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.
What should be in your final pay in New Zealand?
Your final pay must contain five parts, and the fifth is calculated on the other four. Employment New Zealand sets what you are owed. Inland Revenue (IRD) 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 the third row disappears. There is no annual holiday entitlement to pay out yet, so 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
How is 8% holiday pay calculated in a final pay?
8% holiday pay is 8% of your gross earnings since your last anniversary date, and those gross earnings include the leave being paid out in the same final pay. The annual holidays, the alternative holidays and any public holidays all go into the figure the 8% is charged on. 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 8% is charged on $27,640.00, which gives $2,211.20. Charged on the $23,800.00 of wages alone it 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.
| Payment | Counts towards the 8%? |
|---|---|
| Everything paid to you since your last anniversary date | Counts |
| Wages for hours worked in this final pay | Counts |
| Annual holidays being paid out | Counts |
| Alternative holidays being paid out | Counts |
| Public holidays paid after your last day | Counts |
| Keeping-in-touch days, if you do not return from parental leave | Does not count |
The 8% is not a separate bonus. It is the annual holiday pay you have built up since your last anniversary date and have not taken as leave, paid in cash because there is no longer a job to take it in. holiday pay calculator works the same figure for someone who is staying.
Do you get paid for public holidays after you leave?
You get paid for public holidays after you leave when you still have annual holiday entitlement owing. 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. Public holiday pay sets out which days count and the otherwise working day test each one turns on.
Is final pay taxed differently from ordinary pay?
Final pay is taxed on two paths at once, and only one of them is your ordinary pay calculation. Wages for hours you actually worked run through ordinary PAYE at your usual rates. Everything else is a lump sum and is taxed as an extra pay, at one flat rate set by your recent income annualised plus the lump sum itself. On the example above that rate is 17.5%.
| Part of the final pay | How it is taxed |
|---|---|
| Wages for hours worked and notice paid out | Ordinary PAYE, band by band, exactly like any other payslip |
| Annual holidays, alternative holidays and the 8% | Extra pay, one flat rate on the whole lump sum, plus the ACC earners' levy and KiwiSaver |
| A redundancy payment, if there is one | Extra pay, one flat rate, with no ACC earners' levy and no KiwiSaver |
A lump sum rate that does not match your usual rate is not an error. The extra pay rate is one flat rate chosen from an annualised figure, so a large payout can reach a higher band than your salary does, while a payout to someone on modest hours can land below it. How a bonus and redundancy pay are taxed sets out how that rate is picked.
What is your final pay worth after tax?
The $6,051.20 lump sum in the example above is worth $4,674.55 after tax, for someone on $46,800 a year contributing 3.5% to KiwiSaver. The wages for hours worked are taxed separately, through ordinary PAYE.
| 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 |
Leaving part-way through a tax year often means too much was withheld. The extra pay calculation assumes your recent pay rate continues for the whole year. If it does not, because you are between jobs or starting on less, your actual income finishes lower than the calculation assumed and the difference comes back. tax refund covers when that arrives.
What happens to your KiwiSaver in a final pay?
KiwiSaver comes out of a final pay like any other pay. Leave payouts sit inside gross earnings for KiwiSaver, so your own contribution and your employer's 3.5% both apply to them. On the $6,051.20 lump sum above, at the default 3.5% rate, that is $211.79 out of your side of it.
A redundancy payment is the one line that carries neither KiwiSaver nor the ACC earners' levy. If your final payslip shows two lump sums taxed at visibly different effective rates, that is usually the reason. Your KiwiSaver account itself does not move when the job ends. It stays with the same provider, contributions stop when the pay stops, and they restart at your chosen rate on your next employer's first pay run. KiwiSaver contribution rates sets out the rates you can choose between.
Do you get paid out for unused sick leave when you leave a job?
No. Unused sick leave is not paid out when you leave a job. There is no legal entitlement to a payout, however many days are left on the balance, and the same is true of bereavement leave and family violence leave. Sick leave exists to cover days you cannot work, not as a balance you own.
Two kinds of leave must be paid out and the rest need not be. Annual holidays and alternative holidays are money you have already earned, so they are always paid. An employment agreement can promise a sick leave payout on top of that, and an employer can choose to make one, but neither is required. Check the agreement rather than the payslip, because a payslip only shows what was paid.
What is not paid out in a final pay?
Three things are commonly expected in a final pay and are not owed. Each one has a different reason, and none of them is a payroll decision your employer makes on the day.
- Unused sick leave and bereavement leave. No legal entitlement to a payout, as above.
- 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. Your entitlement still arises on your anniversary date and any outstanding annual holidays are paid out in the normal way.
When does your final pay have to be paid?
Your final pay has to be paid on or before the pay day of your final pay period. That pay day can fall after your last day at work, so a final pay landing on the next normal payday rather than on the day you walked out is not late. An agreement can set an earlier date, and many do, but nothing requires one.
An employer cannot hold a final pay back over unreturned property. A deduction needs your written consent, and consent given in an employment agreement still has to be reasonable and raised with you first. deductions from your pay sets out what may lawfully come out. Your next tax code matters here too, because a wrong one on the first payslip of a new job costs more than a late final pay does. changing your tax code covers what to give the new employer.
What are the most common final pay mistakes?
Five mistakes account for most underpaid final pays. Four of them are arithmetic and one is a misread payslip. All five are checkable against the figures the calculator above produces.
- Charging the 8% on wages alone. It is charged on the leave payouts as well, which on the example above is the difference between $2,211.20 and $1,904.00.
- Missing the public holidays that fall after the last day. Unused entitlement is laid over the days that follow, and each paid public holiday inside it extends the stretch by one more day.
- Paying annual holidays at ordinary weekly pay only. The rule is the greater of ordinary weekly pay and average weekly earnings, which the holiday pay calculator settles for anyone whose hours moved around.
- Reading the lump sum rate against your salary rate. The lump sum carries one flat rate on all of it, 17.5% on the example above, while a salary is taxed band by band. The two figures are never going to match.
- Expecting unused sick leave in the total. It is not owed, so a final pay that leaves it out is complete.
A final payslip that looks nothing like your usual one is normal, because two tax paths and five entitlement lines meet on it. how to read your payslip names each line in the order it appears.
Which related calculators help with a final pay?
- 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.
Written by Nathan Kerr, payroll writer and editor2026–27 rates. Last reviewed 25 August 2026.
Where these figures come from
2026–27 tax year (1 April 2026 – 31 March 2027). Last verified 25 August 2026.
Related
- Where Pay Calculators Get the Arithmetic WrongFour divergences, settled against official worked examples
- 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