How to Read a New Zealand Payslip

Q: What does PAYE mean on my payslip?

PAYE on a New Zealand payslip is one number covering two things: the income tax on that pay period and the ACC earners' levy of 1.75%. IRD's deduction tables bundle them, so the PAYE line will never match a tax calculation that uses the income tax brackets alone.

Q: Does my employer have to give me a payslip in New Zealand?

No law requires a payslip to be issued. Employers must keep accurate wage, time, holiday and leave records for every employee, and must let you see the records that relate to you when you ask. Many employment agreements go further and require a payslip each payday.

Q: Why is my employer's KiwiSaver contribution on my payslip if I never receive it?

It is shown because it is part of what you earn, even though it goes straight to your KiwiSaver provider rather than your bank account. Your employer must contribute at least 3.5% of your gross pay, and employer superannuation contribution tax (ESCT) is deducted from it before it is invested.

Q: My payslip PAYE does not match an online calculator. Why?

Payroll annualises your pay period, taxes that annual figure, then divides back down, truncating at defined points. A calculator that works out annual tax and divides by 52 lands cents away. Check the pay period, the tax code and whether the pay included overtime or a bonus before assuming an error.

Q: What is the YTD column on my payslip?

Year to date. It totals your gross pay and each deduction from 1 April to the current payday. It is the fastest way to check your tax position, because the ACC earners' levy stops once year-to-date earnings reach $156,641 and the student loan threshold is applied per pay period.

Gross at the top, deductions in the middle, net at the bottom. This page explains every line in between, what each label means, and what to check before you accept the number that reached your bank account.

A New Zealand payslip runs top to bottom: gross earnings, then the deductions, then net pay. Only three deductions can be made without your written consent. PAYE, which is income tax and the 1.75% ACC earners' levy in one figure, your KiwiSaver contribution if you are a member, and a student loan repayment on an SL code.

A weekly payslip, line by line

One week for someone on tax code M SL paid $32.00 an hour, with 4 hours of overtime at time and a half, contributing the 3.5% default KiwiSaver rate and paying a union fee. Every figure is produced by the same engine that runs the calculator on this site.

A sample weekly New Zealand payslip showing gross earnings, deductions and net pay
Line	Amount	What it is
Ordinary time, 40 h at $32.00	$1,280.00	Your contracted hours at your contracted rate
Overtime, 4 h at $48.00	$192.00	Taxed exactly like ordinary time, but it lifts the whole period
Gross earnings	$1,472.00	Everything you earned this week, before anything comes out
Tax code	M SL	Main income with a student loan
PAYE	− $317.75	Income tax $291.99 and the ACC earners' levy $25.76, as one deduction
Student loan	− $120.96	12% of the gross above $464.00 for the week
KiwiSaver 3.5%	− $51.52	Your own contribution, taken from gross pay
Union fee	− $6.50	A voluntary deduction, valid only with your written consent
Net pay	$975.27	What reaches your bank account
Employer KiwiSaver	$51.52	Paid on top of your gross, at 3.5%
ESCT	− $15.46	Tax on that employer contribution at 30%, so $36.06 is invested

The last two rows sit above the line. They are your employer's money, not a deduction from yours, and many payslips print them in a separate block or leave them off entirely. Gross for the year here is $76,544, which is the figure payroll taxes against each week.

Gross earnings

The top block lists everything you earned in the pay period, usually split by type so you can see where the money came from. Common labels:

Ordinary time. Contracted hours at your normal rate, or one twenty-sixth of a salary on a fortnightly cycle.
Overtime and penal rates. Ordinary taxable income, despite the different rate. It has no separate tax treatment.
Annual leave, sick leave, public holiday. Paid leave shows as its own line so your leave balances reconcile.
Allowances. A taxable allowance adds to gross and is taxed like wages. A genuine reimbursement of an expense is not taxable and should appear after the net figure, not before it.
Bonus, commission, back pay. These are extra pay, and they use a different rate from your regular wages. See how extra pay is taxed.

The tax code

Usually printed in the header next to your IRD number. Two letters, sometimes followed by SL. It is the single most consequential character string on the page, because it decides which method payroll uses for every other number below it.

Check it against your circumstances, not your memory. M belongs to your highest-earning job only. ME adds the independent earner tax credit. An SL suffix turns on the student loan deduction. A secondary code on your main job over-taxes you all year, and no code on file at all means payroll must use the no-declaration rate. The tax code table lists every one.

PAYE, which is two taxes in one line

This is where most payslip confusion starts. The PAYE line is income tax plusthe ACC earners' levy, added together before they are printed. In the sample above that is $291.99 of income tax and $25.76 of levy, shown as a single $317.75.

Two consequences follow. Any figure you work out from the income tax brackets alone will come in low, by exactly 1.75% of your gross. And the levy stops once your earnings for the year reach $156,641, at a maximum of $2,741.22, so a high earner's PAYE line contains a shrinking levy component as the year goes on.

Some payroll systems split the two and print an ACC line of their own. Both presentations are correct. If yours shows a separate ACC line, add it to PAYE before comparing against any calculator.

KiwiSaver, yours and your employer's

Two separate amounts that happen to be equal at the default rates, which is why they are so often confused for one another.

