Irish people who worked in New Zealand could be owed tax refunds

The average refund is $550 (NZ), which works out at well over €300.

Are you one of the 40,000 or so Irish people that travelled all the way to New Zealand in recent years, particularly during the height of the recession? If so, and if you have since returned to Ireland, you could be due a fairly hefty lump of cash in tax refunds. According to tax refund specialists www.taxback.com, approximately half of Irish people who worked in New Zealand and have since returned home to Ireland have left some money behind them in the form of tax refunds. From their own experiences, taxback.com reckon that a large chunk of Irish people who worked in New Zealand didn’t complete the necessary tax filing requirements and may have lost out on quite a bit of money as a result; the average taxback.com refund is $550 (NZ), which works out at around €330. In an effort to encourage those who may have missed out to recoup what is owed to them taxback.com have launched their ‘Bullsh*t-Free Guide to New Zealand Working Holiday Taxes’, an online resource providing New Zealand working holidaymakers with an easy-to-access, easy-to-use tax guide that will enable them to understand how the New Zealand tax system works, what reliefs are available to them and how they can go about claiming their tax refund. Eileen Devereux, Commercial Director with taxback.com, said:

“The most recent stats show that between June 2009, which was approximately a year after the Recession hit the country, and January 2017, 4,008 Irish workers were approved for residency visas in NZ and 33,226 Irish Workers were granted work visas. "Thankfully, the economy has improved since then and the nation is now calling out for our Irish workforce to return home – particularly in the construction industry. "So, of the thousands returning from New Zealand in the last few years, as a leading tax refund provider in the country, our experience would suggest that more than half of returnees are not completing the necessary tax filing requirements – and could be missing out on significant tax refunds as a result."

“To put it simply - people find tax confusing. And understandably so,” Devereux added. She went on:

“When people come home their focus tends to be on setting up the financial affairs here rather than tying them up in New Zealand. But our message is that people should do both! “Millions of dollars in tax refunds go unclaimed by working holidaymakers every year and it’s down to many misconceptions and a lack of awareness around tax. But when you consider the fact that the average New Zealand tax refund with Taxback.com is $550, it’s easy to see that is worth claiming what you’re owed.”

You can access the guide here.