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Purpose: To identify taxpayers who have died so that IR can close their accounts.
BDM disclosure to IR: BDM provides death information including the full name, gender, birth date, death date, home address, death registration number, spouse's details and other information that may help to confirm their identity.
Compliance: Non-compliant - minor technical error.
Incorrect matches were loaded to the new system and staff were not made sufficiently aware of simple process to reactivate accounts.
| Authorising provisions | Births, Deaths, Marriages, and Relationships Registration Act 2021, s 112 |
| Year authorised | 2001 |
| Year commenced | 2016 |
| Programme type | Updating data |
| Online transfers | Yes |
BDM provides IR with records of newly deceased individuals. These records include full name, gender, date of birth, date of death, home address, spouse’s details and other information that may help to confirm their identity.
The records are matched against IR records. Where the records clearly match and the deceased person’s tax and social policy affairs do not require IR staff to take manual actions (for example, the account balance is nil), the account may be automatically closed.
Where the match is less certain, or the deceased person had debt or social policy obligations that require staff to take manual action staff check the match and manually close the account following standard IR processes.
| 2019/20 | 2020/21 | 2021/22 | 2022/23 | |
| Records received for matching | 33,245 | 33,183 | 36,496 | 38,580 |
| Possible matches identified | 32,728 | 32,612 | 35,873 | 37,481 |
| Cumulative count of accounts closed | 350,989 | 383,701 | 407,04 | 436,487 |
The utility of this provision was assessed in the report Births, Deaths, Marriages, and Relationships Registration Act 1995 s 78A; Immigration Act 2009, s 300; Social Security Act 2018, schedule 6, clause 13 (June 2021).
