The tax agent's role
Who is a tax agent?
A tax agent is a person who prepares the returns of income required to be furnished for 10 or more taxpayers and is one of the following:
- a practicioner carrying on a professional public practice
- a person carrying on a business or occupation in which returns of income are prepared, or
- the Maori Trustee.
An agent can be an individual, partnership or company that meets the definition of a "tax agent" under section 34B(2) of the Tax Administration Act 1994.
Registering with Inland Revenue brings a number of benefits for both the tax agent and their clients.
Advantages for a registered tax agent
As a registered tax agent you:
- have access, through INFOexpress, to a range of automated services specially designed to help with most common enquiries
- automatically receive AGENTSanswers, the monthly newsletter containing up-to-date information from Inland Revenue
- are assigned an agent account manager to facilitate your relationship with Inland Revenue
- can choose to have your client's tax information sent directly to you or your client
- spread your return filing over the year rather than have it all occur during one peak period.
Advantages for clients
Clients of registered tax agents can:
- have an automatic extension of time to file income tax returns
- allow their agent immediate access to their tax information, by providing signed approval.
Date published: 20 Dec 2007
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