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Rotorua office temporarily closed | Our Rotorua office will be closed from 12pm 17 January 2025 until 30 January 2025. For anything urgent, you can call our contact centre.

The core services we deliver are:

  • Administering the assessment and collection of tax revenue and social policy programmes.
  • Providing end-to-end policy advice.
  • Collaborating with other agencies to simplify and integrate government services.

To deliver these services, we have three key roles.

Being effective and efficient

This means doing what we do in the best ways for the best results and is what most of our people focus on every day.

Active stewardship

This is about actively making sure what we're responsible for is fit for purpose today and tomorrow.

Making a broader contribution

We will work across the public service to deliver more for New Zealand.

How we perform our roles

We act impartially and independently to administer and protect the integrity of the tax and social policy system. The Commissioner has statutory independence from Ministers and is responsible for:

  • Collecting the highest net revenue over time
  • Administering social policy
  • Interpreting tax law
  • Making decisions about where our resources should be focused
  • Our performance.

We advise the Government on tax policy and the social policies that we administer, working together with other public sector agencies where appropriate. This includes advising the Government on international tax issues and helping to develop and implement New Zealand’s international tax legislation.

We manage and run the tax and social policy system by working with many other stakeholders. To work efficiently, we rely on other public sector agencies, intermediaries who advise customers about their obligations and entitlements, employers, KiwiSaver providers, financial institutions and community groups. We’re also part of a digital ecosystem that includes service providers such as payroll software companies who enable customers to manage their obligations from within their own systems.

Last updated: 09 Jan 2025
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