KiwiSaver Employer Contribution Calculator
Enter your gross pay and the calculator returns the compulsory 3.5% employer contribution, your ESCT band, the tax taken from that contribution, and the amount that reaches your fund, per week, fortnight, month and year.
Your details
3.5% is the compulsory minimum. Your employment agreement may say more.
The compulsory employer contribution runs from 16 until you turn 65. Outside that, your own deduction can continue but nothing is compulsory for your employer.
You put in
3.5% of gross
Employer puts in
3.5% of gross
ESCT at 30%
Taken before it arrives
Into your fund
Employer part is 2.45% of gross
Where the money goes
Per payday
| Frequency | Employer | After ESCT |
|---|---|---|
| Weekly | $47.12 | $33.02 |
| Fortnightly | $94.23 | $66.03 |
| Monthly | $204.17 | $142.97 |
| Annual | $2,450.00 | $1,715.00 |
Why this shows a number other calculators do not
No take-home pay calculator in New Zealand puts the employer contribution and ESCT on the payslip, per payday. The tools that do know about ESCT fall into two groups. Payroll administration software works it out for employers filing employment information, and retirement projections roll it into a balance at 65. Neither answers the question you actually have, which is what went into your account this fortnight.
The gap it closes is real money. On $70,000 the difference between the 3.5% you were promised and the 2.45% that arrives is $735.00 a year.
How the calculation runs
- Start with gross pay for the period. Salary or wages plus bonuses, commission and overtime. Redundancy pay, employer-provided accommodation and employee share scheme benefits are outside it.
- Apply the employer rate, at least 3.5%. This sits on top of your gross pay and does not reduce it. If you are under 16 or 65 or over, no contribution is compulsory.
- Find the ESCT rate threshold amount. Last year's gross pay from this employer plus the employer superannuation contributions they made for you, or an estimate of this year if you were not there for all of last year.
- Truncate the contribution to whole dollars. The cents are discarded from the tax base, not from your fund. This happens once per pay period.
- Apply the ESCT rate to that figure. Your employer holds the tax back and pays it to Inland Revenue with their PAYE.
- What is left goes to your scheme provider. Via Inland Revenue rather than directly, which is why it lags your payday by a few weeks.
What the calculator assumes
- Your ESCT rate threshold amount is this year's gross pay plus the employer contribution. That is the estimate branch of the rule. If you have been with the same employer since before 1 April last year, your real threshold amount is last year's figures, and the employer superannuation contribution tax lets you enter it directly.
- Your pay is level across the year. A bonus lifts the contribution in the period it is paid, and can move the whole year into a different ESCT band through the threshold amount.
- No savings suspension is in force. During one, the employee deduction, the employer contribution and the ESCT all stop.
- The employer contribution is paid on top of your salary. On a total remuneration package it comes out of the figure you were quoted instead.
Where these figures come from
- IRD. Employer contributions to KiwiSaver
- IRD. Employer superannuation contribution tax
- IRD. KiwiSaver changes
2026–27 tax year (1 April 2026 – 31 March 2027). Last verified 30 July 2026.
Related
- KiwiSaver employer contributionThe 3.5% rule in full
- ESCT rates 2026–27All five bands, with the effective rate on each
- KiwiSaver contribution ratesYour side of the arithmetic
- KiwiSaver contribution ratesEvery employee rate, and the one you cannot simply pick
- take-home pay calculatorPAYE, ACC, KiwiSaver and student loan together
Common questions
How do I calculate my employer's KiwiSaver contribution?
Multiply gross pay by 3.5%, then take off ESCT at your band. On $70,000 that is $2,450.00 contributed, $735.00 of ESCT at 30%, and $1,715.00 reaching your fund.
Why is the annual figure different from twelve monthly figures?
Because ESCT is worked out on each contribution separately, and each one is truncated to whole dollars before the rate applies. Twelve truncations do not add up to one truncation, so a monthly payroll and a weekly payroll produce slightly different annual ESCT on identical pay.
Which ESCT rate does the calculator use?
It takes the band from your gross pay plus the employer contribution, which is the estimate payroll uses when an employee has not been with the employer for a full previous tax year. If you were there all of last year, your rate comes from last year's figures instead. employer superannuation contribution tax.
Does the employer contribution show on my payslip?
Usually, as a separate line beside your deductions rather than inside them. It is not taken from your gross pay, so it does not change your take-home pay. Many how to read a New Zealand payslip show the gross contribution without showing the ESCT that comes off it.