The Ministry of Social Development (MSD) said the policy was a \u201clong-standing feature of New Zealand\u2019s system\u201d designed to treat taxpayers fairly.<\/p>\n
Figures provided to the Herald show the amount of money coming in from overseas pensions \u2013 and being deducted from local ones \u2013 has been growing year on year since 2021, from $442 million to $590m.<\/p>\n
The numbers do not include people who are eligible for the New Zealand pension, but choose not to apply for it because they already know they won\u2019t get it.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile an average of 95,000 overseas pensions are received by New Zealand citizens each year.<\/p>\n
The highest amount of overseas pension money in 2025 came from the United Kingdom, with $328,500,000 recorded, followed by Australia, with $152,900,000.<\/p>\n
From July 2019 to June 2024, MSD received 15 legal challenges relating to pension deductions, but the outcomes of these cases were not provided in an Official Information Act response.<\/p>\n
Auckland man Jim Wolfson says the government policy that allows his overseas pension to be deducted from his New Zealand one is the world’s “unfairest law”. Photo \/ Michael Craig<\/p>\n
A spokeswoman for Social Development Minister Louise Upston said no changes to the policy were being considered.<\/p>\n
\u2018Reverse Robin Hood\u2019<\/p>\n
Wolfson, formerly of the United States, has lived here for two decades and is a dual citizen, but receives none of his New Zealand pension due to the deductions, which he called \u201cbizarre and macabre\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can be a multimillionaire and still get it. You can be broke and still get it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He felt it was unjust for him to receive none of the local pension despite it not being means tested.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just keep getting by every month … I have grandchildren I\u2019ve never met and don\u2019t ever expect to.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wolfson receives a little over $900 in the hand each week, but due to high debts that cost him about $500 a week, he has \u201cvirtually nothing\u201d left over once he has paid all his bills. <\/p>\n
\u201cI haven\u2019t been more than about 30km from my home in about six years,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m a pauper.\u201d<\/p>\n
He has not been able to return to the US to visit family and is still driving the car he bought when he first moved to New Zealand.<\/p>\n
\u201cI couldn\u2019t survive if I had a mortgage. I couldn\u2019t survive if I had a car payment,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Wolfson said the deduction policy was \u201cthe world\u2019s unfairest law\u201d, calling it \u201creverse Robin Hoodism\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like somebody who\u2019s in prison for a murder they didn\u2019t commit.<\/p>\n
\u201cI say that the NZ Government has already stolen over $300,000 from me, thus turning my golden years into abject poverty.\u201d<\/p>\n