Methodology

1. Comparator, not advice

TaxAccountants.co.nz publishes IRD-sourced reference content and operates a quote form. We do not give tax advice. Tax advice is provided by registered tax agents and CAANZ-member Chartered Accountants. Where the site explains a rule (e.g. the bright-line property rule, KiwiSaver employer contribution rate, GST registration threshold), the page links directly to the IRD source so you can verify the rule applies to your situation.

This is the same framing used by health-insurance and financial-product comparison sites operating under the Financial Markets Conduct Act — they publish information, they do not give personalised advice. We borrow the pattern even though tax practice is not FMA-regulated.

2. Single-partner model

Quote requests are referred to one firm only: Lynch & Associates Chartered Accountants, an Auckland-based firm. We do not list, rank, or compare other firms. The reasons:

• Users get a faster response (one business day, no waiting for multiple firms to call).
• Users get one verified counterparty — Lynch's CAANZ registration is checkable, their team page is public, their phone and email are published.
• The site is not a lead-aggregator. We do not sell your details to multiple firms, marketing lists or rep-pay panels.

The trade-off: we are not the right site if you want to shop between many firms. If you want a multi-firm comparison, use a different service. We are transparent about being a single-partner introduction service so you can choose.

3. Source rules

Every $ figure, % rate, threshold, or due date on the site must come from a public NZ authority. The hierarchy of acceptable sources:

1. Primary: IRD (ird.govt.nz), ACC (acc.co.nz), Companies Office (companiesoffice.govt.nz), Charities Services (charities.govt.nz), legislation.govt.nz for statute.
2. Secondary (regulatory bodies): CAANZ for accountant credential checks, Tax Administration Act 1994 for the tax-agent register definition.
3. Tertiary (named third parties): Stats NZ regional data, vendor pricing pages (Xero, MYOB, QuickBooks, Hnry, Beany, Afirmo) where we link to live pricing rather than freeze a number.
4. Not acceptable: blog posts that aren't ours, social media, Wikipedia, AI-generated summaries, "industry surveys" without a published source, anecdote.

Each cited rate carries a "verified" ISO date. When the date slips past 90 days we re-check it. Past 180 days a pre-publish audit script blocks the page.

4. What we will not publish

• Prohibited superlatives. "Best", "top-rated", "leading", "premier", "specialist" — unless backed by a verifiable named source. (These violate the Fair Trading Act 1986 misleading-representations rule and are a common LCA / FMA-style red flag.)
• Outcome guarantees. "Guaranteed savings", "we recommend X", "average client saves N times the fee" — savings depend entirely on the client's situation and we will not pretend otherwise.
• Fabricated reviews, ratings, or counts. No "50+ local experts", "4.8/5 rating", "98% satisfaction" anywhere on the site. If you see a star rating, it is sourced and linked.
• Unverified credentials. "Chartered Accountant" and "Tax Agent" are protected designations under CAANZ and the Tax Administration Act respectively. We will not apply them to a person without a verifiable register entry.

5. Audit gates

We run automated audits before each deploy:

• Fabricated-claims audit: greps for hard-coded $, %, "X+ clients", "rated N/5", future-dated content. Baseline-tracked — only fails on regression.
• Prohibited-terms audit: checks for the superlatives and outcome-guarantee phrases above, with regex carve-outs for legitimate editorial use ("the IRD's best practice guide" is fine; "we are the best" is not).
• Stale-fact audit: compares each cited fact's `verified_at` against today; warn at 90 days, fail at 180.
• Squirrelscan: full SEO + accessibility + structured-data audit run on every release.

See our sources page for the master list of NZ authorities we cite.

6. How to flag an error

If you spot a stale rate, an unsourced number, a date that's drifted, or a regulated-term misuse, email hello@taxaccountants.co.nz. Editorial corrections are made within one business day for date / rate errors, and within three for structural changes.

7. Updates to this methodology

This page is the single source of truth for our editorial rules. When the rules change (e.g. when we add an audit script or change a source-hierarchy rule), we update this page and note the date below.

Last updated 2026-06-06.