Personal Tax Rates - no you won’t get double taxed!

In NZ, our tax system is all about marginal rates - what that means is as you earn, if your total income in a financial year (April - March) goes over certain thresholds, you pay more per dollar of tax.

These thresholds are currently:

• $0 - $14,000: 10.5%

• $14,000 - $48,000: 17.5%

• $48,000 - $70,000: $30%

• $70,000 - $180,000: 33%

• $180,000+: 39%

Secondary tax means on your lower income, you proportionately pay more in tax as you earn to factor in the possibility of going over one of the income thresholds, so you don't then get short taxed and end up with a tax bill at the end of the year.

If say in a year, your total income is $50,000 - with personal tax rates, no matter whether that income is derived from three jobs, or one job plus a little self employed hustle on the side - you are going to pay the same amount of tax as someone who earns $50,000 from one employer.

If you overpay your tax because of the secondary tax being too high, the IRD refund the overpaid tax to you - this process is automatic by the IRD (since the 2020 financial year) so you don't even need to do anything to get your overpaid tax back.

Tax rates have changed from FY2025 onward - you can learn more about these changes at our blog post here.