Inland Revenue says it will not proactively hunt Kiwis living abroad who may receive government funding cost of living wrong.
The first installment of the payment, a budget sweetener introduced to combat rising inflation, is expected to be sent to about 2 million people on Monday, with emails and texts sent over the weekend to those who qualify for it.
The $350 payment would go to Kiwis who made up to $70,000 last year, with one of the requirements being that they live here.
It is paid in three installments; Monday, then on September 1 and October 3.
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But on Sunday there was a lot of confusion on social media from Kiwis abroad, after emails came in from the IRS saying they would receive it.
“There must be a problem with their algorithm to determine who gets the payment as I’ve been in London for four years now,” someone wrote about the email on a UK-based Facebook group.
Kathryn George / Stuff
The cost of living payment is intended to alleviate inflation costs for those living in New Zealand, but it appears that some Kiwis living abroad will receive the money in error.
stuff counted at least 10 others in a similar situation to the original poster.
A spokesman for the tax authorities said it based its payment on information it had at the time each payment of living expenses was made.
“It is possible that, for a number of technical reasons, there will be people who did not expect to receive the cost of living who will be eligible for the first of the three payments due tomorrow,” the spokesperson said.
The tax authorities used “a variety of information”, including addresses, bank accounts and tax residence.
“People must have had a 2022 assessment with eligible earnings such as salary and wages or bank interest.
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Kiwis who have lived in London for several years have reported that they will receive the cost of living.
If someone has left the country and has not told the IRS that he does not live in New Zealand, the IRS will treat him as a resident and he or she may receive living expenses, the spokesman said.
Kiwis who were not in gainful employment in New Zealand in the 2021/22 tax year could also receive the benefit if they had income from bank interest. People who receive Working for Families payments can also receive them.
“It is also possible that the information we have been given to determine eligibility is incorrect,” a spokesperson said.
“For example, a person can be registered as 27 when he is 17 years old.”
Several Kiwis abroad have already vowed to refund and opt out of their living expenses payment, but the IRS says it won’t necessarily go after those who don’t.
“We will only deploy resources to identify such cases and recover payments if fraudulent or intentionally misleading information has been provided.
“We will be able to use our usual collection options, such as deductions from someone’s salary and wages, or from their bank account.”
The spokesperson said the IRS was also aware that an SMS scam was circulating regarding the payment that CERT has warned about.
“For emails, the easiest way to tell if an email is a scam is to hover over the address it came from to check if that address contains ‘govt.nz’. If it does is, it’s ours.”