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Tax Administration Act 1994

Information, record-keeping, and returns - Commissioner’s powers to obtain information - Collection of information

17: Commissioner may obtain information by accessing property or documents

You could also call this:

"The Commissioner can check your property or papers to get information."

Illustration for Tax Administration Act 1994

The Commissioner can look at your property or documents to get information. You can think of the Commissioner like a person who helps make sure everyone follows the tax rules. The Commissioner can do this to check something is correct or to get information they need. The Commissioner usually can't enter your home without your permission or a warrant. A warrant is like a special paper that says they are allowed to enter. If the Commissioner does enter your property, you must help them and answer their questions. The Commissioner can also bring someone with them to help. When we talk about property or documents, we mean things like land, buildings, or papers. A private dwelling is a home or a building where people live, and it can include a garage or a shed.

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This page was last updated on

View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM350197.

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Part 3Information, record-keeping, and returns
Commissioner’s powers to obtain information: Collection of information

17Commissioner may obtain information by accessing property or documents

  1. Despite anything in any other Act but subject to subsection (2), the Commissioner may access any property or documents for the purpose of inspecting a document, property, process, or matter that the Commissioner considers—

  2. is necessary or relevant for the purposes and principles set out in sections 16 and 16B:
    1. is likely to provide information that would otherwise be required for the purposes of the Inland Revenue Acts and any function lawfully conferred on the Commissioner.

      1. The Commissioner must not enter a private dwelling to access any property or documents except with the consent of an occupier or under a warrant issued under section 17D.

      2. Despite section 103(3)(b)(ii) and (7) of the Search and Surveillance Act 2012, the occupier of land, or a building, or a place that the Commissioner enters, or proposes to enter, must—

      3. provide the Commissioner with all reasonable facilities and assistance for the effective exercise of the powers under this section and section 17C; and
        1. answer all proper questions relating to the effective exercise of the powers under this section as, and in the manner, required by the Commissioner.

          1. A person whose presence at a place is considered by the Commissioner to be necessary for the effective exercise of the powers under this section may accompany the Commissioner to a place.

          2. In this section, and sections 16, 16B, and 17D,—

            property or documents includes—

            1. all lands, buildings, places, or other premises:
              1. a document, whether in the custody or under the control of a public officer, or a body corporate, or any other person

                private dwelling means a building or part of a building occupied as residential accommodation, and includes—

                1. a garage, shed, and other building used in connection with the private dwelling; and
                  1. any business premises that are, or are within, a private dwelling.

                  Notes
                  • Section 17: replaced, on , by section 10 of the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2018–19, Modernising Tax Administration, and Remedial Matters) Act 2019 (2019 No 5).