Final Pay Calculator
A final pay must include your wages to the end of your notice period, every annual holiday you are entitled to and have not taken, any unused alternative holidays, and 8% of your gross earnings since your last anniversary date. That 8% is charged on the other payments too.
Work out your final pay
You have an annual holiday entitlement, so you are paid for the weeks you have left AND 8% of your earnings since your last anniversary date.
What you are owed
Include any notice period your employer must pay but you did not work
Everything already paid to you in that period
Entitlement you have not taken, up to 4 weeks a year
The greater of ordinary weekly pay and average weekly earnings, from the holiday pay calculator
Days owed for working a public holiday, in days
Those falling inside the leave you have not taken, in days
What a normal working day pays you. Used for both kinds of day above
Leave taken in advance, or paid as you go
How it is taxed
Before tax. This sets the rate the lump sum is taxed at
- Wages for hours worked
- $1,800.00
- Annual holidays, 3 weeks
- $3,600.00
- Alternative holidays, 1 days
- $240.00
- Annual holiday pay at 8%
- $2,211.20
- Gross final pay
- $7,851.20
- PAYE tax and ACC levy
- − $1,469.36
- KiwiSaver
- − $274.79
- In your bank account
- $6,107.05
The 8% above is charged on $27,640.00, not on your wages alone. Gross earnings for that calculation include the annual holidays, alternative holidays and public holidays being paid out in this same final pay.
Your wages for hours worked run through ordinary PAYE. Everything else is a lump sum and is taxed as an extra pay, at a rate set by your recent pay annualised plus the lump sum itself. Leave payouts carry the ACC earners' levy and a KiwiSaver deduction, so a redundancy payment in the same final pay is taxed differently again.
The five parts of a final pay
Employment New Zealand sets what you are owed. Inland Revenue sets how it is taxed. The two authorities meet in one payslip, which is why a final pay looks unlike any other.
| Part | How it is worked out |
|---|---|
| Wages for hours worked | Your normal rate, for everything worked since your last payday |
| Your notice period | Paid to the end of it, if you gave the notice your agreement requires, whether or not you work it |
| Annual holidays owing | Each week at the greater of ordinary weekly pay and average weekly earnings |
| Alternative holidays owing | Each day at relevant daily pay, or average daily pay where that cannot be worked out |
| Annual holiday pay at 8% | Of gross earnings since your last anniversary date, including everything above |
Under 12 months of continuous employment there is no annual holiday entitlement to pay out, so the third row disappears and the 8% is the whole annual holiday payment, calculated on everything you have earned since you started.
Three weeks owing, one alternative holiday, $22,000 earned since the anniversary
- 1.Wages for hours worked since the last payday$1,800.00
- 2.Three weeks of annual holidaysAt the greater of ordinary weekly pay and average weekly earnings$3,600.00
- 3.One alternative holidayAt relevant daily pay$240.00
- 4.Gross earnings the 8% is charged onEarnings already paid, plus all three lines above$27,640.00
- 5.Annual holiday pay at 8%$2,211.20
- Gross final pay$7,851.20
The 8% is charged on the payout, not just on your wages
Gross earnings for the 8% calculation include the annual holidays, the alternative holidays and any public holidays being paid in the same final pay. Employment New Zealand states this twice in its own worked examples, and it is the single most common error in a final pay.
In the example above the correct figure is $2,211.20. Charging the 8% on the wages alone gives $1,904.00, which is $307.20 short. The bigger your leave balance, the bigger the gap, because the payout you are being shorted on is the payout that should have been counted.
Public holidays after your last day at work
Unused annual holiday entitlement is treated as though you took it starting the day after your last day. Public holidays landing inside that stretch are paid as public holidays if they fall on a day you would normally have worked, and each one you are paid for pushes the stretch out by another day.
Someone finishing on a Friday in late December with five days of entitlement left has those five days laid over the following week. Christmas Day and Boxing Day fall inside it, so both are paid as public holidays and the two annual holiday days they displaced move to the following week. That extended week then contains 1 and 2 January, so those are paid as public holidays too. Five days of leave, four paid public holidays.
