Self-Employed Taxes in NZ: Rates, GST and Deadlines (2026)

Short answer: A self-employed person in New Zealand pays income tax on net profit at personal rates — 10.5% to 39% from 1 April 2025 — plus the ACC earners’ levy, charged at $1.67 per $100 of liable earnings for the 2026 tax year. You must register for GST once turnover reaches $60,000 in any 12 months. You declare everything on an IR3 return, due 7 July 2026 for the year ended 31 March 2026 if you have no tax agent.

New Zealand’s tax year runs 1 April to 31 March, and Inland Revenue names each year by the date it ends: the “2026 tax year” means 1 April 2025 to 31 March 2026. Every figure below comes from Inland Revenue and applies to a sole trader with a standard 31 March balance date. If you have not registered yet, start with how to become self-employed in New Zealand; if it is the return itself you are stuck on, the IR3 explained walkthrough goes line by line.

What taxes does a self-employed person pay in New Zealand?

There are three obligations, and only the first is what most people mean by “tax”.

Obligation	What it applies to	Key figure (2026 tax year)
Income tax	Your net profit — income minus deductible expenses	Progressive, 10.5% to 39%
ACC earners’ levy	Your liable earnings, up to an annual cap	$1.67 per $100, capped at $2,551.59
GST	Gross turnover from your taxable activity	15%, once turnover hits $60,000

A sole trader is not a separate taxpayer. You use your personal IRD number for the business — you do not get a second one. Income tax and ACC are both settled through your IR3; GST is a separate return on its own cycle.

How much income tax do I pay as a sole trader in NZ?

You pay on net profit at the same progressive rates as a salaried employee. The bands below took effect 1 April 2025 and apply for the full 2026 tax year.

Taxable income	Rate
$0 – $15,600	10.5%
$15,601 – $53,500	17.5%
$53,501 – $78,100	30%
$78,101 – $180,000	33%
$180,001 and over	39%

One warning about older content: the 2025 tax year (1 April 2024 – 31 March 2025) used composite rates of 12.82%, 21.64% and 30.99%, because the threshold change landed part-way through that year on 31 July 2024. Those rates applied to that one year only. Any calculator still using them will give you the wrong answer for 2026.

Because it is a marginal system, earning your first dollar above $53,500 does not retax everything below it. Only the slice above the threshold is charged at the higher rate.

What is the ACC earners’ levy and how much is it?

The earners’ levy funds cover for non-work injuries and is charged on top of income tax. Rates are already set three years ahead by Order in Council, which is unusual and worth planning around.

Tax year	Rate per $100	Maximum liable earnings	Maximum levy
2025-26 (2026 tax year)	$1.67 (1.67%)	$152,790	$2,551.59
2026-27	$1.75 (1.75%)	$156,641	$2,741.22
2027-28	$1.83 (1.83%)	$160,244	$2,932.47

All amounts include GST. The levy is invoiced by ACC, not Inland Revenue — IRD passes your IR3 details across, which is why the ACC invoice arrives weeks after you file and catches first-year traders by surprise. Self-employed people are on ACC CoverPlus by default and pay a work levy as well, set by the classification unit for your trade. Those rates live on acc.co.nz, not the IRD site.

When do I have to register for GST in New Zealand?

You must register if your turnover was at least $60,000 in the last 12 months, or you expect it will be at least $60,000 in the next 12 months. You must also register, regardless of turnover, if you carry out a taxable activity and add GST to your prices.

The number that matters is gross turnover, not profit. A contractor billing $65,000 who nets $30,000 after expenses is over the threshold. This is the single most common misreading of the rule.

GST is charged at 15%. Once registered, your filing frequency depends on turnover.

Frequency	Turnover rule
Six-monthly	Optional if turnover is under $500,000
Two-monthly	The common default, available up to $24 million
Monthly	Compulsory above $24 million, optional below

Returns and payments are due on the 28th of the month after the period ends, with two exceptions written into the calendar: the period ending 30 November is due 15 January, and the period ending 31 March is due 7 May.

Registering also changes what you put on your bills. Since 1 April 2023 the legal term is taxable supply information, not “tax invoice”, and the required detail scales with value — for supplies over $1,000 you must also include details identifying the buyer if the buyer is GST registered (their name plus an address, phone number, email, trading name, NZ Business Number or website). Invoicing as a contractor in New Zealand covers what each tier has to show.

What are the tax deadlines for self-employed people in NZ?

All dates below assume a 31 March balance date. If a due date falls on a weekend or public holiday, you can file or pay on the next business day without penalty.

What is due	Date (for the year ended 31 March 2026)
IR3 return, no tax agent or extension	7 July 2026
IR3 return, client of a tax agent with a valid extension of time	31 March 2027
End-of-year (terminal) tax, no tax agent	7 February 2027 — a Sunday, so 8 February 2027
End-of-year tax, tax agent clients with an extension	7 April 2027
Provisional tax instalments (standard option), paid during the 2026 year	28 August 2025, 15 January 2026, 7 May 2026

You file an IR3 if you received more than $200 before tax of income Inland Revenue has not already been told about. That is the test — not a profit threshold. A sole trader who made a loss still files.

Do not rush it in April. Employers, banks and portfolio investment entities send their income information to Inland Revenue between 1 April and late May, so a return filed in early April is likely to be built on an incomplete income profile in myIR. IRD’s own advice is to wait until you have all of it — in practice, from June.

When do I have to start paying provisional tax?

Provisional tax is not an extra tax. It is income tax paid in instalments during the year instead of one lump sum afterwards.

