Through our work for clients we have a great deal of interaction with public sector organisations (IRD, ACC, Immigration and Courts). While at times, these interactions go smoothly there are occasions where we find fundamental operational issues that impact on the quality of services provided by these organisations (e.g. IRD not accepting email communication). Often these issues are, in our view simple to fix yet we consistently find that bureaucracy and poor service ethics in these organisations hinders timely fixes.
Such issues impact significantly on the productivity and performance of the public service which in turn flows through to all taxpayers who carry the cost.
And while we would much prefer to donate to other charitable causes, we really can’t stand by and watch thousands of taxpayer dollars being wasted. So for our societal contribution we will continue to donate our time in raising awareness and seeking solutions for better public services.
IRD now (March 2016) officially allows use of email but puts various barriers in the way. IRD also says that sometimes telephone or snail mail maybe more appropriate than email. We say “come on IRD, get with the 21st century!” Read on “IRD’s clients have good reason for preferring email”
IRD has recently implemented a reasonably consistent policy across some of its service delivery divisions. In this article we provide details and comment on areas still needing improvement.
Read on “IRD use of email and electronic spreadsheets- update”
Two electronic tools used extremely commonly in business are e-mail and excel spreadsheets. In this article we comment how Inland Revenue uses (or refuses to use) them. We also include a document (obtained following an Official Information Act request) that sets out policies applied by SOME parts of Inland Revenue.
In requiring taxpayers to sign ‘agreed adjustment” forms, IRD staff continue to breach standards, including those published by Inland Revenue itself.
From our repeated experience, crucial IRD staff breaches are:
Read on “IRD agreed adjustment forms – get advice before signing”
This section of our website sets out a number of issues that we often observe in respect of the way IRD manages audits and other communications with taxpayers.
The most recent development is our 5 May 2011 submission to the Minister and Commissioner of Inland Revenue, and an IRD response that in our view ducks nearly all the points we are making.
We will continue to pursue these matters in various forums.
Read on “Submission to IRD and Government re IRD Audit and Communications”