This applies only where you have completed 12 months and have entitlement left. Alternative holidays do not extend your end date, so they never pull in a public holiday.
What a final pay leaves you
Two tax paths run through the same payslip. Wages for hours worked go through ordinary PAYE. Everything else is a lump sum and is taxed as an extra pay, at a rate set by your recent income annualised plus the lump sum itself. On the $6,051.20 lump sum above, for someone on $46,800 a year contributing 3.5% to KiwiSaver:
| Line | Amount |
|---|---|
| Lump sum | $6,051.20 |
| PAYE tax at 17.5% | − $1,058.96 |
| ACC earners' levy | − $105.90 |
| KiwiSaver | − $211.79 |
| Reaches your account | $4,674.55 |
Leave payouts sit inside gross earnings for KiwiSaver and carry the ACC earners' levy. A redundancy payment carries neither. If your final payslip shows two lump sums taxed at visibly different effective rates, that is usually the reason. How a bonus and redundancy pay are taxed.
What is not paid out
- Unused sick leave and bereavement leave. No legal entitlement to a payout. Your employment agreement can promise it and an employer can choose to pay it, but neither is required.
- Annual holidays not yet accrued. Under 12 months there is no entitlement, so there are no weeks to pay out. The 8% covers that period instead.
- Keeping-in-touch days, if you do not return from parental leave. Those payments are left out of the gross earnings used for your annual holiday payment, because your last day of work was the day before your parental leave started.
Time on ACC counts as continuous employment, so your entitlement still arises on your anniversary date and any outstanding annual holidays are paid out in the normal way.
Next
- holiday pay calculatorThe week rate this page asks you for
- how a bonus and redundancy pay are taxedWhy a lump sum is taxed at a different rate
- tax refundStopping work part-way through a year often produces one
- why your take-home pay changedWhen one payslip does not look like the last
Common questions
What should be in my final pay in New Zealand?
Five things. Pay for every hour worked since your last payday, pay to the end of your notice period, annual holidays you are entitled to and have not taken, unused alternative holidays, and 8% of your gross earnings since your last anniversary date. Public holidays falling shortly after your last day can be owed as well.
How is 8% holiday pay calculated in a final pay?
8% of your gross earnings since your last anniversary date, where those gross earnings include the other payments in the same final pay: the annual holidays, the alternative holidays and any public holidays. On the example above, charging it on wages alone would short the leaver $307.20.
Do I get paid for public holidays after I leave?
Sometimes, and this is the most commonly missed line in a final pay. Your employer treats unused annual holiday entitlement as though you took it starting the day after your last day. A public holiday inside that period is paid if it falls on a day you would normally have worked, and each one you are paid for extends the period by a day, which can pull in further public holidays.
Is final pay taxed differently?
Partly. Wages for hours you actually worked run through ordinary PAYE and nothing changes. The leave payouts are a lump sum, so they are taxed as an extra pay at a rate set by your recent income annualised plus the lump sum itself. That rate is often higher than the one on your usual payslip.
Do I get paid out for unused sick leave when I leave a job?
No. There is no legal entitlement to have unused sick leave or bereavement leave paid out. Your employment agreement can promise it, and an employer can choose to pay it, but neither is required. Annual holidays and alternative holidays are different: those must be paid out.
When does my final pay have to be paid?
On or before the pay day of your final pay period. That can fall after your last day at work, so a final pay landing on the next normal payday rather than on your last day is not late.
What if I do not give enough notice?
Your employer only has to pay for the days you actually worked. Give the notice your agreement requires and they must pay you to the end of the notice period even if they ask you not to work it. If you ask to leave early and they agree, you are paid only for the part you worked.
Where these figures come from
2026–27 tax year (1 April 2026 – 31 March 2027). Last verified 30 July 2026.
Related
- holiday pay calculatorOrdinary weekly pay and average weekly earnings
- how a bonus and redundancy pay are taxedThe extra pay rules a payout runs through
- how to read your payslipChecking the lines on a final payslip
- tax refundLeaving mid-year often means one is due
- changing your tax codeWhat to give your next employer