Tax Code S and S SL

The secondary code for a total income of $15,601 to $53,500. A flat 19.25% on every dollar the job pays, or 31.25% once the student loan suffix is attached.

Tax code S goes on a job that is not your highest-earning one, when your total income from every source is $15,601 to $53,500. Payroll deducts a flat 19.25% of every dollar, which is 17.5% income tax plus the 1.75% ACC earners' levy.

What S and S SL actually withhold

The rate Inland Revenue publishes for S is already two rates added together, which is why it does not match any figure in the tax bracket table. Add the student loan suffix and a third deduction joins it, at a rate that does not change with income.

17.5%income tax

1.75%ACC earners' levy

19.25%deducted on code S

17.5%income tax

1.75%ACC earners' levy

12%student loan

31.25%deducted on code S SL

Both figures apply from the first dollar. A secondary code has no tax-free step and no progressive climb, because your main job has already used the 10.5% band on your first $15,600. The student loan line is not tax and is never refunded, it reduces your loan balance instead.

The codes either side of this one

The codes either side of this one
Code	Who it is for	Rate
SB	Total income up to $15,600	12.25%
Sthis page	$15,601 – $53,500	19.25%
SH	$53,501 – $78,100	31.75%

The band in the middle column is your total income from every source added together, not what this job pays. One extra shift a week can move you a whole code.

Every New Zealand tax code, in one table: all tax codes and rates.

Who tax code S is for

Two conditions, and the second is the one people answer wrongly:

This is not your highest-earning source of income. S is a secondary code. Your main job keeps M or ME, and every job after it takes a secondary code of its own.
Your total income from all sources is $15,601 to $53,500. Add every job together, plus any taxable benefit, ACC weekly compensation or pension. A job paying $6,000 does not get S because $6,000 sits in that range. It gets S because your total does. Earn $50,000 elsewhere and the same job is coded SH.

If you have a New Zealand student loan that is not fully repaid, the code is S SL rather than S. That is a separate question on the IR330, not a different code to choose.

What this job pays you on code S

Income from this job

Tax code

S$15,601 – $53,500

Your result

Gross: $70,000.00
PAYE tax: − $12,250.00
ACC levy: − $1,225.00
KiwiSaver: − $2,450.00
Take-home: $54,075.00

You keep 77.3% of your gross pay.

Enter what this job pays, not your total income. The 19.25% rate already contains the 1.75% ACC earners' levy, and KiwiSaver is shown at the 3.5% default. A student loan would add 12% of the gross on top.

Example 1. $320.00 a week on S

1.Gross pay from this job for the week$16,640 a year from this job alone$320.00
2.PAYE at 19.25%17.5% income tax with the ACC earners' levy already inside it− $61.60
3.KiwiSaver at 3.5%− $11.20
Into your account$247.20

Example 2. $900.00 a fortnight on S SL

1.Gross pay from this job for the fortnight$23,400 a year from this job alone$900.00
2.PAYE at 19.25%17.5% income tax with the ACC earners' levy already inside it− $173.25
3.Student loan at 12%Every dollar. The repayment threshold belongs to your main job− $108.00
4.KiwiSaver at 3.5%− $31.50
Into your account$587.25

The second example loses $281.25 of its $900.00 to Inland Revenue, which is 31.25% of the gross. Every dollar is caught, because the $24,128 repayment threshold belongs to the main job. Both examples assume the 3.5% KiwiSaver rate.

S is the wrong code for you if…

Your total income is above $53,500 or below $15,601. Above it the code is SH at 31.75%, or higher again. Below it the code is SB at 12.25%.
This is your only job. A single job is main income and uses M or ME, which run through the progressive bands instead of a flat rate. Leaving S on your only job over-withholds every payday.
This job now pays more than your other one. The main-income code follows the money. Swap the codes over rather than leaving them where they started.
You have a student loan being repaid. The code is S SL. Leaving the suffix off collects nothing during the year and does not reduce the balance.
You invoice for the work. Schedular payments use WT, where you elect the rate yourself.

What happens at the end-of-year square-up

After 31 March, Inland Revenue adds both jobs together and taxes the total through the progressive bands, then subtracts everything withheld. Code S produces a refund more often than the codes above it, for a structural reason worth knowing.

S charges 17.5% of income tax on every dollar, but a total income near the bottom of the band still has room left in the 10.5% bracket. Take a main job of $14,000 and a second job of $6,000. The total of $20,000 sits inside the S band, so the second job is taxed at 17.5% and $2,520.00 of income tax is withheld across the year. The tax genuinely due on $20,000 is $2,408.00, so Inland Revenue refunds about $112.00.

The mirror image is a bill. Leave S on after your total has climbed past $53,500 and every payday under-withholds by 12.5% of the second job's pay. Nothing is charged during the year, so the first sign is the assessment. Changing your code stops it from that pay run on, and settles nothing that has already happened.

Common questions

What is the S SL tax code?

S SL is code S with the student loan suffix. PAYE is a flat 19.25%, and the suffix adds 12% of every dollar the job pays. There is no repayment threshold on a second job, so the deduction is 31.25% from the first dollar.

When do I use tax code S?

On a job that is not your highest-earning one, when your total income from every source is $15,601 to $53,500 for the year. The band comes from the total. A $7,000 weekend job attached to a $30,000 salary is coded on the $37,000 total.

Is tax code S 17.5% or 19.25%?

Both, describing different things. The income tax component is 17.5%. What payroll deducts is 19.25%, because the 1.75% ACC earners' levy sits on top and Inland Revenue publishes the two combined.

What is the difference between S and SB?

The band, not the mechanism. SB covers a total up to $15,600 at 12.25%. S covers $15,601 to $53,500 at 19.25%. Using SB when your total says S under-withholds about 7% of the second job's pay.

Do I get money back if I am on S?

Often. S charges 17.5% of income tax on every dollar the job pays. If your year finished lower than forecast, some of that income belonged in the 10.5% band, and Inland Revenue refunds the difference after 31 March.

Where these figures come from

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

Secondary taxWhy the rate is flat, and what the square-up does
Tax code SH. 31.75%$53,501 – $78,100
The SL suffix12% of every dollar on a second job
Which tax code am I?Five questions, one answer
Tax bracketsWhere the 17.5% in code S comes from
All tax codesEvery code and rate in one table