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Health and Safety at Work Act 2015

Miscellaneous provisions - Administration - Funding levy

201: Funding levy

You could also call this:

“You may need to pay a fee to help cover workplace safety costs”

The government can make you pay a special fee called a funding levy. This fee helps cover some of the costs the government has for keeping workplaces safe.

If you’re an employer, you’ll pay this fee based on how much you pay your workers. If you work for yourself, you’ll pay based on how much you earn. If you’re a shareholder-employee (which is explained in another part of the tax law), you’ll also pay based on your earnings.

The funding levy is added to something called the Work Account levy. It’s collected and handled just like the Work Account levy, so you don’t need to worry about paying it separately.

ACC (which is a government agency) collects this fee and then gives it to the government. ACC can charge WorkSafe (another government agency) for collecting the fee.

The money from this fee helps pay for things like WorkSafe doing its job, other agencies working on health and safety, and the government managing health and safety laws.

The government doesn’t have to use this fee to cover all of its costs for these things. They can decide how much of the costs to cover with the fee.

When the government makes rules about this fee, they have to follow certain steps to make sure everyone knows about the rules.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM5977197.

Topics:
Work and jobs > Worker rights
Work and jobs > Workplace safety
Money and consumer rights > Taxes
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Part 5 Miscellaneous provisions
Administration: Funding levy

201Funding levy

  1. For the purpose of recovering certain Crown costs, the Governor-General may, by Order in Council made on the recommendation of the Minister, make regulations requiring the persons specified in subsection (2) to pay a levy (a funding levy) on the earnings specified in relation to that person at a rate or rates prescribed by regulations.

  2. The funding levy is payable by—

  3. every employer, on the amount of earnings paid or deemed to have been paid by the employer to the employer's employees:
    1. every earner who has earnings as a self-employed person, on the amount of earnings as a self-employed person derived or deemed to have been derived by the earner:
      1. every shareholder-employee to whom section RD 3B or RD 3C of the Income Tax Act 2007 applies, on the amount of earnings derived or deemed to have been derived by the shareholder-employee.

        1. The funding levy must be added to, and is deemed to be part of, the Work Account levy, and—

        2. the funding levy is payable, collected, and remitted, and penalties are payable in respect of it, as if it were the Work Account levy; and
          1. ACC and the Commissioner of Inland Revenue have all of the powers in respect of the funding levy that they have in respect of the Work Account levy; and
            1. the Commissioner of Inland Revenue is not required to refer separately to or account separately for, or identify, any funding levy in performing his or her functions in relation to the Work Account levy or the funding levy.

              1. ACC must, by the 20th day of the month after the month in which ACC receives any funding levy from the Commissioner of Inland Revenue, pay the funding levy to the chief executive.

              2. ACC may charge WorkSafe a fee for collecting the funding levy.

              3. The chief executive must pay into a Crown Bank Account all of the funding levy that ACC pays to the chief executive.

              4. In this section,—

                certain Crown costs means any expected cost to the Crown associated with—

                1. WorkSafe carrying out its functions under any enactment:
                  1. a designated agency performing functions or exercising powers under this Act:
                    1. the Crown administering the relevant health and safety legislation:
                      1. collecting the funding levy

                        chief executive means the chief executive of the department responsible for administering this Act

                          earner, earnings, and earnings as a self-employed person have the same meanings as in section 6(1) of the Accident Compensation Act 2001

                            Work Account levy means the levy payable under section 168, 168A, 168B, or 211 of the Accident Compensation Act 2001.

                          1. To avoid doubt, this section does not require all of the Crown's costs referred to in the definition of certain Crown costs to be recovered by the funding levy.

                          2. Regulations under this section are secondary legislation (see Part 3 of the Legislation Act 2019 for publication requirements).

                          Compare
                          Notes
                          • Section 201(2)(c): amended (with effect on 30 March 2017), on , by section 418 of the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2017–18, Employment and Investment Income, and Remedial Matters) Act 2018 (2018 No 5).
                          • Section 201(9): inserted, on , by section 3 of the Secondary Legislation Act 2021 (2021 No 7).