Woman receives two cent refund from Inland Revenue for a second time

"Too ridiculous for words," said Levin resident Annabelle Rosner after she opened a letter from the IRD.

It contained a letter stating the 75-year-old was entitled to a refund. Attached to the letter was a cheque for two cents.

"It is the second year in a row I have received this. The letter said it had something to do with KiwiSaver," she said.

"I only ever belonged to KiwiSaver for an afternoon."

She said her employer at the time quickly realised it was a bit silly to sign a 72-year-old up for KiwiSaver, so he cancelled it for her.

She rang the IRD about the refund last year and said they seemed a bit embarrassed about it.

She assumed they would have done something about it, so imagine her surprise when she came home in early February, after a few weeks away, to find yet another letter and cheque.

"This time, the person from IRD I spoke to said that perhaps they ought to do something about it. What a waste of money to keep sending this to me," she said.

IRD were approached by the Horowhenua Chronicle for comment last Friday morning but has yet to respond.

A spokesperson from Inland Revenue said, "We are unable to comment on the affairs of any individual taxpayer but generally speaking we don't issue refunds for an amount as small as this.

"Occasionally, our computer system will automatically process and send out small refunds but it only ever happens in error or when a customer has unique circumstances that the system isn't designed to catch."