Employers and unions unite over TaxRefunds website

Media release 15 February 2009

For immediate release

Employers and unions unite over TaxRefunds website

It’s ‘s fair to say that Unite Union National Secretary Matt McCarten and EMA Northern Chief Executive Alasdair Thompson don’t agree on much when it comes to politics.

But the unlikely pair have come together to endorse the country’s first full automated tax refund website (www.taxrefunds.co.nz) on a television commercial that went to air this week.

The website www.taxrefunds.co.nz, which provides a free, no-obligation assessment of whether taxpayers are owed a tax refund, has already returned more than $11 million to taxpayers and is now returning $1 million a week.

Mr McCarten said that he had appeared in the advertisement because many of his union’s members’ had secondary employment and were likely to be entitled to a tax refund.

“Who wouldn’t support workers to get money they have overpaid in taxes back, especially when many workers don’t realise that they are owed a refund?” Mr McCarten said.

Mr Thompson said that he was happy to support a service that helped people cheaply recover money they were owed by the IRD. “That’s as good as a pay rise,” he said.

Taxrefunds.co.nz Director Geoff Matthews said that both men agreed without hesitation to appear in the ad.

“We had been working closely with both organisations because it’s in the interests of the country that everyone pays the right amount of tax. It’s an employer’s best interest to increase their workers take home pay, and every union wants to make sure it’s members are not overpaying their tax,” Mr Matthews said.

Changes introduced in the late 1990s simplified the tax system so that many wage and salary earners no longer have to file an income tax return, Geoff says.

While this has taken simplified tax time, it means many people, especially who work part-time, as casual workers, or earn overtime are being overtaxed without realising it.

As well many parents don’t realise how much they can earn and still claim Working For Families, Geoff said.

About TaxRefunds.co.nz

TaxRefunds.co.nz has spent more than $500,000 developing the country’s first full automated tax refunds website. The website features two online calculators that can estimate refunds for up to five tax years:

Tax Refund Calculator, for wage and salary earners without dependent children. Wage and salary earners, without alternative sources of income, can receive an assessment within 15 minutes (in most cases) of filling in their details online

• Working for Families Estimator, for those with dependent children to check on Working for Families tax credits. The Working for Families Estimator is virtually instantaneous

The website, provides a free, no-obligation assessment site. By creating a fully automated website, Tax refunds has significantly lowered the cost of commercially filing a tax refund claim. A 12.5% fee is charged to a maximum of $500, with a minimum of $12.50. Fees are deducted from refunds so there’s no money upfront. If there’s no refund you pay nothing.

Taxrefunds.co.nz is administered by Chartered Accountants McKenzie Craik Ltd. Geoff is a shareholding director of TaxRefunds.co.nz along with Oamaru Chartered Accountant Adair Craik. Southland lawyer Alan Harper is an independent director.

Ends

© Scoop Media