Tax Refund Calculator NZ

Income Tax Square Up

A refund is the gap between income tax already paid and the tax on your taxable income for the year. Inland Revenue works out individual income tax on each dollar of income. You can get money back, or still have tax to pay, when you were taxed at the wrong rate. From 1 April 2025 the rates are 10.5% to $15,600, 17.5% to $53,500, 30% to $78,100, 33% to $180,000, and 39% above that. From 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025 the page publishes a separate composite table. Payslip tax for a wage is estimated on the PAYE calculator. This square up is the year end comparison, not that payslip.

Enter salary, other taxable income, and income tax already paid. A second job uses the secondary codes on the same Inland Revenue page: SB 10.5%, S 17.5%, SH 30%, ST 33%, and SA 39%. The result shows tax at that flat code beside the tax that income attracts inside your total. Months below 12 show what the tax would be if the same pay had been annualised and then scaled back, which is why a part year often looks over taxed. That annualised line is an illustration. The refund figure uses the tax on the income you entered.

Where the Figures Come From

Employers, banks, and investment providers send Inland Revenue the income and the tax, which is the same pair of numbers this calculator asks for. Inland Revenue says that information covers salary or wages, benefits or taxable pensions, interest, and income from KiwiSaver or any other portfolio investment entity. The running total of gross pay and tax taken on the last payslip from each employer is the practical place to read one job. myIR holds what those payers reported. Add the jobs together before you type them in.

Why the Assessment Differs

The assessment changes when tax taken during the year does not match tax on the income for the full year. Inland Revenue says a bill can follow income that changed, the wrong tax code, interest at the wrong resident withholding rate, or a prescribed investor rate that was too low for KiwiSaver or another portfolio investment entity. The same list includes a rate that changed part way through the year, employer share scheme income with no tax deducted, the independent earner tax credit taken when total income went over the threshold, income that rose after thresholds changed, and a schedular payment rate that was too low. A refund is the other way around: more income tax was paid than the assessment works out.

ACC Earner Levy

The ACC earners levy rides inside PAYE, and it is not income tax, so it does not belong in the income tax already paid box. Inland Revenue sets the levy by year, and the amounts include GST. From 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2027 it is $1.75 per $100 of earnings, up to $156,641 of earnings, and the most payable is $2,741.22. From 1 April 2025 to 31 March 2026 it is $1.67 per $100, up to $152,790, and the most payable is $2,551.59. From 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025 it is $1.60 per $100, up to $142,283, and the most payable is $2,276.52. Leave that levy out of the tax already paid figure, or the refund estimate will be too high.

Independent Earner Tax Credit

The independent earner tax credit is for a New Zealand tax resident whose income for the year sits between $24,000 and $70,000. Inland Revenue says that from July 2024 the credit is $10 a week between $24,000 and $66,000, then 13 cents less for every dollar over $66,000, and the most for a year is $520. You cannot get it for a month in which you or your partner receive Working for Families, or you receive an income tested benefit, New Zealand Superannuation, a Veteran's Pension, or an overseas equivalent. On wages, code ME, or ME SL with a student loan, puts it in pay when the main job is over $24,000 and total income stays inside the band. If you were entitled and did not get it during the year, it arrives after the income tax assessment. This calculator does not subtract the credit. The assessment can, so the myIR result can differ from the square up line here.

For the 2025 tax year the thresholds moved on 31 July 2024. Inland Revenue says you may not get the full credit that year if income was between $48,000 and $70,000, because the higher threshold applied for only part of the year.

Donation Tax Credit

Donations sit on their own line because you claim them on the donation form, not inside the PAYE square up. Inland Revenue lets you claim one third of eligible donations over $5 to approved organisations, and the receipts cannot add up to more than your taxable income. If donations are higher than your income, your spouse or partner can claim the rest up to their income. A business GST credit on purchases is a different claim: see claiming GST NZ.

