From the end of May through to the end of July, we will be issuing automatic income tax assessments for most New Zealanders.
For tax agents, there have been minimal changes to the process from last year. However, there are a few changes that now form part of an individual’s end of year process.
Changes for the 2022 year
- If your client has no reportable income, we will apply a 'no assessment indicator' and no further action is required unless there is income to return. You will be able to identify these customers from your client list report.
- From the 2022 year if your client has a shareholder, LTC, partnership or beneficiary link with a commencement date within the last 2 years and has received no income from these entities, they will receive an 'Income tax – more information request'.
- The definition of 'reportable income' now includes payments received from the Wage Subsidy Scheme (WSS), the Leave Support Scheme (LSS), and the Short-Term Absence Payments (STAP). It does not include the Cultural Emergency Relief Sector Grant. This enables some customers who were required to file an IR3 in 2021 as a result of receiving these payments, to now be eligible to receive an 'Income tax - more information request'.
- A Government subsidy field is now included in the 'Income tax - more information request'. WSS, LSS and STAP payments will pre-populate into the 'Income tax - more information'request' and be visible in the income summary in myIR.
- All individual clients of tax agents (excluding those with no reportable income and IR3 filers) will receive an 'Income tax – more information request' letter.
If your client’s income tax mail is being redirected, you will receive it. Otherwise, it will go directly to your client.
'Income tax – more information request' letter
Clients who have been issued an 'Income tax – more information request' letter that requires finalising will display a filing expectation of ‘Auto-issued – more info’ under the ‘Individual filing group’ column on your client list report.
You (or your client) must review this information, add any additional income and expenses as appropriate, and finalise within the required timeframe:
- Before 31 March if your client has an extension of time (EOT).
- Within 45 days if your client doesn’t have an EOT.
The letter will confirm the date it needs to be finalised by, according to the client’s situation. You can see your clients' 2022 EOT status by filtering the ‘Current year EOT status’ column on your client list report. If you are using gateway services software to send income tax returns to us, you may also be able to ‘confirm’ or ‘amend’ the ‘more information request’ in your software. Talk to your provider about whether they offer this functionality. If you don’t use gateway services or do not have the above functionality in your software, you or your client can use myIR to finalise the assessment.
We encourage you to confirm these in a timely manner so your clients are aware of their end-of-year tax position and receive any refund they may be entitled to (including Working for Families).
For more help, read Income tax for individual clients of tax agents.
Income tax for individual clients of tax agents