Tax Administration Act 1994

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

17B: Commissioner may require information or production of documents

You could also call this:

"The Commissioner can ask for information or documents and you must provide them."

Illustration for Tax Administration Act 1994

The Commissioner can ask you for information or documents. You must give the Commissioner the information they need. The Commissioner needs this information to do their job. The Commissioner can also ask you to prove the information is true. You might need to sign a special document to verify the information. The Commissioner can ask you to give them the information in a certain way. The Commissioner can ask anyone for information, including government workers. They can ask you to give the information to a specific office. You can find more information about what the Commissioner can ask for in sections like 17 and 17G to 17H. Other sections, like 17F, 17G, and 17H to 17K, have more details about what the Commissioner can ask for. The Commissioner can ask you to provide information in a way that they like. You must follow the Commissioner's rules when giving them information.

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This page was last updated on 28 November 2025

View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=LMS181063.

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17A: Court orders for production of information or return, or

"Courts can order people to give information or documents to help with tax matters."

17C: Commissioner’s powers in relation to documents, or

"What the Commissioner can do with your documents"

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

17BCommissioner may require information or production of documents

A person must, when notified by the Commissioner in an information demand, provide any information that the Commissioner considers necessary or relevant for any purpose relating to—
the administration or enforcement of an Inland Revenue Act:
the administration or enforcement of any matter arising from, or connected with, a function lawfully conferred on the Commissioner.

In this section and in sections 17 and 17G to 17H, a requirement to provide information includes a requirement to produce a document.
The Commissioner may require that information provided under this section be—
verified by statutory declaration or otherwise:
provided to a particular office of the Commissioner:
provided in a manner acceptable to the Commissioner.

For the purposes of this section and section 17L, a person includes—
an officer employed in, or in connection with, a department of the government or a public authority:
any other public officer.

Sections 17F, 17G, and 17H to 17K set out some particular requirements for information demands and inquiries.

Notes

Section 17B: inserted, on 18 March 2019, by section 10 of the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2018–19, Modernising Tax Administration, and Remedial Matters) Act 2019 (2019 No 5).
Section 17B(2): amended (with effect on 7 December 2020), on 30 March 2021, by section 146(1) of the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2020–21, Feasibility Expenditure, and Remedial Matters) Act 2021 (2021 No 8).
Section 17B(4): amended, on 30 March 2022, by section 187 of the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2021–22, GST, and Remedial Matters) Act 2022 (2022 No 10).
Section 17B(5): amended (with effect on 7 December 2020), on 30 March 2021, by section 146(2) of the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2020–21, Feasibility Expenditure, and Remedial Matters) Act 2021 (2021 No 8).