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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%.

Where Compono fits

Loading the salary correctly tells you what a role costs. It does not tell you whether you are hiring the right person for it. The most expensive line in any payroll is the hire who looked right on paper and left inside a year. Compono Hire runs the process every applicant tracking system runs, then adds behavioural and culture-fit data so the money lands on someone who stays and performs.

See how it works

How it's calculated

The model adds the employer costs that sit on top of a New Zealand salary. The compulsory employer KiwiSaver contribution is 3.5% of gross pay from 1 April 2026, up from 3%, and it is scheduled to rise again to 4% from 1 April 2028. The ACC Work levy defaults to the 2026-27 average of $0.69 per $100 of liable earnings, which is 0.69%, but your actual rate depends entirely on your classification unit and ranges from $0.02 to $5.29 per $100, so it is editable here. All ACC rates on this page are shown excluding GST, which is how ACC publishes them. The Working Safer levy adds a flat $0.08 per $100. ACC levies stop at maximum liable earnings of $156,641. Two things people get wrong: ESCT is deducted from the employer's KiwiSaver contribution rather than added to it, so your cost stays at 3.5% while the employee's account receives less, and New Zealand has no payroll tax at all. Employees can also apply to reduce their rate to 3%, in which case the employer matches at 3%. PAYE and the earners' levy come out of the employee's pay and are not employer costs.

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

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.