Plain language law

New Zealand law explained for everyone

Plain Language Law homepage
RD 14: Changes to tax rates for salary or wages
or “Changes to salary and wage tax rates no longer apply”

You could also call this:

“How your pay is calculated and taxed for different work situations”

When you work a regular full-time job and get paid for only part of your usual pay period, your employer will treat it as if you worked the whole period.

If you’re a piece worker or out-worker who gets paid based on how much you produce, your pay is counted for the time from when you start the work until you finish it.

If your employer pays you for one pay period in more than one payment, they need to add all those payments together to work out how much tax to take out.

Sometimes, it’s hard for your employer to pay you your normal wages and overtime pay at the same time. In this case, they can add your overtime pay to your wages in a later pay period. They can only do this if your normal wages are about the same for both periods, the tax taken out is the same, and you have the same tax code.

If your overtime pay is for a time that’s as long as a pay period but doesn’t match up with one, your employer can treat it as overtime for the pay period where that time ends.

This text is automatically generated. It might be out of date or be missing some parts. Find out more about how we do this.


Next up: RD 16: Payments to private domestic workers

or “How tax works for part-time workers in private homes”

Part R General collection rules
Employment-related taxes: Adjustments for certain PAYE income payments

RD 15Payments of salary or wages in pay periods

  1. If an employee who is in regular full-time employment is paid salary or wages for part of a pay period, the payment is treated as a payment for a full pay period.

  2. If an employee who is paid on a production basis for work performed as a piece worker or out-worker is paid salary or wages, the payment is treated as payment for the period that runs from the date the work starts to the date of its completion.

  3. If a PAYE income payment for a pay period is paid in 2 or more separate sums, those sums must be added together to determine the amount of tax for the payment.

  4. Despite subsection (3), if it is impractical for an employer to pay an employee overtime pay and other salary or wages for a pay period at the same time, the employer may add the amount of the overtime pay of the employee to their salary or wages for a later pay period, but not their overtime pay if, for both pay periods,—

  5. the amounts of the employee’s salary or wages are more or less the same; and
    1. the amounts of tax withheld from the employee’s salary or wages are the same; and
      1. the employee has the same tax code.
        1. For the purposes of subsection (4), if overtime pay is paid for a particular period that is the same length as a pay period but does not coincide with a pay period, it may be treated as overtime pay for the pay period in which the particular period ends.

        Compare