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Tax Calculator

Free PAYE Calculator for New Zealanders

PAYE is the tax your employer takes off your pay before it lands in your account. Enter your pay and frequency to see PAYE plus the ACC earner levy and your effective rate.

Your pay

$1,538
$
$100$10k
PAYE per pay
$316
on $1,538 weekly gross

Based on weekly gross pay of $1,538 ($80,000 annualised).

PAYE per pay$316
ACC earner levy$26
Net pay (per pay)$1,196
Annualised gross$80,000
Effective tax rate22.2%

About our PAYE Calculator

PAYEPAYEPay As You Earn; income tax taken out of each paycheque by the employer.View in glossary → is the tax Inland Revenue takes from your pay before it lands in your account. On a $74,000 salary paid fortnightly, that’s $555 a fortnight, or $14,421 a year, taken from each pay run by the employer’s payroll system and handed straight to IRD. The deduction changes any time your income crosses a bracketBracket (tax)Income band taxed at a single rate; NZ has five brackets from 10.5% to 39% in 2026/27.View in glossary →.

Where a take-home pay calculator shows what is left, this calculator shows what is taken. Set your pay amount, pick your pay frequency, and it returns the PAYE for that period plus the ACC earner levyACC earner levy1.75% of pay (2026/27), capped at $156,641 of liable earnings; funds non-work injury cover and is taken via PAYE.View in glossary → and an effective tax rateEffective tax rateTotal tax as a percentage of total income; lower than the marginal rate due to step brackets.View in glossary →.

The PAYE formula scales whatever you earn each period to an annual figure, applies the five NZ brackets in order, then divides back down to your pay frequency. Banks and payroll software run the same maths, then round using the rules in IRD’s deduction tables.

Move the pay slider to see how PAYE shifts with each pay rise. Switch frequency between weekly, fortnightly, monthly, and annual to match how your employer pays you.

How to use it

Enter the pay you receive in one period (the slider works for a quick scan).

Set the frequency to weekly, fortnightly, monthly, or annual to match your payslip.

The headline figure is PAYE for that single pay period. Below it, the calculator surfaces annual gross, annual PAYE, the per-period ACC earner levy, and the effective rate (PAYE plus ACC as a percentage of gross).

If you want the same figure with KiwiSaver and student loan also stripped out, the take-home pay calculator runs all four deductions in one view.

Why use it

Bracket boundaries are where the surprises live. A small pay rise that nudges you across the $53,500 line lifts the rate on every new dollar from 17.5% to 30%, even though every dollar before that line is still taxed exactly the same as before. Looking at PAYE alone makes the step-up obvious.

The same view is useful at the salary-negotiation table. Recruiters and offer letters quote gross figures. Knowing what the gross translates to in PAYE before any other deductions means you can compare two offers in real bank-account terms.

Payroll mistakes also start showing up here. If your payslip shows wildly different PAYE from the figure on this page for the same gross pay, that is usually a sign your tax code is wrong, your pay frequency is set incorrectly in payroll, or a one-off payment has been treated as ordinary pay.

The maths behind it

Formula: PAYE = Σ (slicei × ratei)

Each tax bracket only applies to the slice of income that falls inside it. The first $15,600 of every salary pays 10.5%, no matter what the total is. Income from $15,601 to $53,500 pays 17.5%, $53,501 to $78,100 pays 30%, $78,101 to $180,000 pays 33%, and anything above $180,000 pays 39%. The calculator scales your per-period pay to an annual figure, applies the brackets, then divides back to your pay frequency.

Worked example

Tama, electrician in Tauranga, paid $2,846 a fortnight ($74,000 a year).

Tama is on $74,000 a year, paid fortnightly. The calculator scales his $2,846 fortnight up to $74,000 to apply the brackets correctly.

PAYE comes off in three slices: 10.5% on the first $15,600 ($1,638), 17.5% on the next $37,900 ($6,633), and 30% on the remaining $20,500 ($6,150). Annual PAYE is $14,421.

Per fortnight that works out to $555 of PAYE plus $50 of ACC earner levy. Tama’s effective tax rate (PAYE plus ACC, divided by gross) sits at 21.2%.

A $5,000 pay rise to $79,000 would push the top $900 of new income into the 33% bracket, which is where the marginal-rate jump bites.

