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Social Security Act 2018

Other provisions - Regulations

448: Regulations: remittance or suspension of debt

You could also call this:

“Rules for delaying or cancelling money owed to the government”

The Governor-General can make rules about money that you might owe to the government. These rules can say that you don’t have to pay back the money right away, or that you don’t have to pay it back at all.

These rules can be different for different types of people or different amounts of money. They might say you can wait to pay back the money for a certain amount of time.

The Minister can only suggest making these rules if they think it will help people in certain ways. For example, the rules might help stop people from owing more and more money while they’re getting help from the government. They might also help people start working and stop needing government help.

The rules might also give people a good reason to get a job or keep working. They could do more than one of these things at the same time.

These rules are a type of law called secondary legislation. This means they need to be made public in a certain way.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM6784021.

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Part 8 Other provisions
Regulations

448Regulations: remittance or suspension of debt

  1. The Governor-General may, by Order in Council made on the recommendation of the Minister, make regulations requiring or permitting—

  2. the recovery of amounts recoverable under regulations made under section 444 to be suspended; or
    1. those amounts to be remitted.

      1. Regulations made under subsection (1) may require or permit the suspension of recovery of amounts, or the remission of amounts,—

      2. of a particular kind or from persons of a particular kind:
        1. of a particular value (which may differ between persons of a particular kind):
          1. in the case of suspension, for periods that may differ for amounts of a particular kind or value, or between persons of a particular kind.

            1. The Minister must not recommend the making of regulations made under subsection (1) unless satisfied that they are likely to—

            2. prevent accumulation of debt by any category of beneficiary and assist those beneficiaries to reduce their levels of debt while on a benefit; or
              1. assist any category of beneficiary to move from dependence on a benefit to self-support through employment by ensuring that those beneficiaries do not face increasing benefit debt repayments when they enter the workforce; or
                1. provide a positive incentive for beneficiaries to enter employment or stay in employment; or
                  1. achieve more than 1 of the objectives set out in paragraphs (a) to (c).

                    1. Regulations under this section are secondary legislation (see Part 3 of the Legislation Act 2019 for publication requirements).

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                    Notes
                    • Section 448(4): inserted, on , by section 3 of the Secondary Legislation Act 2021 (2021 No 7).