April The new financial year is here! If you have not already submitted an application for your tax refund, it’s time to send that in. This will ensure that you’re at the front of the queue to have your tax refund assessment calculated. Once your application has been submitted you can sit back knowing that your tax agent will be in touch as soon as your tax refund assessment is ready. The start of the new financial year is also a good time to make sure that your tax codes/rates are correct. To help you out with this we have a complete list of the New Zealand tax codes right here. Once you have checked your tax code is correct you can jump over to Inland Revenue’s website to make sure that you are using the correct RWT rate on any interest you will be receiving and that your PIR rate is correct for any Portfolio Investment Entities (such as your Kiwisaver). Throughout April your employer will be busy getting your income details lodged with Inland Revenue. As soon as this has taken place we will be back in touch to gather any additional information for your tax refund assessment. If no additional information is required you can expect your tax refund result to be heading your way. May If you are still waiting for your tax refund result in May it’s likely that your employer is still working on getting your income details lodged with Inland Revenue. Some employers will lodge their income details earlier than others, which can be frustrating, but there is still plenty of time as Inland Revenue will not release the new refunds until June. We will let you know as soon as an update occurs. If you are worried about your income details not being lodged you may wish to give your employer a call to find out when this will be completed. May is also the time that you can expect to receive your tax certificates for any interest you have earned or donations you have made. If you have received a tax certificate then make sure you give us a call or send us through an email so that we can update the details. If you have received interest, dividends or Maori authority distributions (over $200) we need to include these in your tax refund assessment, so remember to get in touch! If you have made donations then we can file a donation rebate for you to claim an EXTRA refund! All you need to do is send your receipts through to us either by email or post and we will get your donation rebate underway. June Finally, June has arrived and Inland Revenue is ready to release your tax refund! Inland Revenue generally have tax refunds released around the second or third week of June. We will then be contacting you as soon as your tax refund is ready to be paid! If during the financial year you have received Working for Families Tax Credits or a form of government benefit there is a chance your refund will require additional work to be released. If you have received Working for Families Tax Credits then Inland Revenue will need to complete your end of year square up. This is to ensure that you have received the correct payments during the year. In cases where you have been underpaid or requested to receive your payment in one lump sum this assessment may result in an additional refund for you! After Inland Revenue release the initial refunds they implement a 9 week processing time-frame to have the remaining checks completed and tax refunds released. We know this sounds like a daunting timeframe, especially when you have already waited so long!