PAYE calculator NZ 2026/27
Last verified · Methodology
This PAYE calculator shows your take-home pay in New Zealand for the 2026/27 tax year, per week, per fortnight or per month. Enter your salary or hourly rate, pick your tax code, KiwiSaver rate and whether you have a student loan, and it works out each deduction using the same method as Inland Revenue's PAYE tables from 1 April 2026.
Your pay
Take-home pay, tax code M
Take-home per fortnight
$1,917.98
Take-home per year
$49,867
Uses Inland Revenue's PAYE method for 26 pays a year from 1 April 2026. Assumes this is your main job and your pay is the same each period. Annual figures are the per-pay amounts multiplied out; your end-of-year tax is squared up by IRD after 31 March.
| Salary | Gross per fortnight | PAYE | KiwiSaver | Take-home per fortnight | Take-home per year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $45,000 | $1,730.77 | $291.16 | $60.58 | $1,379.03 | $35,855 |
| $55,000 | $2,115.38 | $372.40 | $74.04 | $1,668.94 | $43,392 |
| $65,000 | $2,500.00 | $494.52 | $87.50 | $1,917.98 | $49,867 |
| $75,000 | $2,884.62 | $616.64 | $100.96 | $2,167.02 | $56,343 |
| $90,000 | $3,461.54 | $813.54 | $121.15 | $2,526.85 | $65,698 |
| $120,000 | $4,615.38 | $1,214.50 | $161.54 | $3,239.34 | $84,223 |
| $160,000 | $6,153.85 | $1,746.86 | $215.38 | $4,191.61 | $108,982 |
How PAYE is worked out
PAYE stands for Pay As You Earn. Your employer takes income tax and the ACC earners' levy out of every pay and sends it to IRD, so most people with one job never file a return. The tables treat each pay as if it carried on all year: a fortnightly pay is multiplied by 26, the cents are dropped, and tax is worked out on that annual figure using the income tax bands below. The ACC earners' levy of 1.75% is added, and the total is divided back down to one pay.
Inland Revenue publishes the steps for payroll software. As a check, a monthly pay of $5,000 on code M has $939.20 of PAYE deducted, and on M SL a further $358.72goes to the student loan. Those are the exact figures in IRD's April 2026 monthly tables, and this calculator reproduces them to the cent.
| Annual income | Tax rate on each dollar |
|---|---|
| $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% |
| Over $180,000 | 39% |
The ACC earners' levy stops at $156,641 of earnings, so nobody pays more than $2,741.22 for the year. Above that income, the extra tax on each dollar is just the income tax rate.
Tax codes M, ME and SL
Your tax code goes on the IR330 form when you start a job. M is the standard code for your main income. ME is for people who qualify for the independent earner tax credit, worth up to $520 a year on incomes from $24,000 to $70,000. On $50,000 paid fortnightly, code ME takes $308.18 of PAYE against $328.18 on code M, which is the credit arriving $20.00 at a time instead of as a refund after 31 March.
Add SL if you have a student loan. Repayments are 12% of what you earn above $464 a week, $928 a fortnight or $2,010.66 a month. On $65,000, that is $188.64 per fortnight, bringing take-home down to $1,729.34. The student loan repayment calculator shows how long the loan will take to clear.
A second job uses a secondary code (SB, S, SH, ST or SA) chosen by your total income, and is taxed at one flat rate from the first dollar. This calculator covers your main job only.
KiwiSaver on your payslip
From 1 April 2026 the default KiwiSaver rate is 3.5% of gross pay, up from 3%, and your employer must put in at least 3.5% on top of your pay. You can choose 4%, 6%, 8% or 10% instead. Your contribution comes out of your pay after PAYE has been worked out, so it does not reduce your tax. Your employer's contribution is extra to your salary and has employer superannuation contribution tax (ESCT) taken off before it reaches your account.
On $65,000, your 3.5% is $87.50 per fortnight and your employer adds $87.50, of which $61.25 lands in your account after ESCT at 30%. The KiwiSaver calculator projects what that adds up to by 65.
Weekly, fortnightly or monthly
The pay frequency changes how much lands each payday, not your tax for the year. On $65,000 with KiwiSaver at 3.5%, take-home is $958.99 a week, $1,917.98 a fortnight or $4,155.63 a month. Small differences between the annual totals come from rounding to the cent each pay.
Your PAYE for the year is squared up by IRD after 31 March. If your pay changed a lot during the year, or you were on the wrong code, you may get a refund or a bill. For the full-year picture, including the independent earner tax credit at year end, use the income tax calculator.
On tax code M with KiwiSaver at 3.5% and no student loan, $65,000 a year leaves $1,917.98 per fortnight, or about $49,867 a year. PAYE takes $494.52 and KiwiSaver $87.50 from each fortnightly pay of $2,500.00.
Use M for your main job. Use ME instead if your income will be between $24,000 and $70,000 and you do not get Working for Families, a benefit or NZ Super, so the independent earner tax credit comes off each pay. Add SL if you have a student loan. Second jobs use a secondary code such as S or SH.
Yes. For 2026/27 the levy is 1.75% of earnings up to $156,641, and it is built into the PAYE figure on your payslip rather than shown as a separate deduction.
After. Your KiwiSaver contribution is a percentage of your gross pay, but PAYE is worked out on the full gross amount first, so contributing does not reduce your income tax. Your employer's contribution is paid on top of your pay and taxed separately through ESCT.
Payroll systems use the same Inland Revenue method, so differences usually come from things this calculator does not see: overtime, allowances, a pay that includes holiday pay or a bonus, a secondary job, child support, or a tailored tax code.
The current bands took effect on 31 July 2024 and have applied for full tax years since 1 April 2025. The 2026/27 year uses the same bands: 10.5% up to $15,600, then 17.5%, 30%, 33% and 39% over $180,000.