NZ Tax Refunds debuts in top 30 of Asia Pacific Fast 500

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NZ Tax Refunds debuts with top 30 ranking on Asia Pacific Deloitte Technology Fast 500

Christchurch, New Zealand – 2 December, 2011 – New Zealand’s leading online tax refunds company NZ Tax Refunds has ranked 30th on this year’s Asia Pacific Deloitte Technology Fast 500 with 1401% growth. The Tech Fast 500 ranks the top 500 tech businesses in the Asia Pacific region according to their revenue growth over the past three years. 37 New Zealand businesses were awarded at yesterday’s ceremony in Hong Kong, with Christchurch-based NZ Tax Refunds ranking in top three for the country along with Powershop and 2degrees.

Cilla Hegarty, the Founder and Chief Executive of NZ Tax Refunds Ltd says, “The Tech Fast 500 really sets the standard for high growth tech businesses in the Asia Pacific Region. We’ve been very focused on building not just great technology, but also a great business and team culture. This is a fantastic acknowledgement for us.”

Leader of the NZ Fast 50 programme, Deloitte partner Matt McKendry, says NZ Tax Refunds has successfully followed one of the key pathways to becoming a high growth company.

“They have identified a niche market opportunity and have clearly built a platform that is capable of realising their goals,” Mr McKendry says.

Ms Hegarty founded the company in 2008 out of a desire to make it simple for people to get money back from the IRD. The idea was sparked by her work as an accountant. NZ Tax Refunds’ investment in technology enables most clients to find out how much of a tax refund they are due within 60 seconds. Most refunds are also automatically deposited directly into a customer’s bank accounts within 2 days. The custom-built Alpha platform developed in JADE provides a unique level of automation in the industry and has enabled the company’s strong growth and customer retention.

Ms Hegarty says, “Using our web-based system is like filing a tax return but quicker, easier and with no risk. If customers are not owed a refund there is no fee. But chances are our customers are entitled to a tax refund, so it’s really satisfying to help put that money back into the pockets of thousands of Kiwis.”

The company has found that 93% of their customers have overpaid tax their tax in the past five years and the average customer refund for 2011 is $339. The service can be ongoing for customers as NZ Tax Refunds becomes their registered tax agent with the IRD. Returns are automatically processed for customers each year and when a refund is due money is deposited into the customer’s bank account.

The Tech Fast 500 award tops off a successful year for NZ Tax Refunds, despite some challenges due to the ongoing earthquakes in Christchurch. Ms Hegarty was named Bloom Her Businesswoman of the Year 2011 and NZ Tax Refunds won the Best Innovative Idea and Best Use of Technology awards. The company was also a finalist in the 2011 NZ HiTech Awards.
NZ Tax Refunds employs 18 fulltime staff, which expands to a team of 25 during busy periods. The company is currently recruiting to build the team for 2012 to meet continued growth.

For the full Deloitte Technology Fast 500 Asia Pacific 2011 index, go to www.deloitte.com/fast500asiapac

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