How to Get an IRD Number

Updated for the current Inland Revenue application process

What an IRD number is for

Your IRD number is the identifier Inland Revenue uses to track your tax. You need one to start a job — employers cannot pay you correctly without it — and for anything else that involves tax: self-employment, GST registration, a business or company, KiwiSaver, Working for Families, student loan repayments, or an estate or trust.

It is a lifetime number. Inland Revenue's own guidance is simply to keep it where you can easily find it, because you will be asked for it at tax-related events throughout your life. New Zealand does not reissue numbers when your circumstances change, and your number is not the same thing as your bank account or your IRD online login.

The online process, step by step

If you are currently in New Zealand, the online route is the faster one, but it contains a step people do not expect: your identity has to be verified in person.

1. Register a personal myIR account. Inland Revenue's instructions are explicit that this comes before you start — you cannot use the online application without it.
2. Gather your identification documents. You need one primary (Category A) document and one secondary (Category B) document. The full lists are in the next section.
3. Scan your documents. Take electronic versions of the ID you have chosen, because you upload them during the online application. For a New Zealand passport, only the pages showing your photo and names need scanning. For an overseas passport you also need the pages showing your visa type and duration, or your Immigration New Zealand visa application letter. For a New Zealand driver licence, scan both sides.
4. Apply online. Complete and submit the application with your scanned documents attached.
5. Take your physical documents to an AA Driver Licensing Agent within 20 days. This is the step that is easy to miss. Your identification must be original and physical — not digital — and only AA Centres verify documents. AA Auto Centres do not.
6. Receive your IRD number. Once verification is done, it comes by text or email.

There is also a paper option: complete the paper application and take it to an AA Driver Licensing Agent or an Inland Revenue office to have your documents verified. If you need to use an expired photo identification document, that has to be done in person at an Inland Revenue office, and no appointment is needed.

Identification documents you will need

You need one document from each category.

Two exclusions are worth flagging. First, you do not need a New Zealand visa if you hold an Australian, Cook Islands, Niuean or Tokelauan passport. Second, if you cannot provide the required primary and secondary documents at all, Inland Revenue asks you to call them to discuss the alternatives rather than simply applying without them.

If you have changed your name, you also need a document proving it — a marriage or civil union certificate, or a name change certificate.

Documents not in English

Identification documents that are not in English must be translated by an approved translator, and the translation needs to be certified. Waka Kotahi (the New Zealand Transport Agency) maintains the list of approved translators, and the government Translation Service is the alternative. Arranging the translation before you apply is usually the single biggest delay for overseas applicants.

Applying for a child's IRD number

A parent or guardian applies on the child's behalf, and the document requirement doubles up:

• For you: one Category A document and one Category B document, as above.
• For the child: one of a current New Zealand passport, a full New Zealand birth certificate, a New Zealand citizenship certificate, or New Zealand student photo ID.
• Proof of your relationship to the child, if your documents do not already show it — adoption papers, an overseas birth certificate, parenting orders, guardianship orders, or a statutory declaration on the IR595D form.

Children need IRD numbers more often than people expect: for a KiwiSaver account opened by a parent, for a bank account earning interest, and for any part-time employment.

How long it takes

Inland Revenue publishes current processing times on its website, so if you are working to a deadline it is worth checking the live figures rather than relying on a number from an older article. The urgent route is a real option: you call or visit a front of house office and give specific reasons why the request needs to jump the queue. Inland Revenue's own example is buying a property where an IRD number is needed straight away to avoid penalty payments — and their advice is to apply at the start of the settlement process rather than at the end.

Applying from overseas

The process differs in three ways:

• You email the completed application form together with scanned copies of your documents to Inland Revenue, instead of using the AA verification route.
• Inland Revenue aims to process the application within 20 days.
• The number is sent by text, email or post — and a posted number can take 20 days to arrive.

You also need proof that your New Zealand bank account is fully functional, and the supporting documents have their own requirements. If you are planning to move to New Zealand, the alternative is to apply as a new arrival once you are here: that route lets you give permission for Immigration New Zealand to share your documents and verification with Inland Revenue, which removes the separate verification step entirely.

Businesses, organisations, estates and trusts

Non-individual IRD numbers use a separate application and a different document set. Points worth knowing before you start:

• You will need your Business Industry Classification (BIC) code if you are in business.
• Documents must be gathered before you apply, and PDF copies are accepted.
• Estates are applied for by selecting the "Trust" organisation type, and then indicating that it is an estate.
• Organisations considered offshore — for example because related parties are based overseas — use a different process altogether.
• A paper application can be posted instead of applying online.

Once you have your number

1. Give it to your employer so you are taxed at the right rate from your first pay. Without an IRD number an employer has to apply a higher withholding rate.
2. Keep your myIR details current — address, email and bank account — so refunds, assessments and KiwiSaver information reach you.
3. Check your tax code at the same time, particularly if you have more than one job.
4. Do not share it casually. Your IRD number is used to match income to you, and it is one of the details a scammer wants.

Common mistakes

• Applying online and never visiting an AA Centre. Without verification within 20 days, no number is issued.
• Going to an AA Auto Centre. Only AA Centres verify documents.
• Bringing digital copies to verification. Your identification must be physical and original.
• Leaving the translation to the last minute. Non-English documents need a certified translation by an approved translator.
• Forgetting the relationship document when applying for a child's number.
• Applying at settlement time when buying a property, rather than at the start of the process.
• Confusing the IRD number with a myIR login. The number is the identifier; myIR is the online account you use to see and manage it.