The department has issued a "revenue alert" over the failure of some employers to pass on PAYE deductions. Employers must pay PAYE, as well as any other deductions from employees' salaries, by the due dates. Robyn Walker, tax partner at Deloitte, said it was a timely reminder that not paying PAYE was a really bad thing to do and the consequences could be serious. This is conceptually different to if a business is having trouble paying its own company tax bill, because it is other people's money. "Rightly or wrongly, during the Covid years there was more leniency applied to PAYE payments, and so some employers may have begun taking a more casual approach to paying PAYE.

Source: Otago Daily Times March 16, 2026 00:38 UTC