New Zealand: Checking an adviser's credentials

Inland Revenue gives tax agent status to a person who prepares returns for ten or more clients. It gives the agent access to client accounts and other services. Inland Revenue can decline an application, or remove an existing agent from its list, if it considers the person poses a risk to the integrity of the tax system. Its examples are criminal offending, dishonest behaviour, breaching client confidentiality and serious or repeated performance issues.1Source 1Inland Revenue, Tax agent status (7 August 2024) and Tax agents (1 October 2026). Inland Revenue also recognises approved advisor groups under section 20B(5) of the Tax Administration Act 1994.2Source 2Inland Revenue, Tax agents (1 October 2026): approved advisor groups under section 20B(5) of the Tax Administration Act 1994.

So agent status tells you that Inland Revenue has approved the person to act for clients through its systems and has not removed them. The Inland Revenue pages read for this page do not say that giving tax advice requires registration, and they describe no public list or search of tax agents. The practical check is to ask the adviser, in writing, whether they hold tax agent status and whether they belong to an approved advisor group, and to keep the answer with the engagement letter.

A tax adviser may be a chartered accountant, and membership of a professional body, with the rules that bind its members, is the other external check this page describes. Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand (CA ANZ) says that its disciplinary bodies investigate complaints against members. For members resident or practising in New Zealand, it says the New Zealand Institute of Chartered Accountants (NZICA) has primary disciplinary jurisdiction.3Source 3Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand, Complaints about a member, read 13 October 2026. Ask the adviser which body each named person belongs to and under what membership number, and check with that body.

The business applies for general approval of its activities and files the R&D supplementary return in its own name.4Source 4Inland Revenue, Research and development tax incentive due dates (1 April 2026). Ask who will prepare the application and the return, who will file them, and whether the people who write the technical descriptions are the same people who will deal with Inland Revenue if questions come. The who is named on the claim? page covers the question in general.

Tax agent status tells you that Inland Revenue has approved the person to act for clients and not removed them; a professional body listing tells you that the person is a member and bound by its code. Neither tells you whether the person has prepared R&D tax incentive claims before, who will write your technical descriptions, or whether help with an Inland Revenue review is in the price. Those come from the twenty questions and the engagement letter. A person without agent status is not for that reason doing anything wrong, since status is for those who file for ten or more clients.1Source 1Inland Revenue, Tax agent status (7 August 2024) and Tax agents (1 October 2026). It means that agent status is not a check you can rely on, so ask about professional body membership and make your own checks.

• Do you hold tax agent status with Inland Revenue, and are you part of an approved advisor group?
• Which professional body does each named person belong to, and under what membership number?
• Who will write the technical descriptions, and will they talk to the people who did the work? (Who will do the technical work?)
• Do you pay or receive referral fees for introductions, and will you tell us in writing? (Do you pay or receive referral fees?)

• What qualifications does the team have? and named people with qualifications you can check
• Your responsibility and complaints about an adviser in New Zealand
• Reference check guide

Sources

1. Inland Revenue, Tax agent status (7 August 2024) and Tax agents (1 October 2026).   Back
2. Inland Revenue, Tax agents (1 October 2026): approved advisor groups under section 20B(5) of the Tax Administration Act 1994.  Back
3. Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand, Complaints about a member, read 13 October 2026.  Back
4. Inland Revenue, Research and development tax incentive due dates (1 April 2026).  Back