What to do if You get it Wrong

Inland Revenue collects tax for the government. The best way of achieving this is when people willingly comply with the tax laws. We call this ‘voluntary compliance’. We help people to comply through the information available on our website, our booklets and guides, and our advisory services. We also undertake reviews and audits to check that everyone is paying their fair share.

We encourage you to tell us if you know there is an error in your tax affairs before we find it. If you tell us
about an error, it’s called a ‘voluntary disclosure’. There are a number of advantages in making a
voluntary disclosure rather than waiting for us to find a discrepancy during an audit. A major advantage is that
any shortfall penalty charged on a related tax shortfall may be reduced by up to 10%.

For more information on audits and voluntary disclosures see our Audit Information Sheet.