Your contribution is deducted from your gross pay at your chosen rate. 3.5% by default from 1 April 2026, or 4, 6, 8, 10%. The 3% rate is available only under an approved temporary rate reduction.
Your employer's contribution is paid on top of your gross at a compulsory 3.5%. It is not deducted from you, and it does not reduce your take-home pay.
ESCT is the tax on that employer contribution, 30% in the sample above. Your employer pays it to Inland Revenue and the balance is what reaches your KiwiSaver account, $36.06 out of $51.52 here.

If your agreement says your salary is a total remuneration package, the employer contribution comes out of the same pot as your pay rather than on top of it. That is legal, and it is the one case where the employer line does reduce what you take home.

Student loan

Appears only if your tax code ends in SL. The deduction is 12% of the gross above the threshold for your pay period, not above the annual figure: $464.00 a week, $928.00 a fortnight, $1,856.00 every four weeks, or $2,010.66 a month. That is $24,128 a year.

Two other labels can appear next to it. SLCIR is an extra deduction Inland Revenue has instructed your employer to make, up to 5% of your gross, usually to catch up an unpaid amount. SLBOR is an extra repayment you asked for yourself. Neither is an error, but only one of them was your idea. More on the student loan deduction.

Other deductions

Everything below the compulsory three needs a legal basis. Your employer can lawfully deduct only what you have agreed to in writing, or what a court or Inland Revenue has directed. What you are likely to see:

Union fees and social club subscriptions, deducted with your written consent, which you can withdraw in writing at any time.
Payroll giving. A donation to an approved donee organisation, which earns you a tax credit of a third of the donation in the same pay period rather than a refund a year later.
Child support, court fines, attachment orders. Directed by Inland Revenue or the Ministry of Justice. Your consent is not required and your employer cannot decline.
Staff purchases, salary advances, overpayment recoveries. All need a specific written agreement. A general clause in your employment agreement is not enough on its own, because your employer must also consult you before relying on it.

An unexplained deduction is worth challenging in writing the same week. It is far easier to correct in the next pay run than at the end of the year.

Six things to check on every payslip

The pay period dates. A payslip covering a different number of days than usual explains most surprises on its own.
The tax code. Two letters, and the SL suffix if you have a loan. Wrong here means wrong everywhere below.
Hours and rate. Multiply them yourself. Ordinary time is the easiest line to get wrong and the least likely to be noticed.
PAYE against a calculator. Enter the same gross and pay period into the take-home pay calculator. Cents of difference are normal; dollars are not.
Your KiwiSaver rate. A rate change takes effect from the next pay run, so check the period after you ask for one.
Every deduction below the compulsory three. If you did not sign for it, ask.

Does your employer have to issue a payslip?

New Zealand law does not require a payslip to be handed over each payday. It does require your employer to keep accurate wage, time, holiday and leave records for you, and to let you see the records relating to you when you ask. In practice almost every payroll system issues a payslip anyway, and many employment agreements make it a contractual obligation.

If you are not getting one, ask for your wage and time records in writing. They contain the same information, and your employer has to provide them.

Common questions

What does PAYE mean on my payslip?

It is one number covering two things. The income tax on that pay period and the 1.75% ACC earners' levy. Inland Revenue's deduction tables bundle them, which is why the PAYE line never matches a figure worked out from the income tax brackets alone.

Does my employer have to give me a payslip in New Zealand?

No law requires one to be issued. Your employer must keep accurate wage, time, holiday and leave records for you, and must let you see the records relating to you when you ask. Many employment agreements go further and require a payslip every payday, so check yours.

Why is my employer's KiwiSaver contribution on my payslip if I never receive it?

Because it is part of what you earn, even though it never touches your bank account. Your employer must add at least 3.5% of your gross pay, and ESCT comes off that contribution before it is invested, so the amount landing in your KiwiSaver account is lower than the figure on the payslip.

What can my employer legally deduct from my pay?

PAYE, KiwiSaver and student loan deductions are required by law and need no consent. Everything else does. Union fees, social club subscriptions, staff purchases and overpayment recoveries all need your written agreement, and you can withdraw that consent in writing. Court-ordered deductions such as fines, attachment orders and child support are the exception.

My payslip PAYE does not match an online calculator. Why?

Payroll annualises the pay period, taxes that annual figure, then divides back down and truncates at defined points. A calculator that takes annual tax and divides by 52 lands a few cents away. Before assuming an error, check the pay period length, the tax code, and whether the pay included overtime or a bonus. The how PAYE is calculated page reproduces the exact method.

What is the YTD column on my payslip?

Year to date. It totals gross pay and each deduction from 1 April to the current payday. It is the fastest sanity check you have, because the ACC earners' levy stops once earnings reach $156,641 for the year and everything else compounds from the same base.

Where these figures come from

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

take-home pay calculatorEnter your gross and compare line for line
what is PAYEWhat the system is, and who remits it
how PAYE is calculatedThe exact method payroll follows
why your take-home pay changedEight causes, each with a dollar figure
holiday pay calculatorThe holiday pay lines, worked out
gross vs net payThe vocabulary on the payslip, defined
New Zealand tax codesCheck the code printed on your payslip