David Bain won't find out until some time next year whether the Government is going to grant him compensation.
Justice Minister Judith Collins says there's no time frame for consideration of his claim and the report on it the Government commissioned from retired Canadian Supreme Court judge Ian Binnie.
"It is likely to be next year," she said on Thursday.
Mr Bain served 13 years in jail for murdering his parents, brother and two sisters in Dunedin in June 1994.
The Privy Council quashed his convictions in 2007 and ordered a retrial.
He was acquitted after a three-month trial in 2009.
The Government is under no obligation to pay compensation on Mr Bain's claim for wrongful imprisonment because it falls outside the guidelines.
When his lawyer Michael Reed QC filed the claim in March 2010 he said Mr Bain was "penniless".
Justice Binnie's report hasn't been published but it has been reported he decided that on the balance of probabilities, Mr Bain is innocent.
It has also been reported he could be looking at a payout of close to $2 million if the Government decides to compensate him.
NZN