You enter the regime when your residual income tax exceeds $5,000 in a return. The mechanic that trips people up is the one-year lag: the tax bill from your 2026 return determines whether you pay provisional instalments during the 2027 year.

This is why year two hurts. In your first year of business you have no prior-year figure, so you are generally not required to pay provisional tax — the whole first-year bill lands at terminal tax instead. Your first year is not tax-free, though: it is deferred, not waived, and if you make voluntary payments before the tax falls due you may qualify for an early payment discount. Then year two begins, and you can find yourself paying last year’s tax and this year’s instalments in the same twelve months. Set money aside from the first invoice.

Four options exist: the standard option (last year’s residual income tax plus 5%), the estimation option, the AIM method through approved accounting software, and the ratio option linked to your GST. Inland Revenue’s IR289 guide compares them.

Interest applies where you underpay. Inland Revenue’s use-of-money interest rate for underpayments changed on 16 January 2026 to 8.97% a year, with 2.25% paid on overpayments. These move by Order in Council, so check the current figure before relying on it.

What can I claim, and how do vehicle costs work?

You deduct expenses incurred in earning your income, apportioned where there is private use. Home office, phone, insurance, tools, software and professional fees are the usual claims. Which expenses and receipts count has the detail.

Vehicles get their own regime. The kilometre-rate method uses two tiers, and these are the rates for the 2026 tax year, published in June 2026.

Vehicle type	Tier One (first 14,000 km)	Tier Two (beyond)
Petrol	$1.20 /km	37c /km
Diesel	$1.30 /km	38c /km
Petrol hybrid	90c /km	24c /km
Electric	$1.22 /km	23c /km

The trap: the 14,000 km threshold counts total travel by the vehicle, business and private combined. You then claim the business portion of those kilometres at Tier One. Note also that the old 5,000 km cap has not applied since before the 2018 income year, whatever stale advice you find elsewhere. Rates are set annually after the year ends, so the 2027-year rates do not exist yet. NZ kilometre rates and vehicle expenses covers the logbook and actual-cost alternatives, and the rule that locks you into one method for as long as you own the vehicle.

Since 22 May 2025, Investment Boost also allows an upfront deduction of 20% of the cost of new business assets, with the remaining 80% depreciating as normal. Confirm the eligibility conditions on ird.govt.nz before claiming.

How long do I keep records, and where does Keel fit?

Inland Revenue requires you to keep all records, including electronic ones, for at least 7 years — and that clock keeps running even if you stop trading. Records must be in English or te reo Māori unless IRD approves otherwise, and if you store them offshore, including in the cloud, either you or your provider needs IRD approval.

Seven years of invoices, receipts and trip logs is the real work of being self-employed. Keel: Invoice Maker & Receipts, by Ilura Technology OÜ, is built for that job and nothing more. It runs entirely on your iPhone: no account, no sign-in, no bank connection, no cloud sync. Its App Store privacy label reads “Data Not Collected”.

The honest tradeoff is that nothing imports itself. There is no bank feed reconciling your transactions overnight — you create the invoice, you photograph the receipt (Apple Intelligence reads the merchant, total, tax and date on device), you log the trip. In exchange, the records stay in your hands, the ledger is append-only and hash-chained, and at year end the Accountant Pack exports the whole year as a CSV plus a one-page summary PDF you can hand over.

The free tier gives you unlimited invoices, receipts and mileage, with a “Made with Keel” footer on invoices. Keel Pro is a one-time $249.99 Lifetime purchase, not a subscription. Keel: Invoice Maker & Receipts on the App Store.

Frequently asked questions

How much tax do I pay as a sole trader in New Zealand? You pay income tax on net profit at personal rates: 10.5% up to $15,600, 17.5% to $53,500, 30% to $78,100, 33% to $180,000 and 39% above that, from 1 April 2025. On top of that sits the ACC earners’ levy of $1.67 per $100 of liable earnings for the 2026 tax year, capped at $2,551.59.

Do I need a separate IRD number for my business? No. A sole trader uses their personal IRD number for the business. You keep the same number for life. Separate numbers are only needed for separate legal entities such as a company, trust or partnership. If you do not have an IRD number yet, apply free online or on form IR595; Inland Revenue aims to process applications within 8 to 10 working days of receiving them, and posting the number out takes longer again.

When do I need to register for GST in NZ? When your turnover was at least $60,000 in the last 12 months, or you expect it to reach $60,000 in the next 12 months. The test is gross turnover from your taxable activity, not profit. You must also register at any turnover level if you add GST to your prices. Voluntary registration below the threshold is allowed.

When is my IR3 due for the 2026 tax year? 7 July 2026 for the year ended 31 March 2026 if you have no tax agent and no extension of time. Clients of a tax agent with a valid extension have until 31 March 2027. Filing late without an extension can attract penalties and interest, so apply for one before the deadline rather than after.

Do I pay provisional tax in my first year of business? No. Provisional tax is based on your previous year’s residual income tax, and in year one there is none, so your first year’s tax is due as a lump sum at terminal tax. Provisional instalments then start in year two, which can mean paying roughly two years of tax within twelve months.

How long do I have to keep my business records in New Zealand? At least 7 years, including electronic records, and the requirement continues even after you stop trading. That covers sales and purchases, income and expenses, banking, taxable supply information, asset records and wage records. Inland Revenue can extend the period to 10 years in some situations, such as during an audit.

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This article is general information, not tax advice. Consult a qualified New Zealand tax professional.