Tax Code ST and ST SL

The secondary code for a total income of $78,101 to $180,000. A flat 34.75% on every dollar the job pays, or 46.75% once the student loan suffix is attached.

Tax code ST goes on a job that is not your highest-earning one, when your total income from every source is $78,101 to $180,000. Payroll deducts a flat 34.75% of every dollar, which is 33% income tax plus the 1.75% ACC earners' levy.

What ST and ST SL actually withhold

The rate Inland Revenue publishes for ST is already two rates added together, which is why it matches no 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.

33%income tax

1.75%ACC earners' levy

34.75%deducted on code ST

33%income tax

1.75%ACC earners' levy

12%student loan

46.75%deducted on code ST 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 lower bands. 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
SH	$53,501 – $78,100	31.75%
STthis page	$78,101 – $180,000	34.75%
SA	$180,001 and over	40.75%

The band in the middle column is your total income from every source added together, not what this job pays. ST covers the widest band of any secondary code, so it is the one people stay on correctly for the longest.

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

Who tax code ST is for

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

This is not your highest-earning source of income. ST 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 $78,101 to $180,000. Add every job together, plus any taxable benefit, ACC weekly compensation or pension. A job paying $9,000 does not get ST because of what it pays. It gets ST because your total lands in that band. Earn $60,000 elsewhere instead and the same job is coded SH.

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

What this job pays you on code ST

Income from this job

Tax code

ST$78,101 – $180,000

Your result

Gross: $70,000.00
PAYE tax: − $23,100.00
ACC levy: − $1,225.00
KiwiSaver: − $2,450.00
Take-home: $43,225.00

You keep 61.8% of your gross pay.

Enter what this job pays, not your total income. The 34.75% 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. $1,200.00 a fortnight on ST

1.Gross pay from this job for the fortnight$31,200 a year from this job alone$1,200.00
2.PAYE at 34.75%33% income tax with the ACC earners' levy already inside it− $417.00
3.KiwiSaver at 3.5%− $42.00
Into your account$741.00

Example 2. $2,500.00 a month on ST SL

1.Gross pay from this job for the month$30,000 a year from this job alone$2,500.00
2.PAYE at 34.75%33% income tax with the ACC earners' levy already inside it− $868.75
3.Student loan at 12%Every dollar. The repayment threshold belongs to your main job− $300.00
4.KiwiSaver at 3.5%− $87.50
Into your account$1,243.75

The second example loses $1,168.75 of its $2,500.00 to Inland Revenue, which is 46.75% 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.

The rate that falls before it rises, at $156,641

Code ST is where the only non-monotonic step in New Zealand PAYE shows up. The ACC earners' levy is charged on earnings up to $156,641 and stops there, permanently, for that tax year. Income tax carries on.

So the deduction on a second job coded ST runs 34.75% while the levy applies, drops to 33% once your earnings pass $156,641, then jumps to 39% when your total passes $180,000 and the correct code becomes SA. Earning more money briefly lowers your marginal rate, which is real, published by Inland Revenue, and almost never stated.

The cap is annual and applies across all your earnings, not per job. Tax brackets works the same sequence through with the arithmetic.

ST is the wrong code for you if…

Your total income is above $180,000 or below $78,101. Above it the code is SA at 40.75%. Below it the code is SH at 31.75%.
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 ST on your only job over-withholds heavily 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 ST 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, taxes the total through the progressive bands, then subtracts everything withheld. ST is the best-matched secondary code in the set, because its 33% income tax component is exactly the bracket rate that applies across its band.

The gap opens when your year finished lower than forecast. Take a main job of $70,000 and a second job of $6,000. The total of $76,000 sits below the ST band, so the second job was taxed at 33% when part of it belonged at 30%. Across the year $15,200.50 of income tax was withheld against $15,020.50 genuinely due, so Inland Revenue refunds about $180.00.

The mirror image is a bill. Leave ST on after your total has climbed past $180,000 and every payday under-withholds by 6% 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 ST tax code?

ST is the secondary code for a second job when your total income from every source is $78,101 to $180,000 a year. Payroll deducts a flat 34.75% of every dollar the job pays, which is 33% income tax plus the 1.75% ACC earners' levy.

What is the ST SL tax code?

ST SL is code ST with the student loan suffix. PAYE stays at 34.75%, and the suffix adds 12% of every dollar the job pays. There is no repayment threshold on a second job, so the deduction is 46.75% from the first dollar.

Why is tax code ST 34.75% and not 33%?

Because it is two rates added together. The income tax component is 33%. The 1.75% ACC earners' levy sits on top, and Inland Revenue publishes the two combined as one code rate.

Does the ST rate drop above $156,641?

Yes. The earners' levy stops at the $156,641 cap, so the 1.75% component falls away and code ST deducts 33%. The sequence runs 34.75%, then 33%, then 39% once your total passes $180,000 and the code becomes SA.

What is the difference between SH and ST?

The band, not the mechanism. SH covers a total of $53,501 to $78,100 at 31.75%. ST covers $78,101 to $180,000 at 34.75%. Leaving SH on when your total says ST under-withholds 3% of the second job's pay.

Will I get a tax bill if I am on ST?

Usually not, and a small refund is the more common outcome. ST withholds 33% of income tax on every dollar, which matches the bracket rate between $78,101 and $180,000. The mismatch appears when your total finished below $78,100, because part of that income belonged in the 30% band.

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
Tax bracketsWhy the rate falls at $156,641 before rising again
The SL suffix12% of every dollar on a second job
Which tax code am I?Five questions, one answer
All tax codesEvery code and rate in one table