Farmers are leaving reclaimable money on the table, with Farm Focus customers already returned more than $600,000 collectively in fuel excise duty refunds, chief executive Marie-Claire Andrews says.

The duty is managed by NZTA rather than IRD, so it sits outside the normal tax process, which means it often falls through the gaps.

“It’s literally tax that a farmer has paid on fuel that they’re not using on the roads,” she says.

She says the average farmer claims back about $4,000 first go, with two years of arrears also claimable.

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