Student Loan Taken From Pay

Money taken for a student loan is a repayment, not income tax, so it is not part of this refund estimate. Inland Revenue says you repay 12% of every dollar over the repayment threshold. For the 2026 tax year, 1 April 2025 to 31 March 2026, that threshold is $24,128, or $464 a week. On a main job with SL, their example is $600 a week before tax: $600 minus $464 is $136, and 12% of $136 is $16.32. On a second job the threshold does not apply, because it was already used on the main job, so the repayment is 12% of every dollar. Their example is $200 a week before tax, and the repayment is $24. A holiday job that goes over the weekly line but stays under $24,128 for the year can use a repayment deduction exemption. If the main job is under the pay period threshold, a special deduction rate can use the unused part of that threshold on the second job.

Self Employed Profit

Self employment income is not taxed before you are paid, so a refund only appears when tax already paid is higher than the tax on profit after expenses. Inland Revenue says you pay that tax at the end of the year based on total income. If little tax was paid, the estimate is tax to pay. Expenses you can claim reduce taxable income in the self employed tab. Use the self employed tax calculator when you need the income tax estimate before any tax was paid. GST on sales is not this income tax refund. Seller refunds of GST are covered in GST on returns and refunds and credit notes and refunds for sellers.

Tax Return and Tax Refund

A tax refund is money paid back. A tax return is the IR3 form. If all of your income was taxed before you received it, Inland Revenue says you do not file a return, and you hear from them between the last weekend in May and the end of July. People who use myIR can expect the income tax assessment in that same window. If some income was not taxed before you got it, you file an IR3, and the final date is 7 July unless you have a tax agent or an extension of time. That untaxed income is why a wage square up and a business or rental year are not the same job. Inland Revenue says people who need an IR3 can expect to hear between April and June.

GST for Tourists

New Zealand does not refund GST to tourists on goods they buy here, so the calculator does not estimate a tourist refund. Customs says you cannot get GST refunds on items you purchased in New Zealand. Inland Revenue’s visitor guide says a visitor must pay GST on goods and services bought here in the same way as a resident, and there is no exemption because the person is a visitor. Buy from a duty free shop, or have the retailer export the goods or deliver them airside, if you want the sale at zero.

If a visitor works in New Zealand, salary and wages are still subject to New Zealand income tax. That is not a shopping refund at the airport. GST charged by Customs on imported goods is also a different file: GST on imports NZ.

When the Refund Is Paid

Inland Revenue pays a refund into the bank account it already holds, at the time it processes the income tax assessment, so people do not all get paid on the same day. Each bank then takes its own few days to show the money. If the account is wrong, the payment bounces back. Some or all of the refund can be used to pay a debt with Inland Revenue. If you or your partner have a Working for Families bill as well as an income tax refund, part or all of the refund can be used on that bill. Check the email address, postal address, and bank account in myIR before the assessment window, because that is what they use.

When Tax Is Due

Most people pay a tax bill by 7 February in the year after they receive it. Inland Revenue’s example is a bill for 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025, due on 7 February 2026. A tax agent with an extension of time moves that date to 7 April. If the tax to pay is more than $5,000, provisional tax starts. Instalments are available if the bill needs to be spread out.

How to Read the Result

Read the result from taxable income down, not from the payslip total. Taxable income is wages, other taxable income, and the second job, minus expenses on the self employed tab. The bracket lines apply the Inland Revenue table for the year you picked. Income tax already paid should be income tax only, with the ACC earners levy taken out first. The square up line is that tax already paid minus the tax on the income. A donation credit stays on its own line. If months are under 12, the annualised row is an illustration, and the refund figure still uses the income you entered. The independent earner tax credit and any student loan repayment are outside those lines.

Years the Calculator Covers

The tool uses the two individual rate tables Inland Revenue publishes now, covering 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2027. 2025/26 and 2026/27 share the table that starts on 1 April 2025. 2024/25 uses the composite table for 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025.

Years before 1 April 2024 are not in the tool. The live rates page does not print those older income tax brackets, so the calculator does not guess a 2023/24 square up or any earlier year. Past year guides in myIR are the place for a return from those years. The ACC levy table does publish older levy rates, and those rates still stay out of this refund figure.