalties can be waived because of:
- situations beyond your control
- a genuine error a ‘one off’ situation
- incorrect advice from us.
If you have documents to support your reasons, include these with your application.
Send us your application
You can send us a message in myIR or call us.
You can send your application and any supporting documents to:
Inland Revenue
PO Box 39050
Wellington Mail Centre
Lower Hutt 5045
What happens next
We'll make a decision and let you know if your application to waive the penalty has been accepted or declined. We'll decline your application if a return has not been filed or the tax has not been paid.
If you've already paid the penalty and we agree to waive it, then you'll have a credit.