Photo: RNZ
How much is it reasonable for Inland Revenue to take from an account to recover debt?
Lynette Davies said the $1000 the department is trying to take each week from her is an unfeasible amount of money.
RNZ reported earlier this week that Inland Revenue is taking a tougher line on recovering debt that it is owed - with 16,500 notices sent about planned bank deductions since mid-June, 25 percent more than for the whole of last year.
Between mid-June and 30 September, there had been 8181 deductions completed, which had recovered $17 million. There were another 6026 deductions in progress, which had collected $5.5m.
There is an estimated $10 billion in tax debt owing, although that does not include child support, which sits at about $1 billion.
Davies said she could not afford the $1000 a week the department wanted from her account, which is to cover child support debt.
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She shared concerns expressed to RNZ last week about the way that child support is calculated. There have been calls for an overhaul amid concerns about how custody arrangements are assessed and transparency around parents' income.
She said the debt arose about a decade ago, when her daughter was 15, when she moved between her care and that of her ex-husband.
Amid a dispute between the parents, Inland Revenue continued to tell her that she was liable for child support.
"I let the IRD know that I was no longer the liable parent but was the custodial one. They wouldn't believe me."
The debt grew with penalties to about $23,000. The penalties were wiped, which took it back to $16,000.
"Three weeks ago they took $1000 out of my bank account. I was pretty upset at that, I'd had no notifications. It's actually more than I have available a week to pay," she said.
She was told to submit a complaint to suspend the payments.
"At that time I thought they were talking about $1000 a month - until the next week my eftpos card was declined and I found out they're taken another $1000. They're fully intending on taking $1000 a week. The child in question is now 25."
She has started trying to block the payments and had been told too much time had passed to take the issue to court.
A spokesperson for Inland Revenue said it could not comment on the specifics of her case but it had received extra funding for compliance so there was an increase in activity.
'We look at every case's individual circumstance and consider these before we take any deductions from people's account. We also contact or try to contact customers before taking these actions."
Another man who contacted RNZ said he too had money taken without warning. "We were not notified in advance nor did we know any money was owed. This tax was for my wife who does not have an IRD login and does not need to fill in an IR3 form. Her only income is superannuation and bank interest.
"Taking the money caused our account to go into debit, costing us still more. We are outraged that they did this without first asking us to pay whatever they thought was due."
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