Full source list for When do I need a lawyer vs an accountant?
Six numbered references for /wayfinder/refs/when-do-i-need-a-lawyer-vs-an-accountant:
1. Section 6 of the Lawyers and Conveyancers Act 2006 defines reserved areas of work as: (a) giving legal advice to another person in relation to the direction or management of any proceedings the other person is considering bringing or has decided to bring before any New Zealand court or tribunal, or any proceedings before any NZ court or tribunal to which the other person is a party or likely to become a party; (b) appearing as an advocate for another person before any NZ court or tribunal; (c) representing another person involved in proceedings before any NZ court or tribunal; and (d) giving legal advice or carrying out any other action that, by section 21F of the Property (Relationships) Act 1976 or any other enactment, is required to be carried out by a lawyer. Section 24 makes it an offence for a non-lawyer to carry out reserved work, with exceptions in s25(2) (foreign lawyers in limited circumstances) and s27 (self-representation, court-form completion, certain Community Law work). The Law Society's regulated-services commentary treats the conveyancing definition broadly enough that legal work for the sale or purchase of a business is reserved territory regardless of whether land is involved in the transaction.
2. The Tax Administration Act 1994 s37(4) authorises the Commissioner of Inland Revenue to extend a tax agent's time for furnishing a return of income for any of the agent's clients to a date the Commissioner thinks proper. Operationally this works via the Tax Agents' Extension of Time (EOT) agreement, negotiated between Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand (CA ANZ) and Inland Revenue and applied to all registered tax agents regardless of CA ANZ membership. The arrangement shifts the income-tax return filing deadline from 7 July of the year following balance date (the standard deadline for taxpayers without a tax agent) to up to 31 March of the following year (the maximum extension allowable under the legislation). IRD publishes annual guidance — most recently IR9XA April 2026 — detailing how the EOT applies, what triggers withdrawal, and the deferred-status (D status) regime for exceptional cases.
3. Tax-agent registration under the Tax Administration Act 1994 sections 124C and 124D: a person registers as a tax agent with the Commissioner if they prepare annual tax returns for 10 or more taxpayers other than themselves and non-active entities. Registration requires signed authority to act from each client, a completed declaration for an intermediary (IR768) for each key office holder, and an application through myIR. Related intermediary categories include bookkeepers (s124D — represents clients on tax affairs and/or social policy entitlements), PAYE intermediaries (PAYE-related obligations), and other representatives. The IRD's Regulatory Framework for Intermediaries (RFI) consultation opened on 5 May 2026 and may change the registration mechanics over 2026-27; the substance of the EOT arrangement and the agent-IRD correspondence framework are stable as of last_verified date.
4. Property (Relationships) Act 1976 section 21F: an agreement under Part 6 of the Act between spouses, civil union partners, or de facto partners contracting out of the equal-sharing presumption is void unless each party has independently received legal advice from a separate lawyer who has signed a certification on the document that the effect and implications of the agreement were explained to that party. The section 21F certification is the canonical example of a reserved-areas-of-work requirement that arises in non-litigation contexts — the work must be done by a lawyer regardless of cost preference.
5. Section 21 of the Lawyers and Conveyancers Act 2006 makes it an offence to provide legal services in New Zealand while describing oneself as a lawyer, barrister, solicitor, attorney, counsel, or law/legal practitioner without holding a current practising certificate issued by the New Zealand Law Society. Section 27 lists what people without practising certificates may do without breaching s21 — including representing themselves, appearing as advocate or representative where the relevant court or tribunal permits non-lawyer representation (typically lower-jurisdiction tribunals including the Disputes Tribunal), assisting litigants in person while working in a community law centre, and completing court forms. The Disputes Tribunal specifically does not permit lawyers to represent parties at the hearing (s38 Disputes Tribunal Act 1988), making it one of the forums where the reserved-areas-of-work framework operates differently.
6. Free first-stop legal information and advice resources operating in NZ: Citizens Advice Bureau (cab.org.nz; 0800 367 222) — free general information service covering legal queries, consumer issues, housing, employment, and small-business questions at a high level. Community Law Centres (communitylaw.org.nz) — free legal advice service for those who qualify on means or topic; coverage varies by region but typically includes employment, consumer, debt, immigration, and tenancy. The Disputes Tribunal (disputestribunal.govt.nz) operates without lawyer representation and is designed for self-represented parties. business.govt.nz operates as a general orientation service for SMBs. IRD's myIR portal provides direct operational tax-administration access without the need for a tax agent for most routine matters.