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Social Security Act 2018

Obligations - Beneficiaries’ obligations - General obligations: supplying tax file number

112: Beneficiary must supply tax file number

You could also call this:

“You need to give MSD your tax number when you ask for or get help with money”

You need to give MSD (Ministry of Social Development) your tax file number when you ask for or get a benefit. MSD might ask you to show proof of your tax file number. If they ask, you have 10 working days to give them this proof.

If you don’t give MSD the proof they want in time, they might not give you the benefit. If you’re already getting a benefit, they might stop paying it. But don’t worry if you can’t give them proof right away. You can ask MSD for more time if you have a good reason why you need it.

Sometimes, you might not be able to give MSD your tax file number because you’re sick or hurt. If that’s the case, you don’t have to worry about this rule.

Your tax file number is a special number that the government uses for tax reasons. It’s the same number that’s talked about in 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=DLM6783336.

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“You need a bank account for your benefit and must tell MSD about it”

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Part 3 Obligations
Beneficiaries’ obligations: General obligations: supplying tax file number

112Beneficiary must supply tax file number

  1. MSD may in writing request an applicant for a benefit or a beneficiary to provide evidence, to the satisfaction of MSD, of the tax file number of the applicant or beneficiary.

  2. MSD may refuse to grant a benefit and must suspend payment of a benefit if satisfactory evidence of the tax file number of the applicant or the beneficiary is not received within 10 working days after the date on which the request is made (the deadline).

  3. MSD may in writing extend the deadline if an applicant or a beneficiary provides a reasonable explanation for not providing the evidence within the deadline.

  4. This section does not apply to a beneficiary who is unable to provide satisfactory evidence of the beneficiary’s tax file number within the deadline or extended deadline specified because of any health condition, injury, or disability.

  5. In this section, tax file number has the same meaning as in section YA 1 of the Income Tax Act 2007.

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