Take-Home Pay in New Zealand: What You Actually Keep (2026–27)

A New Zealand job offer is quoted as gross pay. What reaches your bank account is gross pay minus four possible deductions: PAYE income tax, the ACC earners’ levy, KiwiSaver if you join, and student loan repayments if you have a New Zealand loan. Everything else, from rent to visa fees, comes out of what is left.

This guide uses the 2026–27 tax year (1 April 2026 to 31 March 2027) and works through the numbers at the immigration median wage, so you can compare an offer against your actual budget rather than against the headline figure.

The four deductions

PAYE (pay-as-you-earn) is income tax withheld by your employer and paid to Inland Revenue on your behalf. New Zealand has no tax-free threshold and no joint filing for couples, so your tax depends on your income and your tax code.

The ACC earners’ levy funds New Zealand’s no-fault accident insurance. It is charged as a percentage of your earnings, alongside PAYE, and everyone who earns wages or salary pays it.

KiwiSaver is a voluntary retirement savings scheme. If you are automatically enrolled, contributions start from your first pay unless you opt out. You choose 3%, 4%, 6%, 8% or 10% of gross pay, and your employer adds at least 3% on top.

Student loan repayments apply only if you borrowed through the New Zealand student loan scheme. For 2026–27 the repayment is 12% of income above $24,128.

PAYE brackets for 2026–27

Annual income	Tax rate
$0 to $15,600	10.5%
$15,601 to $53,500	17.5%
$53,501 to $78,100	30%
$78,101 to $180,000	33%
$180,001 and above	39%

These brackets have been unchanged since 31 July 2024. Because there is no tax-free band, the effective rate at the median wage is already above 19% before the ACC levy is added.

The ACC earners’ levy

The levy is 1.75% of gross earnings in 2026–27, capped at $156,641 of liable income. Above that cap you pay a flat maximum of $2,741.22 a year. For comparison, 2025–26 charged 1.67% with a $152,790 cap.

Two practical consequences matter when you compare offers:

1. The levy is calculated on gross pay, so a raise increases it until you reach the cap.
2. It is not a tax. You cannot claim it back, and it is not included in the tax figure on your payslip.

KiwiSaver and your take-home pay

Your contribution comes out of gross pay, which is why joining reduces take-home pay immediately. Here is the annual cost at the median wage.

Employee rate	Annual contribution on $72,800	Employer adds (before ESCT)
3% (default)	$2,184	$2,184
4%	$2,912	$2,184
6%	$4,368	$2,184
8%	$5,824	$2,184
10%	$7,280	$2,184

The employer contribution is subject to employer superannuation contribution tax (ESCT), so slightly less than 3% lands in your account. If you contribute, you may also qualify for the member tax credit: 50 cents for every dollar, up to about $521 a year.

You can opt out between 14 and 56 days after starting a new job. After that window, the options to stop contributing are narrower, so decide deliberately rather than by default.

Student loans

If you have a New Zealand student loan, repayments are withheld with PAYE once your income passes $24,128. At the median wage that is $5,840.64 a year:

($72,800 − $24,128) × 12% = $5,840.64

For most new migrants this line does not apply, because an overseas student loan stays with the lending country. If you later study in New Zealand, it will.

Worked example: the median-wage job

Take a full-time role at exactly the immigration median wage: $35.00 an hour × 40 hours × 52 weeks = $72,800 gross.

Deduction	Working	Amount
Tax, first $15,600 at 10.5%	$15,600 × 0.105	$1,638.00
Tax, $15,601 to $53,500 at 17.5%	$37,900 × 0.175	$6,632.50
Tax, $53,501 to $72,800 at 30%	$19,300 × 0.30	$5,790.00
Total PAYE		$14,060.50
ACC earners’ levy	$72,800 × 0.0175	$1,274.00
Net annual pay		$57,465.50

That is $4,788.79 a month or $1,105.11 a week, an effective deduction of 21.1%. Two common variations:

• With KiwiSaver at 3%: take-home falls to $55,281.50 a year, but $2,184 of that goes into your own retirement account, and your employer adds roughly the same again.
• With a New Zealand student loan: take-home falls to $51,624.86 a year, a further $5,840.64.

