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Revenue Minister Peter Dunne has apologised to the parents of young talented filmmaker Cameron Duncan after the Inland Revenue Department pursued their dead son for failing to file a tax return.
Aucklander Cameron Duncan died from cancer aged 17 in 2003, and he has been charged $50 a year since then over the omission despite his parents Sharon and Rhys Duncan repeatedly telling the IRD their son had died, The Herald on Sunday reported today.
Now Revenue Minister Peter Dunne had apologised to the parents saying if they contacted him personally he would address the situation.
"I am sorry for any embarrassment or upset it has caused them," the minister said.
ACT leader Rodney Hide slammed the IRD's's handling of the case and said if the family wanted, he would seek a review of their case.
"The IRD unfortunately often goes overboard in tragic circumstances. They have improved in recent years, but this case shows there is still room for improvement.
"You certainly shouldn't have the tax man chasing you after you are dead."
Inland Revenue's deputy commissioner for service delivery Colin MacDonald told the paper staff could not comment publicly on individual cases, but it was rare that a request for a tax return was sent to a dead person.
"It would be deeply regretted if any action in this respect caused unnecessary distress.
Cameron Duncan, who would have turned 21 in April, was the inspiration for the Lord of the Rings theme song Into the West, co-written by Peter Jackson's partner Fran Walsh.
Walsh dedicated the Golden Globe she won for the song to Cameron.
Jackson and Walsh became friends with Cameron after he won a Fair Go advertising award at the age of 13 and he visited them at their Wellington studio.
Two years after his death, Cameron had a movie studio in West Auckland named after him.
- NZPA
