Hon Peter Dunne: IRD addressing concerns over information transfer
19 February 2010

Revenue Minister Peter Dunne says Inland Revenue is taking action to improve the transfer of KiwiSaver addresses to providers.

Recently some KiwiSaver scheme providers expressed concerns about the quality of address information being provided by Inland Revenue, which they said was resulting in considerable amounts of returned mail to the providers.

Mr Dunne said Inland Revenue was looking at how it can improve current processes to ensure customer address details are valid, specifically targeting KiwiSaver. This includes follow-up calls to employers if the current address is tagged as invalid.

He stressed that member's money was transferred to providers as normal, whether or not Inland Revenue had an up-to-date address.

“At the moment Inland Revenue is bound by Section 81 of the Tax Administration Act which does not allow for the sharing of member address information other than at a member's initial enrolment. That further limits its ability to ensure current address details are provided to scheme providers.”

“This would require a change in legislation which is being explored by officials who will be reporting to me as soon as possible,” said Mr Dunne.

ENDS