This petition calls for a review of the Working for Families scheme and the way IRD handles overpayments. Families who return to work partway through the year are being left with large debts due to retrospective income assessments. The current system does not reflect real-life financial changes and unfairly penalises working families. Reform is needed to ensure the scheme supports, rather than punishes, those trying to improve their situation

Who is impacted?

Thousands of working families across Aotearoa are being hit with unexpected and unaffordable debts by Inland Revenue. Many parents who return to work partway through the year are penalised because their annual income suddenly appears higher, even though they were eligible for support when they weren’t working.

What is at stake?

If nothing changes, more families will continue to be pushed into financial stress for simply choosing to re-enter the workforce. The current system creates a disincentive to work and punishes people for trying to improve their circumstances — undermining the very purpose of Working for Families.

Why is now the time to act?

Cost of living pressures are growing, and working parents can’t afford to be penalised for doing the right thing. Reform is urgently needed to ensure the system is fair, accurate, and reflects the realities of modern family life. Let’s protect families and fix this broken process now.

Families like mine are being penalised with large debts simply because we return to work partway through a financial year. In my case, I was eligible for support while not working, but when I started working again just four months before the end of the tax year, my annual income appeared higher — and I was hit with a debt of over $8,000. My income tax refund was also automatically taken to repay this, leaving my whānau struggling.