NZ Take-Home Pay Calculator

Most NZ employees have the following deducted: PAYE income tax, ACC earner's levy (1.75% for 2026-27), KiwiSaver contributions (if enrolled), and student loan repayments (if applicable).

The standard NZ work week is 40 hours (8 hours × 5 days). This calculator uses 40 hours/week and 52 weeks/year (2,080 hours/year) by default, but you can adjust hours per week.

Yes. KiwiSaver employee contributions (3%, 3.5%, 4%, 6%, 8%, or 10%) are deducted from your gross pay. Your employer also contributes on top, but this doesn't reduce your take-home pay. See IRD KiwiSaver rates.

Yes. Student loan repayments of 12% on income above $24,128/year are automatically deducted by your employer through the PAYE system. See IRD student loan thresholds.

It depends on your income, KiwiSaver rate, and whether you have a student loan — see the salary-band table below for exact figures. As a reference point, a $85,000 salary with 3.5% KiwiSaver and no student loan takes home $62,610 a year (about 26.3% goes to income tax, ACC, and KiwiSaver combined). Higher incomes lose a larger share to tax because NZ's brackets are progressive.

Two common causes: your first pay period is often a partial one (you didn't work the full week/fortnight before payday), so the gross itself is lower — not a higher tax rate. Separately, if you haven't given your employer a completed tax code declaration yet, some payroll systems default to a higher withholding rate until it's on file. Once a full pay period and the correct tax code are in place, your pay should match the figures in this calculator.

Use the calculator above for your exact figure, or check the salary-band table below for common income levels. We also publish a dedicated breakdown page for popular salaries — for example tax on a $85,000 salary — with the full bracket-by-bracket math.

Yes — your employee KiwiSaver contribution (3%, 3.5%, 4%, 6%, 8%, or 10% of gross; 3.5% is the default for auto-enrolled members from 1 April 2026) comes out of your pay before it reaches your bank account. Your employer's KiwiSaver contribution does not reduce your take-home pay — it's paid on top, though your employer does pay ESCT on their contribution. See the KiwiSaver Calculator for the full employee-vs-employer breakdown.

A second job is taxed under a secondary tax code (a flat rate matched to your combined income's bracket, not your primary job's rate) rather than the progressive brackets — use the Secondary Tax Calculator to see per-job withholding. Overtime paid as part of your normal wages is taxed at your normal progressive rate; a one-off bonus or lump sum is taxed under separate "extra pay" rules — see the Bonus Tax Calculator.

No — this is a common misconception. Moving into a higher tax bracket only raises the rate on the portion of income inside that bracket, never on the income you already earned. You always keep more in absolute dollars from a pay rise, even if the marginal rate on that last slice is higher than your average rate. See the Salary Raise Calculator to see exactly how much of a specific rise you'd keep, and the job-offer comparison below for a worked example.