shit.

i'm scared about mine (which came to about $9k), now. had the same thing with the disappearance from linked account. haven't done a tax return for a couple of years for no particular reason besides laziness. i thought it just got paid like HECS?

shit.

they'll probbably find you on the next tax return!

its interesting, on the back it says, this is not a bill, you dont have to pay it, and then it also says that we'll add intrest for every year that you don't so, its just irritating to think about.

ahh ok so it's just one of those. i've had those. pretty sure you should be paying it back along with HECS via your tax. at least that's how mine's being paid. which is why i got a pay cut last time i got a pay rise.

you can totally negotiate with the tax office. but it would be more to negotiate a payment plan to pay off the debt, rather than to get out of paying it completely.

if you can claim serious financial hardship, you might be able to reduce the amount. but I think you would have difficulty claiming serious financial hardship that on a $4000 amount with a full time job.

yeah i guess its the intrest i'd like to take off - for the years that i was under the repayment threshold and the years i was overseas resident. we'll see!

this post reminded me - your stupid ex-UK bank refuses to accept that you don't live here anymore!!
I've taken to just destroying most of their mail, you ok with that?? :)
xj

urgh how depressing

yep get rid of everything, ive sent you an email, will deal with it this week.

hmm, I had a tax debt because of stupid centrelink a few years ago... It ended up just coming out of my tax return the following year - not sure if there was any interest. However, this was only $700, not $4k...

$4000? just try to negotiate the payments with them to be lower.

Drew has somewhere in the vicinity of $30K HECS (we have no idea of the exact amount) owing in NZ. Most kiwis have about that much owing.
We just left the country - like every other kiwi does! - and have no plans to go back to NZ, or the debt.

FYI - Here's some interesting stuff:
http://www.capa.edu.au/briefing-papers/2003-03-30/social-and-economic-impact-student-debt

"The New Zealand student loan scheme has been the subject of intense domestic and international criticism. In 1999, economic modelling in New Zealand revealed that it would take the average male university student 17 years to repay a loan of $20,000, while it would take the average female student 51 years to repay a loan of the same size."

"The New Zealand Government has acknowledged that student debt is a "push factor" for increasing emigration, as people with student debt move overseas to avoid repaying their debt, or to earn higher salaries with which to make their debt repayments. Between 1997-1998 and 1999-2000, nearly 4 per cent of the total New Zealand professional workforce emigrated to Australia alone."

And they still don't do anything about the system and they're losing 4% of the professional workforce each year!!

Sorry for the rant. I feel strongly about this :)