A search for neutral Higgs bosons of the minimal supersymmetric standard model (MSSM) and for a heavneutral Z^{prime } boson is performed using a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 3.2 fb^{-1} from proton–proton collisions at sqrt{s} = 13 {mathrm {TeV}} recorded by the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The heavy resonance is assumed to decay to a tau ^+ tau ^- pair with at least one tau lepton decaying to final states with hadrons and a neutrino. The search is performed in the mass range of 0.2–1.2 {mathrm {TeV}} for the MSSM neutral Higgs bosons and 0.5–2.5 {mathrm {TeV}} for the heavy neutral Z^{prime } boson. The data are in good agreement with the background predicted by the Standard Model. The results are interpreted in MSSM and Z^{prime } benchmark scenarios. The most stringent constraints on the MSSM m_A–tan beta space exclude at 95 % confidence level (CL) tan beta > 7.6 for m_A = 200 text {GeV} in the m_{h}^{text {mod+}} MSSM scenario. For the Sequential Standard Model, a Z^{prime }_mathrm {SSM} mass up to 1.90 {mathrm {TeV}} is excluded at 95 % CL and masses up to 1.82–2.17 {mathrm {TeV}} are excluded for a Z^{prime }_{mathrm {SFM}} of the strong flavour model.