The New Zealand IRD (i hope google picks this up) took my ex wife’s word that I earnt money under the table, when I was clearly destitute on the DPB and after having lost my my business in 2008. They assessed me on my previous year’s income and after the review I got a letter which pointed to a previous court case where a dad refused to work to avoid child support.

I was called to a review to show proof that I had been looking for work and that I was rightfully on the DPB, but because my “website” was still up, believed that I was making money from it. This was not the case!The assessment remained, so they continued to charge me child support for a false income. I could not pay, yet the penalties acrued.

The New Zealand IRD went into my bank and stole all the money from my account without warning me. This was my benefit that I needed to pay the rent and have the kids with me. That week I had nothing and applied to WINZ for a food voucher (which was humiliating).

The following day I had a WINZ case offer investigator knocking at my door, without being warned of turning up, asking me questions about my business dealing and whether I had received cash..
I guess my honesty shined through and things settled….until I got a letter from the IRD that I had to prove that the kids were in shared care. My ex wife called the IRD and lied that I did not have the kids 40%. My child support went up, on top of the incorrect income.

For the next three months I had to record every minute the kids were with me to prove that they were in shared care….
The NZ IRD…hmmm???