Inland Revenue is warning customers to be wary of scammers during the 2023 'tax season'.

This year Inland Revenue will send around 3.5 million tax assessments, mainly using customer’s myIR accounts as well as the post. These will be sent out from late May to the end of July.

The assessments show whether there is a refund due, a bill to pay or whether the right amount was paid for the 2022/23 tax year.

Tax is vital to New Zealand life, but it can be complicated. That’s why Inland Revenue has the information campaign running to tell people what to expect, and when, based on their situation.

Inland Revenue also has a warning about scammers who try to take advantage of people, particularly during tax season.

Scammers know when it is tax season and target this time of the tax year to try to rip people off and gain access to bank accounts and other personal information.

Inland Revenue will only pay funds directly into the bank account we have on record and we will ask people to log in to their myIR account from www.ird.govt.nz 
Do not click on any links you receive in emails or text messages, it is always safer to type in the address directly to your web browser and navigate from there.

We will ask for bank account details if we don’t have them, but importantly, we will always ask people to provide these in a secure way – using their myIR account or through our call centre (0800 257 777).

We will also give people until February next year to pay an income tax bill. A bill won’t have to be paid immediately (scammers often try to create a sense of urgency).

Inland Revenue will never put the dollar amount of a refund in an e-mail or text message and will not ask for your credit or debit card details in order to pay a refund. We will also never ask you to reply to an email or text message to provide your bank account details.

Inland Revenue will also never speak to customers threateningly.

Anyone can get caught out. Scammers may call, text or email promising a tax refund if people provide personal details. If it seems too good to be true, it’s probably a scam.

To provide an additional layer of protection, we strongly recommend you enable two-factor authentication – more details can be found at: https://www.ird.govt.nz and search for “two-step verification”.

For more information about scams visit: https://www.ird.govt.nz/managing-my-tax/scams

If you think you have received a scam forward it to phishing@ird.govt.nz

© Scoop Media