It could be that you had an old bank account with some money in it that you hadn’t used in five years, or you have unpaid wages from over five years ago.<\/p>\n
You may have left something at a hotel, or hostel and after six months of it going unclaimed the business owner sold it and passed the money to IRD.<\/p>\n
The M\u0101ori Trustee may be holding funds for you \u2013 it holds money in the common fund for at least 10 years and if no claim has been made for that money during that time, it will become unclaimed money.<\/p>\n
Other reasons might be unclaimed dividends, proceeds of life insurance policies and awards from court cases or prisoners’ allowances.<\/p>\n
An Inland Revenue spokesperson said unclaimed money that gets paid to IRD as well as other incoming payments, get automatically collected and transferred to Treasury on a regular basis.<\/p>\n
“As part of their work, the Unclaimed Money team identifies potential owners and sends out letters inviting them to submit claims. Claims are processed by our team throughout the year.”<\/p>\n
![\"Inland](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/inland-revenue-paperwork-6K2ZUMZJNRACVC2DNYA2QEAR34.png\")
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Inland Revenue paperwork (Source: rnz.co.nz)<\/p>\n
How do I know if I have unclaimed money?<\/p>\n
There are two ways to do this.<\/p>\n
You can search for yourself in myIR. Just log in, click on ‘I want to…’ and go to ‘Registration, application and enrolment’. Then select ‘Apply for unclaimed money’.<\/p>\n
Or you can search the IRD website where the unclaimed money list is publicly available. This is the option to choose if you’re searching on behalf of someone else, you want to search by a previous name you’ve gone by, you don’t have myIR account or you are searching on behalf of an organisation, trust or estate.<\/p>\n
While you can see if you have unclaimed funds through this search you can only make a claim through myIR.<\/p>\n
You’ll need to provide information to help confirm you’re the person the money belongs to. This might be past contact information, an old statement or letter from an organisation or person, or a copy of a will.<\/p>\n
How long does IRD hold the money for?<\/p>\n
An Inland Revenue spokesperson unclaimed funds are held for 20 years after it is transferred to the IRD.<\/p>\n
“If no valid claim is made within that 20-year period, the money is removed from the unclaimed money list and no further claims can be made.”<\/p>\n
Eventually, any unclaimed money is transferred to the Crown.<\/p>\n
How long will it take for me to get my money?<\/p>\n
Generally it takes 10-12 weeks to receive the money but with more people currently searching for unclaimed funds at the moment, IRD may take longer to process a claim.<\/p>\n
Attaching as much evidence as possible with your submission helps to avoid even further delays.<\/p>\n
IRD will let you know if your claim is successful once it’s processed.<\/p>\n
It is legit but watch out for scams<\/p>\n
It may seem like a lot of people have never heard of IRD’s unclaimed funds but it is legitimate (if you go through the official IRD website).<\/p>\n
IRD has previously said people need to watch out for scammers who contact them saying they have unclaimed money waiting for you.<\/p>\n
How much is unclaimed?<\/p>\n
As of June 30 last year $619,311 million is being held by Inland Revenue.<\/p>\n
This is an increase from previous years with $574,547 million unclaimed funds in June of 2024 and $446,758 million in 2023.<\/p>\n
IRD said the June 30, 2026 figures are not yet available.<\/p>\n