On 2 February 2023, Minister of Agriculture, Damien O’Connor, and Minister for Rural Communities, Kieran McAnulty, declared a medium scale adverse event for the Northland, Auckland, Waikato and Bay of Plenty regions as a result of heavy and sustained rainfall from 26 January 2023 to 1 February 2023.
There is also localised flooding and damage across other regions and districts which is affecting customers’ ability to comply with their tax obligations, including filing and paying on time.
If you are impacted by these weather events, you do not need to contact us immediately. However, when you do want to get in touch, we are prioritising our support to our affected customers. Please send us a message in myIR using the key word ‘flood’ or call us on our disaster line 0800 473 566.
To help affected farmers and growers we are allowing late deposits for the 2022 year and early withdrawals from the income equalisation scheme. We have made a "class of case" determination for the affected regions that qualify for an early refund however affected customers outside of these regions can still make a case-by-case deposit or refund application.
Income equalisation scheme deposits
The rain and flooding will affect farmers' and growers' income for the 2023 income year. Late deposits for the 2022 year can be made until 31 May 2023.
Early refunds of deposits will be allowed. Normally income equalisation deposits are not available for refund until 12 months after the deposit is made. However, we do have discretion to allow early refunds, particularly in the case of a medium or large-scale adverse event or when the person is suffering serious hardship.
All applications for an early refund must be in writing and will take approximately 20 days to process. It should be remembered that the refund will be income in the year that the application is made unless it is elected to treat the refund as income in the prior income year where the application for refund is made in the specified period.
For more information on income equalisation and deposits see our standard practice statement.
SPS 19/03 Income equalisation deposits and refunds
New Zealand legislation
Income Tax Act 2007:
- Section EH 4(4)
- Section EH 15(3)