David Parker tweaks cost-of-living payment cutting out overseas people

Revenue Minister David Parker has tweaked the cost-of-living payment. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Revenue Minister David Parker has made changes to the cost-of-living payment ahead of the next $116 round of payments being paid out.

Parker said the Government would be making "tweaks" to the payment to make it more difficult for people living overseas to claim the payment.

The Government will refine the "screening tests" for the eligibility of the payment, like checking to see whether they had logged in to their online IRD account from overseas in the last tax year, or whether a non-resident individual income tax return had been filed in the last tax year.

He said this would mean some people would need to confirm that they were living in New Zealand and were therefore eligible for the payment.

"This might apply, for example, to people who have been overseas for more than six months with a student loan, or have filed a non-resident tax return," Parker said.

"Of course, if any of these people have been earning wages in New Zealand recently, or receiving Working for Families, they will still get the payment automatically," he said.

"Requiring some people to confirm they are in New Zealand is a result of the extra screening put in place by Inland Revenue - which improves the accuracy of the data they are using," Parker said.

In the May Budget, the Government announced a $350 payment to help middle-income households with the rising cost of living.

The $350 would be paid out in three tranches and the Government reckoned about 2.1 million people would be eligible for it.

Earlier this month, the first round of the payment copped criticism. About 800,000 people who were eligible for the payment did not claim it at first.

The payment was also received by people living overseas who should not otherwise be eligible.

Parker said the payment was "developed to provide timely financial support for low-to-middle income New Zealanders experiencing the spike in prices right now".

"However, some people living overseas have received the payment and there are some tweaks we can make that reduces the likelihood of that," he said.

The additional checks will be:

• A non-resident individual income tax return (IR3NR) for the 2021-22 tax year.
• A part-year tax return for the 2021-22 tax year, with situation "departing New Zealand".
• A Student loan borrower with overseas-based borrower status and a Student Loan balance of greater than $20.
• An overseas IP address used to log into myIR (excluding a VPN).

Extra checks providing more certainty someone is in New Zealand will be:

• Receiving employment income in the last two months.
• Being registered as a principal caregiver or partner for Working for Families tax credits.
• Logging on to myIR with a New Zealand IP address (excluding VPN).