(File photo) Photo: RNZ / Richard Tindiller
Every year, thousands of New Zealand bank accounts are closed and the money is transferred to Inland Revenue.
A listener who contacted RNZ said he had received a letter from his bank recently advising him of its intent to give money in "dormant" bank accounts to Inland Revenue.
"My brother, my wife and I are in the top echelon of taxpayers in New Zealand," he said. "We use two leading accountancy companies to manage our returns and play the game according to the rules and always have done … in my mind it is tantamount to legalised theft."
Money becomes "unclaimed money" under the Unclaimed Money Act and can be transferred to Inland Revenue if a customer has not interacted with a bank or transacted on the account, including term deposits, for five years, and where the balance is over $100.
ANZ, the country's biggest bank, said since 1 October, 2024, it had closed an average 1700 accounts a quarter. Most were transaction accounts.
A spokesperson said the volume of unclaimed money paid to IRD had been falling since 2023.
"We'll attempt to contact the customer using the contact information we have available for them and ask them to reactivate the account. This can be done by logging on to the ANZ goMoney mobile app, internet banking, or using ANZ phone banking, making a payment to or from the ANZ account or calling us or visiting a branch.
"If the customer does not reactivate the account, it is closed and paid to the IRD. The customer can still claim funds from the IRD. Unclaimed accounts - including term deposits - are paid to the IRD on a quarterly basis in accordance with the unclaimed money rules."
Other banks reported closing accounts, too.
ASB said it would do its best to get in touch with a customer before any transfer took place.
"If we're unable to make contact and the balance is over $100, the account is closed and the funds are transferred to IRD as unclaimed money. For term deposits that are set to automatically roll over, the five-year period begins from the maturity of the original term," Adam Boyd, general manager of personal banking, said.
"While we don't typically publish annual figures, we can confirm that the number of accounts transferred to IRD each year is relatively small."
Westpac said it had made 1336 such transfers this year. Last year, there were 2576 in total. The year before, it was 2777.
IRD currently has more than $600 million in unclaimed money in its accounts. If it is not claimed in 25 years, it is transferred to the Crown.
People can search its database to see whether they have any owing and make a claim for it if so.
"The Unclaimed Money List is publicly available for people to search and make claims on, through the Inland Revenue website," a spokesperson said.
"Customers can also search through their myIR accounts, where the system will offer suggested matches to choose from.
"Sometimes, the Unclaimed Money team identifies potential owners and sends out letters inviting them to submit claims. Claims are processed by our team throughout the year. AI is not used to identify owners."
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