NZ Chart of Accounts for Xero with GST Codes (Free)

This is a New Zealand chart of accounts built for Xero, with the correct GST treatment set on every account using Xero’s own New Zealand rate names. You get a readable reference CSV and a ready-to-import CSV that carries the GST code on each account, so a fresh Xero organisation arrives correctly coded rather than defaulting every line to No GST.

Two files, both shaped for Xero

• The reference CSV lists each account with its class, its default GST code, any other valid codes that legitimately apply, and a short note on the treatment.
• The Xero import CSV follows Xero’s chart-of-accounts import layout and puts the real New Zealand rate name in the Tax Code column, so the accounts land already coded.

The account GST code is a starting point, not a rule

Worth understanding before you rely on it: in Xero the rate applied to a transaction line follows a priority order. The contact’s default comes first, then the inventory item’s, then the account’s default, and you can override any line yourself. So the code stored on an account is the lowest-priority fallback that prefills the line. That is exactly the behaviour you want, a sensible default that is right most of the time and quick to change for the odd transaction that differs. It is also why the reference CSV pairs a default with the other codes that account legitimately sees.

The New Zealand treatments that catch people out

GST here is a flat 15% with no reduced rate and no GST-free category for food, which removes a lot of the complexity other countries carry. The traps are elsewhere, and the chart encodes them:

• 15% GST on Income on sales, 15% GST on Expenses on most purchases.
• Insurance is standard-rated, not exempt. General business cover carries 15% GST that you claim back.
• Domestic travel is standard-rated; only international travel is zero-rated. Flights within New Zealand, taxis and domestic accommodation all carry 15%.
• Entertainment is coded to 15% GST on Expenses, with a note that it is only 50% deductible and the GST claim is limited to the deductible half through an annual adjustment.
• No GST on wages, bank fees, residential rent and interest, which are either outside the scope of GST or exempt financial supplies.
• Zero Rated flagged as the alternative on sales and on overseas software where no New Zealand GST is charged.

Why there is no Exempt rate

A standard New Zealand Xero file ships exactly five GST rates: 15% GST on Income, 15% GST on Expenses, Zero Rated, GST on Imports and No GST. There is no separate Exempt rate. Exempt supplies such as financial services and residential rent are therefore coded No GST, which keeps them off the return. The reference CSV uses that convention throughout.

What the import leaves out

The import excludes the system control accounts (accounts receivable, accounts payable, the GST account and retained earnings) because Xero creates them automatically. The readable CSV still lists them and marks them as system accounts so nothing looks missing.

Putting it to work

1. Open the CSV and adapt account names to the business, keeping the GST defaults.
2. In Xero go to Accounting, then Chart of accounts, then Import, and upload the file into a demo organisation first.
3. Confirm the five default rates exist in your organisation before importing for real.
4. Use the other-codes column to brief whoever codes transactions on the legitimate alternatives per account.

Keeping every transaction coded correctly afterwards is the recurring work, and where most GST-return errors start:

• Hubdoc remembers the coding for recurring suppliers.
• ExpenseFlow reads each receipt and bill, applies the right New Zealand GST code for the supply including the imports and exempt cases, and posts it into Xero against the correct account, so the chart you imported stays clean as volume grows.
• Dext applies supplier rules so repeat costs land in the same place each time.

The chart uses range-based numbering, assets in the 1000s, liabilities 2000s, equity 3000s, revenue 4000s, cost of sales 5000s and overheads 6000s, with gaps so a new account always has a free number in the right band.

On QuickBooks instead? See the NZ chart of accounts for QuickBooks. For the rates themselves, see the NZ GST codes in Xero reference.