IRD post-dated cheque ban affects thousands
The Inland Revenue Department plans to stop accepting post-dated cheques from February 1.
The tax department receives about 500,000 cheques each year, of which about 85,000 are postdated.
The payment technique means people can put a cheque in the post as soon as they get their tax bill, so they don’t forget to pay, but the money will only come out of their account on the due date.
But Inland Revenue spokesman Meade Perrin said people with internet access could achieve the same result by postdating an electronic payment.
Spokeswoman Gay Cavill said Inland Revenue would be contacting a ‘‘handful’’ of people who had already sent the department post-dated cheques for tax bills due later than February 1.
Across the economy, the number of cheques in use was falling by 20 per cent a year, and almost 99 per cent of all payments were electronic, Perrin said.
‘‘There will be some impact on customers who are used to post-dating cheques but we’re confident that can be worked through, given most banks have a simple and convenient system for electronic payments. Compared with electronic payments, cheques are expensive to process and the technology used to process them . . . is approaching the end of its working life.’’
Cavill said the ban would only apply to post-dated cheques.
‘‘Inland Revenue is considering the future use of cheques but no decision has been made on whether we will stop accepting cheques altogether,’’ she said.
People can also pay Inland Revenue by cash or eftpos at Westpac bank branches, or over the phone using a debit card or credit card.
Massey University banking expert David Tripe said it was not surprising Inland Revenue was outlawing post-dated cheques.
‘‘Cheque volumes are falling and it is incredibly easy to set up post-dated payments on internet banking.’’