Customs Number NZCS 224A For Private Importers
A Customs Number identifies you when you import or export as a private person, not for a business. New Zealand Customs Service requires one for items worth NZ$1000 or more, and for a motor vehicle no matter the value.
The form is NZCS 224A. It is the September 2025 private individual form: apply for a Customs Number, or update the one you already have. The number is unique to you and you keep it permanently. Once you have it, you use it on every eligible import and export.
What to send
- ✓ The completed form. Fill it on a computer, or print it and use blue or black ink. An update still means every question, plus the Customs Number you already hold.
- ✓ A copy of photo ID, not the original. Passport bio page, New Zealand driver licence front and back, or another official photo ID. If the copy is not clearly legible, Customs returns the application.
- ✓ A file Customs can open. JPEG, PNG, PDF, or a document file. A link to a drop box or an external drive, including Google Drive, is not accepted.
- ✓ The right inbox. Email the pack to clientcodes@customs.govt.nz if Customs is processing it. A broker or freight forwarder may process it instead. Keep the approval email.
The wider clearance path, including when a courier is waiting, sits on import duty and customs. Duty and GST after the number is issued are a separate sum on the import duty calculator.
Which form is yours?
| Situation | Form Customs names |
|---|---|
| Private use. Goods of NZ$1000 or more coming in or going out, or a motor vehicle at any value. Purchases and gifts both count. | NZCS 224A. Email clientcodes@customs.govt.nz. |
| Sale, or use in a business. Also a motor vehicle at any value, and an export that needs a permit at any value. | NZCS 224 client code, not a Customs Number. Same email. An agent can apply for you. |
| Food for sale, or food ingredients for food for sale, at any value. | NZCS 224F. Register as a food importer. Do not use NZCS 224A. |
| You already imported or exported at NZ$1000 or more. | Do not apply again. Search email, including spam, for noreply@tsw.govt.nz. |
NZCS 224A asks on the first page whether the goods are for commercial purposes, and whether they are food for sale. A yes on either question means stop and use NZCS 224 or NZCS 224F. A private number will not clear a business shipment.
What the form asks
After the ID check, NZCS 224A walks through an update question, your name, former names, date of birth, country of birth, phone, and email. Then a physical address and a postal address. If the postal address matches the physical address, you skip ahead.
There is a small craft question. If you are bringing a yacht or other small craft into New Zealand for a short stay, the form asks the intended arrival month and year, and the intended departure month and year. If you are not sure, you write an explanation. If this is not a yacht, you go to the declaration.
The declaration says the answers are true, correct, and complete. It says failure to comply may be an offence under the Customs and Excise Act 2018 and the Biosecurity Act 1993. Sign with a digital signature or a typed name, and date it. Under 16, a parent or guardian signs, and you also send that adult’s photo ID.
Customs and the Ministry for Primary Industries may use the form, and later entries, for border management. The form says the information can go to Statistics New Zealand for official statistics, and that it is stored on a secure joint database. Under the Privacy Act 2020 you can ask either agency for access or correction. The Food Act 2014 is named on the form as one of the laws that can apply to that use.
An update of an existing client code is a different inbox. The NZCS 224A notes say send that update to clientupdate.request@customs.govt.nz. A new private Customs Number still goes to clientcodes@customs.govt.nz.
After you send it
Customs processes the request when the form and every supporting document have arrived. Approval is an auto response from noreply@tsw.govt.nz. If it is not in the inbox or in spam, contact Customs. Keep that email for the next shipment. The same address is how a client code approval arrives, so read the number type in the message before you put it on an entry.
Client code rules for a business, including photo ID for every sole trader, partner, director, and trustee, are on the Customs client codes page. The private path is the Customs Customs Number page. GST on the goods, once the number exists, is on GST on imports NZ.
Nelson household, one parcel over NZ$1000
Labelled example. A private buyer in Nelson is sent a gifted parcel valued over NZ$1000. They have never imported at that level. Action: complete NZCS 224A, attach a legible copy of the driver licence front and back as a PDF, and email clientcodes@customs.govt.nz. Do not send a Google Drive link. When noreply@tsw.govt.nz replies, keep the Customs Number. Do not start a second application for the next private parcel.
What people mix up
A broker page dated 24 September 2026 lists NZCS 224, NZCS 224A, NZCS 224F, and a personal effects form as the four applications people ask about. Customs pages opened for this guide name the first three. Use those three tests: private use, business use, or food for sale. Older copies of the form hosted on mover and forwarder sites are not the September 2025 NZCS 224A. Download the current file from Customs.
Quora and Medium did not return a New Zealand NZCS 224A thread this run. The live Customs Number page is the rule: check noreply@tsw.govt.nz before you apply again, and use a client code if the goods are for sale or for a business.