ACC Earner Levy

ACC Earner Levy Rate

The Earners Levy rate per $100 is increased from $1.67 to $1.75. This increases weekly PAYE by 8 cents per $100 gross.

 

ACC Earner Levy Maximum

The maximum income to which the ACC Earner Levy is applied increased from $152,790 to $156,641 giving a maximum levy of $2,741.22. So, this generally affects employees earning more than $152,790.

 

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The ACC Earner Levy is a component of the PAYE.

 

This change will automatically come into effect when you enter a pay date of 1 April 2026 or later.

 

 

KiwiSaver Minimum Employee and Employer Rate

Minimum employer contribution and employee rates increase from:
3% to 3.5% with effect for payday's on or after 1 April 2026.

 

 

ESCT on KiwiSaver Employers Contribution - Remains the Same

ESCT Thresholds from 1st April 2026 remain the same as previous years as follows:

10.5% to 17.5% threshold $18,720

17.5% to 30% threshold $64,200

30% to 33% threshold $93,720

33% to 39% threshold $216,000

 

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ESCT stands for Employer Superannuation Contribution Tax. It’s a tax that applies to Employer's Contribution of KiwiSaver (or other complying superannuation funds). The rate depends on the employees total income (see above).

 

 

Student Loan Repayment Threshold Remains the Same

The repayment threshold is remains $464 per week.

 

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For main employment income, the repayment threshold remains $464 per week.

 

So for M SL and ME SL, the employee does not pay a standard student loan amount if their weekly earnings are $464 or lower. This is called the weekly threshold.

Weekly threshold is $464

Fortnightly threshold is $928 ($464 * 2)
Four-weekly threshold is $1,856 ($464 * 4)

Monthly threshold is $2010.66 ($464 * 52 / 12)

 

Example 1:

Employee earns $564 this week, and is on the M SL tax code.

The threshold is $464, so the amount to calculate the repayment on is $564 less $464 = $100

Therefore the Student Loan Repayment amount (from April 2024) is $100 * 12% = $12.

 

Example 2:

Employee earns $450 this week, and is on the M SL tax code.

This is below the threshold of $464, so the employee has no student loan deduction this week.

 

 

HOWEVER the M SL and ME SL employees will have a student loan deduction even if they do earn less than $464 in the week if they have the additional student loan code SLBOR. A summary is below. In addition IRD may request a special deduction rate (SDR) in some cases.

 

 

SLCIR and SLBOR

These were introduced in April 2012.

 

SLCIR is "Commissioner deduction" and is used for required additional student loan repayments.

SLBOR is "Borrower deduction" and is used for voluntary additional student loan repayments.

 

IRD will advise you if additional deductions are to be made using SLCIR.

For SLBOR deductions, the employee will advise their employer if they wish to make additional payments to reduce their loan balance.

 

You can enter the SLCIR and/or SLBOR amounts under "Enter Current Pay", where you will see three new white boxes under the Tax Code:

 

Click on the relevant box to enter the requried figures.

 

The S.D.R. box is for "Special Deduction Rate", which is another Student Loan rate you will use only if advised by the IRD.

 

Special Note on SLCIR Rate

SLCIR has a maximum of 5%. The IRD will advise if you need to use this for an employee.

We have found that the IRD are advising that SLCIR is to be 41.67% of the standard rate. By this they mean 41.67% of 12% which is 5%, so you will enter 5% into Payroll Pro. The reason Payroll Pro requires you to enter 5% and not 41.67% is because that is the requirement of the IRD for computerised payroll systems.