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Child Support Act 1991

Collection of financial support - Discretionary relief in respect of penalties and pre-2021 penalties

135D: Discretionary relief if honest oversight by liable person with no history of default

You could also call this:

"Getting help with penalties if you forgot to pay child support for the first time"

Illustration for Child Support Act 1991

You can get help with paying penalties if you made an honest mistake and have always paid on time before. The Commissioner can give you this help if they believe three things are true:

  1. You were late paying because you honestly forgot or didn't realise you needed to pay.

  2. You have always paid your child support on time before.

  3. As soon as you realised you needed to pay, you paid right away.

If all these things are true, the Commissioner might reduce or remove the penalties you have to pay. This is to be fair to people who usually do the right thing but made a one-time mistake.

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This page was last updated on

View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM256043.

Topics:
Family and relationships > Children and parenting
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135C: Discretionary relief if failure of another person to make deduction, or

"You might get help with penalties if someone else forgot to take out your child support money"

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135DA: Discretionary relief if recovery is inefficient use of Commissioner’s resources, or

"The Commissioner can cancel penalties if collecting them isn't worth the effort"

Part 8Collection of financial support
Discretionary relief in respect of penalties and pre-2021 penalties

135DDiscretionary relief if honest oversight by liable person with no history of default

  1. The Commissioner may grant relief to a liable person in the manner prescribed by section 135A if the Commissioner is satisfied that—

  2. the delay in payment of the debt to which a penalty relates is due to an honest oversight by the liable person; and
    1. the liable person has no history of default in previous payments of financial support; and
      1. the liable person paid the debt as soon as he or she became aware of the oversight.

        Notes
        • Section 135D: inserted, on , by section 32(1) of the Child Support Amendment Act 2006 (2006 No 42).