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True cost of an employee
calculator (NZ)

See what a salary really costs once KiwiSaver and ACC levies are added, at 2026-27 rates.

Your numbers

3.5% from 1 April 2026. Use 3% where a savings rate reduction applies
2026-27 average is $0.69. Your classification unit runs $0.02 to $5.29
Fully loaded annual cost
 
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What is the employer KiwiSaver contribution rate?

3.5% of gross pay from 1 April 2026, up from 3%. It rises again to 4% from 1 April 2028. Employees can apply for a temporary reduction to 3%, and the employer then matches at 3%.

How we calculated this

We add three employer costs to the base salary. The compulsory employer KiwiSaver contribution is charged at the rate you entered on the whole salary, 3.5% by default from 1 April 2026. The ACC Work levy is charged per $100 of liable earnings at your classification unit's rate, defaulting to the 2026-27 average of $0.69, and the Working Safer levy adds a flat $0.08 per $100. Both levies stop at the maximum liable earnings of $156,641 and are shown excluding GST. New Zealand has no payroll tax, so that is the whole statutory list. The working, the assumptions and the sources are below.

New to the term? Read the plain-English definition of KiwiSaver employer contributions in the HR Glossary.

Your working
Assumptions
  • Uses the 2026-27 settings: employer KiwiSaver at 3.5% from 1 April 2026 (rising to 4% on 1 April 2028), the ACC average Work levy of $0.69 per $100, the Working Safer levy of $0.08 per $100, and maximum liable earnings of $156,641. Re-run this each April.
  • Assumes the employee is a KiwiSaver member on the default rate. Non-members cost nothing here, and an employee on an approved temporary savings rate reduction is matched at 3%, so a real payroll averages a little under the figure.
  • Treats ESCT as a deduction from the employer contribution, not an addition to it. Your cost is the percentage you entered; the employee's account receives less. Employers who instead include the contribution in gross pay and tax it under PAYE see the same cost shown differently.
  • Uses the ACC average unless you change it. Your classification unit could be as low as $0.02 or as high as $5.29 per $100, so an office-based team is over-costed here and a high-risk trade is under-costed. Enter your own rate from your ACC invoice.
  • Leaves out every non-statutory cost: recruitment, equipment, insurance, training. Treat this as the statutory floor.
Sources

What to do about it

New Zealand keeps the on-costs short, which means the loaded number is close to what the person really costs, and the biggest variable left is whether they stay. These steps are for whoever builds the headcount case, whether or not they sign it off.

1

Budget on the loaded number, not the salary

Put the fully loaded figure into the headcount request with the KiwiSaver rate and ACC classification it assumes, and label it 2026-27. A plan built on 3% KiwiSaver is already light, and it goes light again in April 2028.

2

Get your real ACC rate off the invoice

The average hides a range from $0.02 to $5.29 per $100. Look up your classification unit and enter the actual rate. Check whether experience rating or a workplace safety discount changes it. For a larger team the difference is a salary.

3

Price the exit next to the entry

Ask what it costs if this hire leaves inside twelve months: the loaded salary paid for partial output plus recruitment again. Put that number beside the loaded cost. It is the case for spending time on selection now.

4
Where a tool helps

Write down what a good hire looks like at twelve months

What must this person have delivered, and how will they need to work with the team to be worth the loaded cost? Written down, you can select for it the same way for every candidate. Not written down, you select for the best interview.

5

Re-run this every April

KiwiSaver, the ACC levies, the Working Safer levy and the maximum liable earnings all move on 1 April. Keep the loaded figure current for every role you plan to fill.

Step 4 decides whether
the on-costs pay off.

Compono Hire is an applicant tracking system (ATS) that measures fit before you make the offer. It runs the process (job posting, pipeline, interview scheduling, offers) and adds what most ATSs leave out: a validated work personality and culture fit read on every candidate, scored the same way every time and shown next to the skills screen.

Step 4 asks you to define what a good hire looks like and select for it consistently. Hire does that inside the process, so the loaded cost above is committed to someone who stays and performs, and you are not back here in a year costing the same seat again.

See how it works
Compono Hire
400+
stores on one standard process

Common questions

Does ESCT add to the employer's cost?

No, and this is the common mistake. ESCT is deducted from the employer contribution rather than added on top, so the employer's cost stays at 3.5% while the amount landing in the employee's account is lower. The ESCT rate depends on the employee's previous year's earnings.

Does New Zealand have a payroll tax?

No. Employer statutory on-costs are KiwiSaver plus the ACC Work levy and the Working Safer levy. PAYE and the earners' levy are deducted from employee pay, not paid by the employer.

Why is the ACC levy editable?

Because it varies more than anything else here. The 2026-27 average is $0.69 per $100 of liable earnings, but rates run from $0.02 for low-risk office work to $5.29 for high-risk activities, depending on your classification unit.

This page is general information, not legal advice. We check figures annually and update them on a best-efforts basis, but employment rules change and we cannot promise everything here is current or complete. Before you act on it, confirm the detail with Employment New Zealand or your own adviser. Last reviewed July 2026.

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KiwiSaver employer contribution calculator (NZ)

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KiwiSaver employer contributions

The plain-English definition, with the calculators and rules that sit around it.

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