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Customs and Excise Act 2018

Entry and exit of goods, persons, and craft - Assessment, payment, and recovery of duty - Refunds, remissions, and drawbacks of duty

150: Recovery of refunds, etc made in error

You could also call this:

"Getting back refunds that Customs paid by mistake"

Illustration for Customs and Excise Act 2018

If you get a refund from Customs by mistake, they can ask you to pay it back. This can happen if you got the refund because of a wrong fact or a wrong understanding of the law. You might have got a refund on some duty you paid, or you might have got a drawback, which is when you get some money back because you imported something and then exported it, as described in section 147.

The person in charge of Customs can take you to court to get the money back. If you got the refund by cheating, they can do this at any time. If it was just a mistake, they have to do it within four years of when you got the refund or when it was used to pay some other duty. This other duty might be something you had to pay because of section 146(a), section 147(4), or section 172.

You might have used the refund to pay some duty or another amount, and Customs can still ask for it back within four years of when you used it.

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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=DLM7245102.

Topics:
Money and consumer rights > Taxes
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149: Minimum amounts of refunds and drawback, or

"Rules about getting back duty on goods if you've paid too much"

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151: Reimportation of goods exported, or

"Bringing back goods you exported from New Zealand"

Part 3Entry and exit of goods, persons, and craft
Assessment, payment, and recovery of duty: Refunds, remissions, and drawbacks of duty

150Recovery of refunds, etc made in error

  1. This section applies to the following:

  2. any duty, interest, penalty, or other amount refunded by Customs in error of fact or law:
    1. any drawback allowed under section 147 in error of fact or law.

      1. The chief executive (on behalf of the Crown) may recover the refund or drawback in any court of competent jurisdiction by commencing proceedings—

      2. at any time, if the refund or drawback was obtained by fraud; or
        1. in any other case, within 4 years after the date on which the refund or drawback was—
          1. paid; or
            1. applied towards the payment of any duty or other amount under section 146(a), 147(4), or 172.

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