ESCT Rates 2026–27
ESCT is charged at five rates for the 2026–27 tax year: 10.5% on an ESCT rate threshold amount up to $18,720, 17.5% to $64,200, 30% to $93,720, 33% to $216,000, and 39% above that. Your employer deducts it from their contribution, not from your pay.
ESCT rates for the 2026–27 tax year
| ESCT rate threshold amount | ESCT rate | Effective employer rate | What $100 delivers |
|---|---|---|---|
| $1 – $18,720 | 10.5% | 3.13% | $89.50 |
| $18,721 – $64,200 | 17.5% | 2.89% | $82.50 |
| $64,201 – $93,720 | 30% | 2.45% | $70.00 |
| $93,721 – $216,000 | 33% | 2.35% | $67.00 |
| $216,001 and over | 39% | 2.14% | $61.00 |
The first two columns are the statutory rates. The last two are the ones that answer the question people are actually asking, and no other page publishes them. The effective employer rate is what is left of the 3.5% minimum contribution after ESCT, measured against your gross pay. What $100 delivers is the same arithmetic in dollars: hand $100 of employer contribution to the rules and that is what lands in the fund.
The spread matters more than it looks. At the bottom band an employer contribution is worth 3.13% of gross pay. At the top band the same headline 3.5% is worth 2.14%. In dollars, $89.50 of every $100 contributed reaches the fund in the first band, against $61.00 in the fifth, on an identical employment agreement.
Superseded rates you may still see elsewhere
The thresholds below stopped applying on 31 March 2025. They are reproduced here so you can recognise them, not so you can use them. Several pages ranking for this query still publish them, and at least one publishes them under a heading that reads "from 1 April 2025". If a table you are reading says the first band ends at $16,800, it is describing the tax year that ended on 31 March 2025.
| Old threshold amount | Rate | Current band, same rate |
|---|---|---|
| $1 – $16,800 | 10.5% | $1 – $18,720 |
| $16,801 – $57,600 | 17.5% | $18,721 – $64,200 |
| $57,601 – $84,000 | 30% | $64,201 – $93,720 |
| $84,001 – $216,000 | 33% | $93,721 – $216,000 |
| $216,001 and over | 39% | $216,001 and over |
The rates themselves never changed. Only the three lower ceilings moved, by $1,920, $6,600 and $9,720. That is what makes a stale table so hard to spot: it looks right, and it is wrong only for people sitting near a band edge, which is exactly who is checking.
Why the ESCT bands do not match the tax brackets
The ESCT thresholds look almost like the income tax brackets, and people reasonably assume one is a typo of the other. They are not. Every finite ESCT threshold is the income tax threshold at the same position multiplied by 1.2, and the rate attached to each is identical.
| Rate | Income tax band ends | ESCT band ends |
|---|---|---|
| 10.5% | $15,600 | $18,720 |
| 17.5% | $53,500 | $64,200 |
| 30% | $78,100 | $93,720 |
| 33% | $180,000 | $216,000 |
The practical use of this is checking a table you found somewhere else. If its ESCT thresholds are not the current income tax brackets times 1.2, it is out of date. The superseded set above is the pre-31-July-2024 brackets grossed up the same way, which is precisely why it still looks credible.
The whole-dollar rule nobody mentions
Before the rate is applied, the employer contribution is truncated to whole dollars. Not rounded. Truncated, with the cents discarded for the purposes of the calculation. This happens on every pay period, which is why your annual ESCT is never exactly the annual contribution times the rate, and why a weekly payroll and a monthly payroll produce different annual totals on the same salary.
One contribution of $123.45 at 17.5%
- 1.Employer contribution for the period$123.45
- 2.Truncated to whole dollarsThe 45 cents is discarded for the calculation, not for your fund$123
- 3.ESCT at 17.5%Untruncated it would be $21.60− $21.52
- Reaches your fund$101.93
The cents are not lost. The full $123.45 still goes into your account. Only the tax base is truncated, so the effect is a few cents a year in your favour. It matters here because it is the reason a hand calculation disagrees with a payslip, and because no other page publishing an ESCT table mentions it at all.
How your ESCT rate threshold amount is worked out
Inland Revenue publishes this rule as a step-through tool rather than as a table, so it is hard to read and impossible to quote. Written out, it has exactly two branches, and which one applies to you depends on a single fact: whether you worked for this employer for the whole of the previous tax year.
