Office gets set for Family Support

Press, 18 June 1986, Page 9

Office gets set for Family Support

The new Family Support Tax Credit Scheme will not be Introduced until October 1, but preparatory work by the Inland Revenue Department is already well under way. Fifty staff members shifted into a new Family Support office in Worcester Street this week to begin the long job of processing applications and conducting a publicity campaign. The chief examiner of the department's Family Support section in Christchurch, Mrs Meriel Simcock, said that although Family Support would begin on October 1, it was important for application

forms to be processed before that date.

She expected that her section would process about 28,000 applications over the next few months. The new office is also organising seminars throughout Christchurch to tie into a national publicity campaign to explain how the new scheme will work. In addition to the Worcester Street office, the department will run a “Freefone” from June 23 to answer any/questions about Family Support

The Family Support Tax Credit Scheme will replace the existing Family Tax Rebate and Family Care Scheme. It

will be paid in addition to the family benefit of $6 for every child and people will qualify for it if they have at least one dependent child for whom they collect the family benefit For most people, entitlement to Family Support will be fixed by the Inland Revenue Department, and where possible it will be given through the pay packet as a reduction in P.A.Y.E. tax.

Examples given by the department show that for a family earning $269 a week or less, Family Support will be worth $36 a week for the first child, and $l6 a week for each additional child.