Fraction of incorrectly paid cost-of-living support returned
The payments were made through 2022 to low- and middle-income earners to help with the impact of inflation.
Photo: RNZ / Rebekah Parsons-King
Less than 14 percent of the people who were incorrectly paid a cost-of-living payment ever paid the money back, Inland Revenue says.
The payments were made through 2022 to low- and middle-income earners to help with the impact of inflation.
Payments were made in three instalments to a total of $350.
But Inland Revenue had to contact 80,000 people it believed had wrongly received at least one of the payments, including people who had left the country, and people who were not in work. They were asked to return the money.
A spokesperson said the total number of cost-of-living repayments made was 10,985.
"We did see a direct increase in repayments rec...