Branch one. You worked for this employer for all of the previous tax year
Your ESCT rate threshold amount is the gross salary or wages that employer paid you in that year, plus the gross employer superannuation contributions they made for you in that year. Both figures are actual, not estimated. The previous tax year means 1 April to 31 March, so for the 2026–27 year it is what happened between 1 April 2025 and 31 March 2026.
Branch two. You did not
This covers new employees, anyone who started partway through last year, and anyone returning after a break. Your ESCT rate threshold amount is the employer's estimate of the gross salary or wages they will pay you this tax year, plus the employer superannuation contributions they expect to make for you this year. It is an estimate made once, at the start, and it is not revisited if the estimate turns out to be wrong.
Three consequences follow, and all three surprise people. The rate is fixed for the whole tax year, so a promotion in September changes nothing until 1 April. Two colleagues on identical salaries can be on different ESCT rates, because one of them earned less a year ago. And because the employer contributions are inside the threshold amount, a salary sitting just below a band edge can be pushed over that edge by the contribution itself.
Questions people ask about ESCT rates
Does ESCT come out of my pay?
No. ESCT is charged on the contribution your employer makes on top of your salary, so your gross pay, your PAYE and your take-home pay are all unaffected. It will not appear as a line on your payslip because it is not a deduction from you. What it changes is how much of your employer's 3.5% reaches your fund.
Is ESCT the same as PAYE?
No, but the two are remitted together. PAYE is withheld from your pay and covers income tax and the ACC earners' levy. ESCT is charged on your employer's superannuation contribution and is never withheld from you. They arrive at Inland Revenue in the same payment and are reported in the same employment information filing, which is why payroll systems show them side by side and why people assume they are one thing.
Does ESCT apply after 65?
Yes, on any contribution your employer chooses to keep making. The compulsory employer contribution stops when you turn 65, but many employers carry on voluntarily, and a voluntary employer contribution is taxed at exactly the same five rates. Your own deductions can continue after 65 as well. What ends at 65 is the obligation, not the tax.
Can I avoid ESCT?
There is one route in the rules and it is not an escape. You and your employer can agree that the contribution is treated as salary or wages, in which case PAYE applies to it in place of ESCT. Which tax applies changes; whether tax applies does not. Nothing you do with your own contribution rate affects ESCT, because ESCT is charged on your employer's contribution, and the compulsory minimum is 3.5% whatever rate you are on.
Next
- KiwiSaver employer contribution calculatorYour ESCT rate, the tax on each contribution, and what reaches your fund per payday
- employer superannuation contribution taxThe tax that never appears on your payslip
- KiwiSaver employer contributionThe 3.5% minimum, who gets it, and when it stops
- salary sacrifice and total remunerationWhen the contribution comes out of your salary rather than on top
Common questions
What are the ESCT rates for 2026–27?
Five rates: 10.5%, 17.5%, 30%, 33% and 39%, applied to bands running $1 – $18,720 through $216,001 and over. The thresholds took effect on 1 April 2025 and are unchanged for 2026–27.
Did the ESCT thresholds change on 1 April 2025?
Yes. The first ceiling moved from $16,800 to $18,720, the second from $57,600 to $64,200 and the third from $84,000 to $93,720. The top two thresholds did not move, and none of the five rates changed. Tables still showing the old ceilings are describing the year that ended 31 March 2025.
What happens to my ESCT rate if I get a pay rise mid-year?
Nothing until the next 1 April. The threshold amount is fixed when your employer works it out at the start of the tax year, and a pay rise partway through does not move it. The higher pay feeds into nextyear's threshold amount instead.
Is ESCT the same as my PIR?
No. ESCT is charged by your employer on the contribution they make, before the money reaches your fund. Your prescribed investor rate is charged on what the fund earns once the money is invested, and you give it to your scheme provider rather than to your employer. Two different taxes, at two different points.
Do these ESCT rates apply to complying funds?
Yes. The same five rates and thresholds apply to employer cash contributions to complying superannuation funds and other superannuation schemes, not only to KiwiSaver.
Where these figures come from
2026–27 tax year (1 April 2026 – 31 March 2027). Last verified 30 July 2026.
Related
- employer superannuation contribution taxThe tax on your employer's KiwiSaver contribution
- KiwiSaver employer contribution calculatorYour contribution, theirs, and ESCT, per payday
- KiwiSaver employer contributionThe 3.5% minimum ESCT is charged on
- New Zealand tax bracketsThe bands the ESCT thresholds are derived from
- New Zealand PAYE tax ratesIncome tax and the ACC levy as one combined rate
- KiwiSaver contribution rates3.5% default, plus 4, 6, 8 and 10%