24 October 2025 

Survey - We want your feedback

We're gathering feedback to help us improve our processes and understand your experience with the recent SuperGold Card eligibility and refund process changes:

• Complete our short survey here: Council Feedback Survey
• Anyone across the Rates Rebates process can respond – multiple submissions are welcome from one council.
• Deadline: 14 November 2025.

Refund request process reminders

• Every claim must have a unique reference and ID, including those from retirement villages. If needed, add a letter or number to the reference and ID to differentiate each claim.
• If your council has no claims to refund in a given month, send a nil return by the 5th working day of the month. With the Christmas and New Year holidays approaching, the 5th working day for January is 14 January 2026.
• If you’ve already emailed a refund request but need to make changes before the 5th working day, use "REPLACEMENT" in the email subject line (in caps), along with your council's name and return month. Attach the replacement refund request, send the email and then file.
• Requests received after the 5th working day will be processed the following month.
•  If your refund request doesn’t meet compliance requirements, it will be rejected. You’ll be notified and given a chance to send a corrected file before the 5th working day.
•  If we ask for a correction due to compliance requirements, you’ll have 1 working day to send the updated file. If your file is rejected on the 5th working day, you will have until the 6th working day to send a corrected file. 

Rebate guidance & council resources

• Visit our new webpage for council resources: www.dia.govt.nz/Rates-Rebates-Claims. Note: eRMS ‘Publications’ tab will no longer be updated.
• The Rates Rebates Handbook is updated regularly on the new webpage. Always refer to the latest version online – we won’t notify you of every change.

Updated rates form coming soon

We expect to share a revised version of the rates rebates application form during November. This will be used for the next reprint, likely in December. As a result of feedback from councils, we intend to return to the printed layout of 4 pages with the guide notes as an insert. Continue to use the current forms until they are used up. 

Encourage your colleagues to subscribe to rates rebates update

You may forward this newsletter to any of your rates rebate colleagues who may not already receive it – they can click on the subscribe button below. This means they can directly receive the latest news and updates.

Thank you for your continued cooperation and commitment to supporting your communities through the rates rebates scheme. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out by emailing us: support@ratesrebates.govt.nz