IRD apologises for tax summary blunder

The Inland Revenue Department (IRD) has apologised for wrongly sending out about 3500 letters regarding tax summaries.

The department sent the letters out telling recipients there were errors in their summaries for the 2005/2006 year.

One woman told the Southland Times she had already received her personal tax summary for the year, along with a refund, before receiving a letter saying the summary was wrong and another would be sent.

The problem was picked up when it was discovered the IRD number on the second letter was not hers, despite it containing the correct name and address.

IRD deputy commissioner Colin MacDonald yesterday confirmed the mix up, saying the problem affected about 3500 of 400,000 personal tax summaries.

"We are very sorry for any inconvenience this has caused," he told the newspaper.

The department was writing and phoning customers to explain the errors.

Recipients of the letters were advised not to return them.

- NZPA