Take-home pay at common salary points

All figures are annual for 2026–27, tax code M, no student loan and no KiwiSaver.

Gross salary	PAYE	ACC levy	Net pay	Net per month	Effective deduction
$50,000	$7,658.00	$875.00	$41,467.00	$3,455.58	17.1%
$52,000	$8,008.00	$910.00	$43,082.00	$3,590.17	17.2%
$65,000	$11,720.50	$1,137.50	$52,142.00	$4,345.17	19.8%
$72,800	$14,060.50	$1,274.00	$57,465.50	$4,788.79	21.1%
$90,000	$19,577.50	$1,575.00	$68,847.50	$5,737.29	23.5%
$109,200	$25,913.50	$1,911.00	$81,375.50	$6,781.29	25.5%
$130,000	$32,777.50	$2,275.00	$94,947.50	$7,912.29	27.0%
$180,000	$49,277.50	$2,741.22	$127,981.28	$10,665.11	28.9%
$200,000	$57,077.50	$2,741.22	$140,181.28	$11,681.77	29.9%

Look at the step from $72,800 to $90,000. A $17,200 raise does not mean $17,200 more in the bank: it is about $11,380 after tax and the levy, because the 33% bracket starts at $78,101. The effective rate moves only about two points, from 21.1% to 23.5%.

What actually changes your take-home pay

• Tax code. M is the standard code for a main job. ME is the same code with the independent earner tax credit, worth up to $520 a year for incomes between $24,000 and $48,000, but many new migrants are not eligible, for example if they receive Working for Families.
• A second job. Use a secondary tax code (SB, S, SH or ST). If you use M twice, you underpay during the year and get a bill after the annual square-up.
• Overtime and bonuses. These are taxed at your marginal rate, not your average rate. A large one-off payment can push you into a higher bracket, but the annual square-up reconciles it.
• KiwiSaver rate. Moving from 3% to 6% cuts take-home by another 3% of gross pay.
• No IRD number. If your employer does not hold your IRD number, they must deduct at the no-notification rate, which is the highest rate. Sort your IRD number in your first week.
• Allowances. Some are taxable and some are not. Check each one rather than assuming.

One thing that is not a PAYE issue

The four-year transitional-resident exemption applies to most foreign income, not to your New Zealand salary. If you keep overseas investments or a rental property it may matter a great deal, but it does not change the PAYE on a New Zealand job.

Check your own payslip in two minutes

Open our PAYE calculator, enter your salary and KiwiSaver rate, and compare the net figure with your payslip. If they differ by more than a few dollars, the cause is almost always one of these:

1. a different tax code, especially a secondary code;
2. a KiwiSaver rate you did not choose;
3. a student loan deduction you did not expect;
4. a taxable allowance included in gross pay;
5. a mid-year pay change that payroll has not squared up yet.

Payroll can correct a wrong code immediately. A wrong code that runs for months is usually fixed by the annual square-up, but you may prefer not to wait.

Common mistakes

• Comparing a New Zealand gross salary with a home-country net salary. Convert both to net before deciding whether an offer is a pay cut.
• Forgetting the ACC levy. It is not income tax and it is not optional, but it is missing from most international salary comparisons.
• Joining KiwiSaver for the employer contribution alone. The employer contribution is real, but it is locked in until you qualify to withdraw.
• Ignoring the student loan line. If you have a New Zealand loan, the 12% repayment changes your budget more than most people expect.
• Assuming a raise is worth its gross value. At the margin, roughly 30 to 33 cents of every extra dollar goes to tax, plus the ACC levy.

If you are still comparing offers, our salary threshold guide explains which pay levels matter for visas, and the visa fees overview covers the costs that come out of the same budget.