Hi All,
I have now seen the ultimate in stupidity and unfairness from IRD CS. I’ve been paying CS for 13 years now and thought I had seen everything but this takes the cake!! I am a Kiwi residing in Australia. I pay my Child Support to the CSA who collect on behalf of the IRD CS. It is calculated in Aussie dollars so if the AUD buys $1.10c Kiwi I would pay the adjusted amount; for example if I earned $100,000 AUD that becomes $110,000 NZD and I am assessed on that rate. That doesn’t worry me too much although the IRD’s failure to take into account the cost of living over here pisses me off but I’m not expecting fairness from IRD CS.
Anyway here’s my point- IRD CS in their wisdom have decided that since the 2 currencies were almost at parity on the 1st of April (the irony of the date always amuses me) that means that if I was assessed at paying, for example $1500 NZD per month that would equate to $1500 AUD per month. So using my example the Australian CSA have me assessed at $1500 AUD per month. Now that would be fine if they also assessed my AUD earnings as being the same in NZ dollars. I would have been very happy with such a scenario but NO, they are still calculating my Australian earnings as being 10% higher than the NZD so $100,000 becomes $110,000. Surely they can’t have it both ways!! So now, when I calculate my earnings on the Child Support calculator I get the assessment amount I would expect once the $ difference is allowed for. That’s the figure that appears on my Online IRD CS assessment but I also have this other magical figure that the IRD CS and CSA have agreed on that actually increases my liability by approximately $200 per month. So, I am actually paying for the difference in the Exchange rate twice. Once for the difference in my actual earnings when allowing for the Exchange rate + a second time due to the fact that the assessed rate was based on the fact that the $s were at parity on April 1st even though the AUD is now 10% higher in value. They say that they will not review this because that’s just the way it is. Does anyone know a good NZ based lawyer I could deal with who can help me because this is bullshit!!

Regards
Had_Enough