The New Zealand Tax Year 2026–27

Q: When does the New Zealand tax year end?

31 March. The New Zealand tax year runs from 1 April to 31 March the following year, so the 2026–27 tax year ends on 31 March 2027. The next one starts the following day.

Q: What tax year are we in now?

The 2026–27 tax year, which runs from 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2027. Every rate on this site is the rate for that year, verified against Inland Revenue on 30 July 2026.

Q: Is the New Zealand tax year the same as the calendar year?

No. The tax year runs 1 April to 31 March, so a calendar year always contains the last three months of one tax year and the first nine months of the next. A salary quoted for a calendar year and a salary reported on an Inland Revenue assessment are measured over different twelve-month windows.

Q: When does Inland Revenue send my tax assessment?

Inland Revenue issues automatic income tax assessments to most employees between late May and the end of July, after employers have filed their final payday information for the year ended 31 March. If you are asked to file an IR3 instead, the due date is 7 July.

Q: Which tax year does a payment fall in?

The one in which it is paid, not the one in which the work was done. Pay for the last week of March that lands in your account in April belongs to the new tax year. This is why your final payslip of a tax year and your Inland Revenue income summary can disagree by one pay period.

1 April to 31 March, every year, without exception. Everything that gets recalculated about your pay happens against that window: the rates that change, the levy ceiling that resets, and the assessment that decides whether you get money back.

The New Zealand tax year runs from 1 April to 31 March. The current one is 2026–27, which started on 1 April 2026 and ends on 31 March 2027. Rates that change do so on 1 April, and Inland Revenue works out whether you have paid the right amount after 31 March.

Key dates for the 2026–27 tax year

Key dates in the 2026–27 New Zealand tax year for individuals.
Date	What happens
1 April 2026	The tax year starts. Rate changes take effect, and the ACC levy ceiling and student loan threshold reset to zero for everyone.
31 March 2027	The tax year ends. Income is allocated to this year based on the date it was paid, not the date it was earned.
Late May to July 2027	Inland Revenue issues automatic income tax assessments once employers have filed their final payday information.
7 July 2027	Due date for an IR3 return, if Inland Revenue has asked you to file one.
7 February 2028	Terminal tax date. If your assessment says you owe money, this is when it is due. A tax agent extension moves it to 7 April 2028.

What changes on 1 April

Four of the five numbers that decide your take-home pay are aligned to the tax year. The fifth, income tax, is not, and that mismatch is the reason a page listing "the new rates from 1 April" is usually incomplete.

Which pay-related rates move on 1 April and which do not.
Rate	Moves on 1 April?	Current position
ACC earners' levy	Yes	1.75% from 1 April 2026, on earnings to $156,641. Rises to 1.83% on 1 April 2027.
Minimum wage	Yes	$23.95 an hour for adults from 1 April 2026, $19.16 for starting-out and training rates.
KiwiSaver contribution rates	Yes	3.5% default employee rate and 3.5% compulsory employer contribution. Both step to 4% on 1 April 2028.
Student loan repayment threshold	Yes	$24,128 a year, and every pay-period threshold with it.
Income tax rates	No	Set by legislation on whatever date Parliament chooses. The current bands took effect on 31 July 2024, part-way through a tax year.

When income tax changes part-way through a tax year, two sets of bands apply inside one twelve-month period. Inland Revenue handles that by publishing composite rates for the year, blending the old and new bands in proportion to the days each was in force. The 2024–25 year carried exactly that: rates that appear in no piece of legislation, because they are an average of two sets that do.

The 53-week year

A tax year is 365 days, and 365 does not divide by seven. Roughly every fifth or sixth year a weekly-paid employee receives 53 paydays inside one tax year rather than 52, and a fortnightly-paid employee receives 27 rather than 26.

Nothing is wrong when this happens. You have genuinely been paid for 53 weeks of work in the window Inland Revenue measures. But PAYE annualises each pay period by multiplying it by 52, so 53 weeks of pay produces slightly less PAYE than the year actually requires, and the difference shows up as a small bill in the assessment.

The same arithmetic runs the other way for the student loan repayment threshold, where a 53rd week means one extra $464.00 of threshold you were not strictly entitled to.

Tax year, financial year, income year

For a New Zealand individual these are the same twelve months: 1 April to 31 March. Inland Revenue calls it the income year in its own legislation and the tax yeareverywhere else. Businesses can apply for a different balance date, which is where the phrase "financial year" starts meaning something else, but nothing about a salaried employee's PAYE moves off 31 March.

Which year a payment belongs to

PAYE income is allocated to the tax year in which it is paid. Not earned, not invoiced, not approved. Three consequences follow, and all three land on real payslips every March.

Work done in March and paid in April is next year's income. Your final payslip of the tax year and your Inland Revenue income summary will differ by one pay period, and both are right.
A bonus paid on 31 March lands in the year that is ending. Paid on 1 April, it lands in the year that is starting, and it is taxed against a different set of annualised earnings. How extra pay is taxed.
The ACC levy ceiling and the student loan threshold reset on 1 April. A high earner who stopped paying the ACC earners' levy in February starts paying it again in April, and their take-home pay falls without their salary changing.

Common questions

When does the New Zealand tax year end?

31 March. The tax year runs 1 April to 31 March, so 2026–27 ends on 31 March 2027 and 2027–28 starts the next day.

What tax year are we in now?

The 2026–27 tax year, 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2027. Every rate on this site is the rate for that year, verified against Inland Revenue on 30 July 2026.

Is the New Zealand tax year the same as the calendar year?

No. A calendar year always contains the last three months of one tax year and the first nine months of the next. That is why the income figure on an Inland Revenue assessment rarely matches what you earned between January and December.

Do tax rates change at the start of the tax year?

Some do. The ACC earners' levy, the minimum wage, KiwiSaver rates and the student loan threshold all move on 1 April when they move. Income tax rates are not tied to the tax year at all: the New Zealand tax brackets took effect on 31 July 2024, in the middle of one.

When does Inland Revenue send my tax assessment?

Between late May and the end of July, once employers have filed their final payday information for the year ended 31 March. If you are asked to file an IR3 instead, the due date is 7 July. New Zealand tax refund.

Which tax year does a payment fall in?

The one in which it is paid. Pay for the last week of March that lands in your account in April belongs to the new tax year, which is why a final payslip and an Inland Revenue income summary can differ by one pay period.

Where these figures come from

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

New Zealand tax refundWhat happens after 31 March, and who gets money back
New Zealand PAYE tax ratesThe rates in force for 2026–27
ACC earners' levyThe ceiling that resets every 1 April
New Zealand tax bracketsThe one set of rates that does not move on 1 April
take-home pay calculatorCurrent 2026–27 rates, verified 30 July 2026