Things to keep in mind

  • PAYE assumes the year stays the same. Each pay run scales to a 52-week year. If your income changes mid-year (a pay rise, a long break, an unexpected redundancy), Inland Revenue squares it up at year-end with a residual income taxResidual income tax (RIT)Final tax owed for the year after credits; sets next year's provisional-tax base.View in glossary → assessment.
  • Tax codes other than M. The calculator uses the standard M tax codeM tax codeStandard PAYE tax code for a single main job.View in glossary → for a single main job. Income on a secondary code (SS tax codeSecondary income tax code; flat 17.5% if total earnings stay in the second-bracket band.View in glossary →, SHSH tax codeSecondary tax code at 30% for people whose combined income lands in the fourth bracket.View in glossary →, STST tax codeSecondary tax code at 33% for people whose combined income lands in the fifth bracket.View in glossary →) is taxed at a flat secondary rate, and the ME codeME tax codePAYE code for low-income earners eligible for the Independent Earner Tax Credit.View in glossary → swaps in the Independent Earner Tax Credit.
  • Bonuses and lump sums. One-off payments (bonuses, back pay, leave payouts) are taxed using a lump-sum method, not the per-pay PAYE shown here. The result is usually close to your top marginal rate.
  • KiwiSaver and student loan are separate. PAYE is income tax. KiwiSaver, ACC, and the student loan deduction are layered on top by payroll and shown as separate lines on a payslip. Use the take-home pay calculator to see all four together.

NZ-specific notes

IRD
Five-bracket schedule. The 10.5% / 17.5% / 30% / 33% / 39% brackets and their thresholds ($15,600, $53,500, $78,100, $180,000) carried into 2026/27 unchanged from the 31 July 2024 settings.
Source
IRD
PAYE deduction tables (IR340/IR341). Inland Revenue publishes the weekly, fortnightly, four-weekly, and monthly PAYE tables that payroll software embeds. The tables include rounding conventions and the standard tax-code modifiers.
Source
ACC
Earner levy 2026/27. 1.75% of liable earnings up to $156,641, set by the Accident Compensation (Earners' Levy) Regulations 2025. Stepping down to 1.59% on 1 April 2027.
Source
IRD
Tax code finder. The tax code drives which PAYE table the employer uses. The IR330 form lists every code (M, ME, SB, S, SH, ST, SA, ND, WT) with the income and entitlement criteria for each.
Source

FAQs

Why does PAYE jump when I get a pay rise?

NZ tax is bracket-stepped, not a flat rate. The first dollar of a rise that crosses a bracket boundary gets taxed at the higher rate, even though every dollar before it still pays the lower-bracket rate. The "marginal rate" is the rate on the next dollar; the "effective rate" is the average across all your income.

Does this number include ACC, KiwiSaver, and student loan?

No. The calculator shows PAYE income tax, plus the ACC earner levy as a separate line. KiwiSaver and student loan are not in this view because the maths is independent. Use the take-home pay calculator for the full picture.

What if I am on a secondary tax code?

Secondary codes (S, SH, ST, SA) apply a flat rate to the secondary income, with the rate matching the bracket your combined income falls into. The calculator assumes a single M-code job. The secondary income calculator handles the second-job case.

How are bonuses taxed?

Bonuses use the lump-sum method: payroll calculates what your annualised pay would be including the bonus, applies the corresponding marginal rate to the bonus alone, and deducts that. Most bonuses end up taxed close to the top bracket the worker hits. The bonus calculator walks through the working.

Why is my actual payslip a few dollars different?

IRD’s PAYE deduction tables (IR340/IR341) round to the nearest cent in specific ways, and most payroll systems use them rather than recomputing the bracket maths every pay. Calculators that work the maths from scratch (like this one) can land within a dollar or two of payroll output, but rarely match cent-for-cent.

When does the ACC earner levy stop?

The earner levy applies only to earnings up to $156,641 for the 2026/27 levy year. Income above that cap incurs no further earner levy, though PAYE continues to apply on every dollar.

How is PAYE different from income tax?

Income tax is the annual amount you owe based on your total earnings for the year. PAYE is the in-year deduction your employer takes off each pay run as a running estimate of that final tax. If the two diverge, IRD reconciles them at year-end.

References & sources

  1. Inland Revenue, "Tax rates for individuals". ird.govt.nz
  2. Inland Revenue, "Weekly and fortnightly PAYE deduction tables (IR340/IR341), April 2026". ird.govt.nz
  3. Accident Compensation (Earners’ Levy) Regulations 2025, New Zealand Legislation. legislation.govt.nz
  4. Inland Revenue, "Tax codes for individuals (IR330 list)". ird.govt.nz

Last reviewed

✓
Reviewed 6 May 2026, current to 1 April 2026 PAYE brackets and the 2026/27 ACC earner-levy rate

Share your numbers

Tax & Pay Take-Home Pay PAYE plus ACC, KiwiSaver, and student loan combined. Tax & Pay Income Tax Annual income tax across the five brackets. Tax & Pay Secondary Income Flat-rate tax on a second job. Tax & Pay Bonus Tax Lump-sum method on bonuses and back pay. Tax & Pay Employer PAYE PAYE, ESCT, and the employer KiwiSaver match. Tax & Pay Marginal Rate The rate on your next dollar of income.
Disclaimer: This calculator is for information only and is not financial advice. Real payslips can vary due to lump-sum bonuses, salary sacrifice, fringe benefits, and IRD rounding conventions. Calculator.org.nz is not a registered Financial Advice Provider. For personal advice, talk to a licensed adviser, your payroll team, or Inland Revenue directly.