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PAYE Calculator NZ

Hourly Rate and Salary Calculator

Turn an hourly rate into an annual salary, or a salary back into an hourly rate, and see what an hour of your work is worth after PAYE, the ACC earners' levy, KiwiSaver and student loan. Current 2026–27 IRD rates.

To convert an hourly rate to a salary, multiply the rate by your hours a week and then by 52. At 40 hours that is 2,080 hours a year, so $35.00 an hour is $72,800 before tax. After PAYE, ACC and a 3.5% KiwiSaver contribution you keep $54,918, which is $26.40 an hour.

Convert your rate, both ways

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$35.00 an hour over 40 hours a week is$72,800 a year
Gross pay and take-home pay per hour, week, fortnight, month and year
PerGrossTake-home
An hour$35.00$26.40
A week$1,400.00$1,056.11
A fortnight$2,800.00$2,112.21
A month$6,066.67$4,576.46
A year$72,800.00$54,917.50

You keep 75.4% of what you earn, so an hour of your work is worth $26.40 in your bank account rather than $35.00. That is 2,080 paid hours a year.

Deductions are PAYE (income tax plus the ACC earners' levy), your KiwiSaver contribution and, on an SL code, your student loan. Overtime, allowances and holiday pay are not included, so treat the annual figure as your base rate rather than your total earnings.

What an hour of your work is worth after tax

Every row assumes a 40-hour week on tax code M with the 3.5% default KiwiSaver rate and no student loan. The last column is the one worth knowing: it is what an hour actually adds to your bank balance.

Hourly rates converted to annual salary and take-home pay
Hourly rateA year, grossA year, take-homeTake-home an hour
$19.16$39,853$31,878$15.33
$23.95$49,816$39,575$19.03
$25.00$52,000$41,262$19.84
$28.95$60,216$46,769$22.49
$30.00$62,400$48,184$23.17
$35.00$72,800$54,918$26.40
$40.00$83,200$61,499$29.57
$50.00$104,000$74,343$35.74
$60.00$124,800$87,187$41.92
$75.00$156,000$106,453$51.18

The first two rows are the statutory floors from 1 April 2026: $19.16 for the starting-out and training rates and $23.95 for the adult minimum wage. Notice that the take-home share falls as the rate climbs, from 79.4% at the minimum wage to 68.2% at $75.00 an hour, because more of each hour lands in a higher tax bracket.

Turning a salary into an hourly rate

Divide the salary by the hours you are contracted to work in a year. Nothing in New Zealand law fixes that divisor, which is why two people on the same salary can quote different hourly rates. The hours in your employment agreement are the correct ones to use.

Annual hours and the hourly rate they produce on an $80,000 salary
Hours a weekHours a year$80,000 an hour$100,000 an hour
30 hours1,560$51.28$64.10
37.5 hours1,950$41.03$51.28
40 hours2,080$38.46$48.08
42.5 hours2,210$36.20$45.25
45 hours2,340$34.19$42.74

The spread is wide enough to matter. An $80,000 salary is $41.03 an hour on a 37.5-hour week and $34.19 on a 45-hour week, a difference of $6.84 for the same money.

Example. $35.00 an hour, 40 hours a week

  1. 1.Gross for the year$35.00 × 2,080 hours$72,800
  2. 2.PAYE: income tax plus the ACC earners' levyIncome tax $14,060.50 and levy $1,274.00− $15,334.50
  3. 3.KiwiSaver at 3.5%− $2,548.00
  4. Take-home for the year$54,918

Your hourly rate and your tax are unrelated

PAYE is worked out from the gross amount in the pay period and the tax code on file. Being paid by the hour changes neither. What it does change is how much your gross moves week to week, and because each pay period is annualised before it is taxed, a big week is taxed as though every week looked like it. That is why variable hours often produce a refund after 31 March. The how PAYE is calculated page sets out the mechanism step by step.

What the conversion leaves out

  • Overtime and penal rates. Extra hours at time and a half are still ordinary PAYE income, but they push the pay period higher, so the annualised calculation taxes that period harder.
  • Allowances. Taxable allowances add to gross. Genuine reimbursements do not, and should not appear in your conversion at all.
  • Unpaid breaks. A 40-hour week on site can be 37.5 paid hours. Convert the paid hours, not the hours away from home.
  • Public holidays. Twelve public holidays a year, counting your regional anniversary day, sit inside the 2,080 hours for a salaried employee. For a waged employee they are paid when they fall on a day you would otherwise have worked.
  • A bonus. Extra pay is taxed at its own rate, not your average one, which is why it never lands where a simple hourly conversion suggests. See how extra pay is taxed.

Common questions

How do I convert an hourly rate to an annual salary in NZ?

Multiply your hourly rate by your hours a week, then by 52. At 40 hours that is 2,080 hours a year, so $35.00 an hour is $72,800 a year before tax. Divide by the same number to turn a salary back into an hourly rate.

What is $30 an hour after tax in New Zealand?

At 40 hours a week, $30.00 an hour is $62,400 a year before tax. On tax code M with the 3.5% KiwiSaver rate you keep $48,184, about $23.17 an hour.

How many working hours are in a New Zealand year?

2,080 hours, using a 40-hour week over 52 weeks. A 37.5-hour week gives 1,950 hours and a 45-hour week gives 2,340. No statute fixes the number, so use the hours written into your employment agreement.

Are hourly workers taxed differently from salaried workers in NZ?

No. PAYE comes from the gross amount in the pay period and the tax code on file. Neither depends on how the pay is described. Two people earning the same gross in the same week on the same code have identical PAYE.

Why is my take-home hourly rate so much lower than my gross rate?

Four deductions sit between the two figures. Income tax, the 1.75% ACC earners' levy, your KiwiSaver contribution, and on an SL code 12% of earnings above $24,128 a year. The gross versus net page walks the whole gap.

Does an hourly rate include holiday pay?

For permanent employees the rate is just the rate. Your four weeks of annual leave are paid at your normal rate, and a 2,080-hour year already contains them. Casual employees are the exception, since 8% holiday pay is added to each pay rather than leave accruing.

Where these figures come from

2026–27 tax year (1 April 2026 – 31 March 2027). Last verified 30 July 2026.

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