Employers and employees won't wear blame for IRD's KiwiSaver bungles

The tax department’s attempts to blame employers and employees for its bungling of KiwiSaver scrapes the bottom of the blame barrel, says David Lowe, Employment Services Manager for the Northern Employers and Manufacturers Association.

“Over the last few days IRD have been reported saying the bungling of KiwiSaver was due to employers,” Mr Lowe said.

“That’s utter rubbish.

“Employers and employees won’t be IRD’s scapegoat for problems it has failed to manage.

“The origin of those problems can be sheeted straight back to the shot gun way the government introduced the scheme.

“EMA has made IRD well aware of the delay problems that started from the inception of the scheme in July last year.

“Employers have been giving IRD some leeway to get on top of the scheme’s teething problems up until now. But time is up.

“Employees and their employers are losing patience.

“IRD’s blaming employers is unacceptable.

“IRD needs to front up to the inadequacies of its own performance.”