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Child Support Act 1991

General provisions - Refunds of financial support

216: Refund of excess financial support

You could also call this:

"Getting back extra money you paid for child support"

Illustration for Child Support Act 1991

If you pay too much money for child support, including any penalties, this is called excess financial support. You can ask for this extra money back from the Commissioner. If you ask for it back, the Commissioner will give you all of it if you don't have to pay any more child support now or in the future. If you do have to pay more child support later, you'll get back the part that hasn't been given to the person who was supposed to receive the child support.

Sometimes, the Commissioner can give you back the extra money without you asking, if you don't have to pay any more child support now or in the future. If you're owed $5 or less and you don't ask for it within a year, the Commissioner will put it into your tax credit account.

There are some other rules about getting refunds that you can find in other parts of the law. These are called sections 216A to 216D and section 89J of the Income Tax Act 2007.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM257312.

Topics:
Family and relationships > Children and parenting
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216A: Method of application for refund of excess financial support paid, or

"How to ask for money back if you paid too much child support"

Part 14General provisions
Refunds of financial support

216Refund of excess financial support

  1. In this section, excess financial support means any amount paid by a person to the Commissioner in excess of the amount of financial support properly payable, together with any penalties imposed under this Act.

  2. The person may request a refund of the excess financial support from the Commissioner.

  3. On receiving a request from the person, the Commissioner must refund—

  4. all of the excess financial support if the person neither has, nor is known to have at some future time, liability to make further payments of financial support under this Act; or
    1. in any other case, so much of the excess financial support as has not been paid to the payee.

      1. The Commissioner may refund so much of the excess financial support as has not been paid to the payee without receiving a request from the person if the person neither has, nor is known to have at some future time, any liability to make further payments of financial support under this Act.

      2. If the person is entitled to a refund not exceeding $5 but does not request it within 12 months of first becoming entitled to it, the Commissioner must transfer the refund to the person's tax credit account for the purposes of the Income Tax Act 2007.

      3. This section and sections 216A to 216D are subject to section 89J.

      Notes
      • Section 216: substituted, on , by section 33 of the Child Support Amendment Act 1999 (1999 No 81).
      • Section 216(5): amended, on (effective for 2008–09 income year and later), by section ZA 2(1) of the Income Tax Act 2007 (2007 No 97).
      • Section 216(6): added, on , by section 40 of the Child Support Amendment Act 2006 (2006 No 42).