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Kiwisaver

KiwiSaver is a voluntary savings scheme to help employees set up for their retirement. Contributions are divided into two portions:

  • Employee contributions - these are deducted from the employee’s pay

  • Employer contributions - these are paid by the employer on top of the employee’s pay, and are subject to Employer Superannuation Contribution Tax (ESCT)

Learn about KiwiSaver

As an employer, you should familiarise yourself with your KiwiSaver responsibilities. For all the details, visit ird.govt.nz/kiwisaver.



When adding an employee into MYOB, you'll set up their KiwiSaver status and contribution rates (Payroll menu > Employees > click the employee > Employment tab).

Here are some more details about each of the KiwiSaver fields shown above.

KiwiSaver status

Active member – the employee is currently enrolled in KiwiSaver

Auto enrol new employee – the employee meets the automatic enrolment criteria (learn more on the IR website)

Opting in existing employee – the employee is choosing to opt into KiwiSaver (learn more on the IR website)

Not eligible – the employee is not eligible to be in KiwiSaver (check eligibility criteria on the IR website)

Casual or temporary employee – when you have a new employee who is not subject to automatic enrolment due to being a casual or temporary employee (learn more on the IR website)

Opted out – the employee was auto-enrolled but they want to leave the KiwiSaver scheme (learn more on the IR website)

Employee contribution rate (%)

For all active KiwiSaver members, a percentage of pay must be deducted for KiwiSaver contributions. The minimum legal contribution is 3% of an employee’s pay, but they may choose to contribute either 4%, 6%, 8% or 10% instead. Your employee will inform you if they want to change their contribution rate.

Employer contribution rate (%)

If your employee is an active KiwiSaver member, you are required to make employer KiwiSaver contributions of at least 3% of the employee’s pay. These contributions are subject to Employer Superannuation Contribution Tax (ESCT).ESCT is reported to Inland Revenue as part of payday filing.

Contribution holidays

Employees apply for a contribution holiday by sending a KS2 form to the IRD. You will be notified if a contribution holiday is granted, either by the IRD or by the employee. During a contribution holiday, you need to stop deducting KiwiSaver contributions from the employee’s pay, and you are not required to make any employer contributions.

You will be notified when the contributions holiday ends and you need to resume contributions.

If an employee is on a contributions holiday, you're not required to make any employer contributions, but you may still choose to do so.

Employer superannuation contribution tax rate

All employer contributions are subject to ESCT. The amount of ESCT to be paid on your employer KiwiSaver contributions is based on the employee’s expected annual salary.

Any ESCT amounts will be automatically included when you process the employee’s pay, based on your selections on the KiwiSaver tab for each employee.

To learn more about ESCT and for help working out an employee's rate, visit ird.govt.nz