Inland Revenue (formerly Inland Revenue Department - IRD; Māori: Te Tari Taake) is the public service department of New Zealand charged with advising the government on tax policy, collecting and disbursing payments for social support programmes, and collecting tax.
Contents
History
Inland Revenue started out as the Land Tax Department in 1878. The department was renamed the Land and Income Tax Department in 1892 with the central office set up in Wellington.
Only in 1952, when the organisation joined with the Stamp Duties Department, was the organisation known as the Inland Revenue Department.
In 1995, a Rewrite Advisory Panel was established to consider and advise on issues arising during the rewriting of the income tax legislation, as part of New Zealand tax reform arising from the Working Party on the Reorganisation of the Income Tax Act 1976. The panel was disestablished in 2014 at the completion of the tax reform.
Inland Revenue's Māori name, Te Tari Taake, means 'The Department of Tax'. Despite long vowels in Māori now being most commonly expressed with macrons over the vowel rather than double vowels, the department continues to use the double vowel due to the resemblance of the word tāke to the English word take.
Service delivery
In 2021–22, Inland Revenue collected $100.6 billion in tax revenue, which helped pay for the services that all New Zealanders benefit from such as social security and welfare, health and education. Other services included law and order, housing and community development, environmental protection, defence, transport, and heritage, culture and recreation.
In recent years, Inland Revenue has undergone business transformation activities aimed at simplifying the tax and social benefits process of receiving and paying taxes. As of 2019, these changes have resulted in a reduction of $60 million in administrative costs and an increase of $90 million in additional revenue through compliance and reduced effort for small to medium-sized businesses. In 2021, further business transformation activities were undertaken, including an upgrade to myIR, their secure online service, which has made it easier for customers to manage their tax and payments online.
In 2020, Inland Revenue delivered a change to the revenue system for individuals where every taxpayer account for income tax, Working for Families, KiwiSaver, student loans and the end-to-end processing of PAYE moved into Inland Revenue’s new tax and revenue technology system.
The department administers the following social support programmes:
Working for Families (tax credits)
Paid Parental Leave (payment)
Child Support (collection and payment)
Student Loan debt (collection)
KiwiSaver
Acts and regulations administered
Legislation administered by Inland Revenue includes:
Cheque Duty Repeal Act 2014
Child Support Act 1991
Estate and Gift Duties Act 1968
Gaming Duties Act 1971
Goods and Services Tax Act 1985
Income Tax Act 2007
Stamp and Cheque Duties Act 1971
Student Loan Scheme Act 2011
Tax Administration Act 1994
Taxation Review Authorities Act 1994
Unclaimed Money Act 1971
KiwiSaver Act 2006
Criticisms
Debt collection
Inland Revenue has been criticised for what are seen as heavy handed tactics when forcing payment from debtors, specifically those owing tax arrears and child support payments, and for charging excessive penalties on debts which result in debtors falling into a cycle whereby they are unable to pay the growing amounts they owe. The approach of Inland Revenue has been implicated in a number of suicides and other acts of self-harm.
The number of people threatening self-harm in phone calls to Inland Revenue has trended down consistently over the last three years. Between January and August 2019, 168 people contacted Inland Revenue threatening self-harm. That compares to 292 for the 2018 calendar year; 306 for 2017; and 334 for 2016.
Copyright violations
In mid-December 2025, the business journal National Business Review (NBR) banned Inland Revenue from taking out any subscriptions after the government department breached NBR's copyright by sharing 22 paywalled articles among several staff members. While Inland Revenue had a group subscription for 220 staff members until March 2024, this had been replaced by a single subscription for a member of its media team. NBR's co-owner Todd Scott confirmed that the journal had adopted a policy of pursuing subscribers for copyright violations of its content. In response, Inland Revenue had offered to pay NBR the sum of NZ$12,500 including GST in redress. NBR regarded the offer as insufficient and proposed a counter-offer, which Inland Revenue declined to pay. In January 2026, National Business Review confirmed that it would pursue legal action against Inland Revenue through the District Court in order to recover the costs of a full group subscription, which NBR co-editor Hamish McNichol estimated to be worth NZ$36,000 plus GST.
Awards
At the 2022 Public Service Day Awards, two Inland Revenue employees (one posthumously) received the Public Service Commissioner's Commendation for Excellence award for their outstanding spirit of service.
In 2021, Inland Revenue were finalists at the Spirit of Service Awards for service excellence for their work investing in new technology and tools, focusing on simplifying policies and processes and introducing new ways of working to deliver better experiences for customers.
In November 2019, an Inland Revenue employee was awarded the State Services Commissioner's Commendation for Frontline Excellence for her investigation into the suspected multimillion-dollar income suppression by a chain of restaurants. This investigation led to one of the most significant prosecution cases undertaken by Inland Revenue in the past decade.
In 2019 Inland Revenue was awarded a Distinguished Service Award from Multicultural New Zealand in recognition of its support of community members in the aftermath of the Christchurch attacks.
Inland Revenue, along with The Treasury, were finalists at the Spirit of Service Awards 2019 for their partnership work to enhance tax policy through kaitiakitanga (stewardship), manaakitanga (care), ōhanga (prosperity) and whanaungatanga (relationships).
In 2019, an Inland Revenue employee was awarded the Ria McBride Public Service Management Award, sponsored by Te Kawa Mataaho Public Service Commission, which supports women to study as part of their development towards senior management positions in the Public Service.
In 2018, the IPANZ Prime Minister's Award for Public Sector Excellence and Achieving Collective Impact was awarded to the Ministry of Education, Tertiary Education Commission, Ministry of Social Development and Inland Revenue for delivering fees-free tertiary education for the 2018 school year. The Regulatory Systems award went to the Ministry of Justice, Department of Internal Affairs, Reserve Bank of New Zealand, Financial Markets Authority, New Zealand Customs, and Inland Revenue for Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing Terrorism.
List of ministers
The Minister of Revenue is the political office of minister for the department of Inland Revenue. Since November 2023, the position has been held by Simon Watts.
Key
Liberal
Reform
United
Labour
National
United
United Future