ACC Earner's Levy 2026-27: New 1.75% Rate & $156,641 Cap

Every payday, a line called ACC Earner’s Levy comes out of your gross pay. It funds cover for injuries that happen outside of work — at home, playing sport, or out and about. From 1 April 2026, the rate goes up, and so does the earnings cap. This is the 2026-27 rate-update guide: what’s changing, what it costs, and who pays.

The 2026-27 Rate and Cap

For the ACC year running 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2027:

• Levy rate: 1.75% ($1.75 per $100 of liable earnings)
• Maximum liable earnings: $156,641
• Maximum levy payable: $2,741.22

That’s an increase from 2025-26, when the rate was 1.67%, the cap was $152,790, and the maximum levy was $2,551.59. So both the percentage and the income ceiling have risen — a small step up in what most earners contribute.

Year-on-year comparison

Year	Rate	Earnings cap	Max levy
2025-26	1.67%	$152,790	$2,551.59
2026-27	1.75%	$156,641	$2,741.22

How It’s Deducted

If you’re an employee, you don’t pay the levy separately — your employer deducts it through PAYE along with income tax, from the first pay period of the new ACC year. Payroll software updates the rate automatically, so there’s nothing you need to action.

On your payslip it shows as a distinct line, separate from PAYE income tax. The levy applies to your gross earnings up to the cap; once your year-to-date earnings reach $156,641, no further earner’s levy is deducted for the rest of that ACC year.

Worked example

You earn $70,000 in 2026-27. You’re well under the cap, so your earner’s levy is:

$70,000 x 1.75% = $1,225 for the year (about $23.56 a week before tax adjustments).

If you earned $200,000, your levy would stop at the cap: you’d pay the maximum $2,741.22, not 1.75% of the full $200,000.

Who Pays the Earner’s Levy

• Employees pay it via PAYE on their wages and salary.
• Self-employed people and contractors pay it directly to ACC, usually as part of their annual ACC invoice based on their liable income from their tax return.
• Employers pay a separate levy — the work levy — based on their industry’s injury risk. That’s on top of the earner’s levy deducted from staff pay, not a replacement for it.

So a sole trader effectively pays both an earner’s levy (for off-the-job injuries) and a work levy (for on-the-job cover) on their self-employed income.

What the Levy Buys You

The earner’s levy funds ACC cover for non-work injuries — the most common claims are sports, home and recreational accidents. If you’re injured and can’t work, ACC can pay weekly compensation of up to 80% of your income, along with treatment and rehabilitation costs. Because cover is no-fault, you don’t need to prove anyone was to blame.

Bottom Line

From April 2026 the earner’s levy is 1.75% up to $156,641, capping out at $2,741.22. For most workers it’s a modest rise of a few dollars a fortnight, handled automatically by payroll.

To see exactly how the levy hits a given salary, use our ACC levy calculator. For the bigger payslip picture, see how PAYE works and the 2025-26 detail in ACC earner’s levy explained.