Families struggle to claim tax credit

Wanganui parents could be missing out on thousands of dollars a year if they haven't checked their eligibility for Working for Families tax credits.
A recent Growing Up In New Zealand study showed that about 36 per cent of first time mothers, and 13 per cent of mothers who already had older children, were not aware of tax credits.
The study has been backed up by local family support organisation Jigsaw Whanganui.
Executive officer Tim Metcalfe said: "Our team work hard to support families in accessing their full entitlements and find many on relatively low waged income are not aware of tax credits.
"The biggest challenge for local families is access to IRD to discuss tax credits.
"Because we do not have a local IRD office families have to use the call centre and several have reported giving up waiting to talk to a staff member."
For Wanganui mother of five Rose Woon, she simply couldn't be a stay-at-home mum without the extra top-up to her family's income.
Mrs Woon, who has a blended family of children all aged between 6 and 9, said she first heard about the tax credits when she moved off the benefit and into work.
The credits top up her family income by more than $300 a week, she said.
Her husband, Tane, worked full time. Running the household was a full time job too and it allowed her to stay at home, she said.
All the other mothers she knew received tax credits, she said, but anyone who didn't should definitely check out what they were entitled to.
"It makes an absolutely huge difference, we couldn't survive without it topping up our income."
Mrs Woon said the way she saw it, the Government was paying her to be a stay-at-home mum.
It gave women back the ability to make the decision to leave their jobs.
She said she had found another help people were often not aware of was the accommodation supplement from Work and Income, which can assist people in paying their rent, board or mortgage, depending on income and assets. Mrs Woon advised people to check it out too.
The Growing Up in New Zealand survey involved 6822 families who had babies in Auckland and Waikato in the past two years.
It gave contrasting figures to a Ministry of Social Development claim that 95 per cent to 97 per cent of all eligible families received the tax credits.
To check your entitlements, visit www.ird.govt.nz, or call 0800 227 773. A guideline of what you could be entitled to is available on the IRD website.