Foreigners no longer in NZ may have received payment

Foreign nationals who travelled to New Zealand on working holidays but who left the country during the past few months have reported receiving the Government’s Cost of Living Payment.

Inland Revenue had previously acknowledged that the payments of $350 were being made to some former residents who had left the country and may also have been made to some people who had died.

The Cost of Living Payments were only supposed to be paid to New Zealand-resident wageearners who earned less than $70,000 in the year to April. But Inland Revenue has acknowledged some people who were supposed to be ineligible will have been paid, as it did not have all the systems in place to necessarily know if people’s circumstances had changed.

The first instalment of the Cost of Living Payment was made to most people entitled to it last week, with further equal instalments of just over $116 due to be paid on September 1 and October 3.

An Inland Revenue spokesperson said foreign nationals who had been in New Zealand on working holidays could receive the payment if Inland Revenue wasn’t aware they had left the country.

Thousands of people who arrived in New Zealand on working holidays before the Covid pandemic had their visas extended until this year because of the difficulties travelling home.

However, a large number are believed to have left the country in May and June, in many cases to embark on new working holidays in Australia.

Inland Revenue has said that people who wrongly received the payment should pay it back, and at the same time made it clear there would be no consequences for those who did not unless they had deliberately given false information to receive the payment.

It is encouraging people who should not qualify for the payments but who received the first instalment to update their addresses with Inland Revenue or opt out of future payments.

An Inland Revenue spokesperson said it had no estimate of the number of people formerly on working holidays who were wrongly receiving the payment. It did not have the ability to check on people’s visa status before making the payments, she said. ‘‘While we have data sharing arrangements with other agencies such as Customs, those agreements to not allow IR to access the information for checking Cost of Living Payment eligibility.’’

Revenue Minister David Parker declined in Parliament to estimate how many dead people might have had the Cost of Living Payment paid into their bank accounts. He said it was ‘‘probably around the same number as deceased people’s bank accounts that get superannuation or unemployment or other payments – or perhaps even National Party pamphlets’’.