NZ Tax Refund Calculator 2025–26

How the 2025–26 tax refund is worked out

Your refund or bill is the difference between the tax due on your whole year's income and the tax already deducted from it, and for most people Inland Revenue does the calculation automatically. After the 2025–26 tax year ended on 31 March 2026, employers, banks and KiwiSaver providers reported their figures, and Inland Revenue began issuing income tax assessments from the last weekend in May through to the end of July. If you use myIR you see it there; otherwise it comes by post, later.

The calculator mirrors that sum. Tax on your income uses the 2025–26 rates; tax deducted is the PAYE total excluding the ACC earners' levy, which you can read from the income summary in myIR (select 'Income summary' in your income tax account and 'View breakdown'). The ACC earners' levy is left out on both sides because it is a separate levy, not income tax. Any donation tax credit is added to the refund.

Why you might get a tax refund

Refunds almost always come from PAYE that assumed a higher annual income than you actually earned, or from a credit you were entitled to but did not get through your pay. Three worked examples using the calculator's engine:

• Part-year work: $5,500 a month on code M for 6 months, then stopped work to study. PAYE assumed $66,000 a year and deducted about $6,010 income tax; the tax on the $33,000 actually earned is $4,683, a refund of about $1,327.
• A secondary code that was too high: $38,000 in a main job plus $9,000 on SH (30%). Total income of $47,000 called for S, so about $1,125 too much was deducted.
• A missed tax credit: on $48,000 using code M instead of ME, the $520 independent earner tax credit was never paid through PAYE and comes back in the assessment, as long as you did not get Working for Families, NZ Super or a main benefit.

Why you might owe tax instead

A bill means too little was deducted during the year. The commonest cause is two employers both using a main code. With $42,000 from each of two jobs on M, each employer deducts $6,258 as if that were your only income – $12,516 in total – but the tax on $84,000 is $17,598. The result is a bill of about $5,082.

Inland Revenue also lists these reasons for an end-of-year bill:

• Your income changed during the year.
• Your resident withholding tax rate on interest, or the PIR on your KiwiSaver, was too low.
• Employee share scheme income had no tax deducted.
• You got the independent earner tax credit (code ME) but your income ended up over the limit.
• Your schedular payment tax rate was too low.

When 2025–26 refunds arrive and when a bill is due

Refunds are paid into the bank account Inland Revenue holds for you when your assessment is processed, so not everyone is paid on the same day; the money usually arrives within a few days. If Inland Revenue has no bank account for you, it will ask for one.

A 2025–26 tax bill is due on 7 February 2027, or 7 April 2027 if you have a tax agent with an extension of time. Instalment arrangements are available. If your tax to pay is more than $5,000, you will also have to start paying provisional tax.

Small bills disappear: Inland Revenue automatically writes off tax to pay of $50 or less on a confirmed assessment (not for IR3 filers). It can also write off bills caused only by an extra pay period – 27 fortnightly pays or 53 weekly pays in the year – if you worked for the same employer all year on the correct code, up to these limits for the 2025–26 (2026) tax year:

Auto-assessment or IR3 tax return?

You only file a tax return (IR3) if you had income that was not taxed before you received it. Inland Revenue says that means more than $200 before tax that it has not been told about, such as self-employed or contract income without withholding, rental income (including Airbnb and Bookabach), overseas income, cash jobs, or income from a trust, estate, partnership or look-through company. GST-registered people and those using AIM for provisional tax are also asked to file.

The IR3 for 2025–26 was due on 7 July 2026; with a tax agent and an extension of time it is due by 31 March 2027. The IR3 is where you claim expenses against untaxed income, and it is usually processed faster in myIR. If you only have wages, interest and KiwiSaver income, an IR3 is not needed: check and confirm the automatic assessment instead, and tell Inland Revenue if any income or details on it are missing or wrong.

Claiming donation tax credits (IR526)

Donations of $5 or more to approved donee organisations – registered charities, churches, schools and kindergartens – earn a tax credit of one third of the amount, so $900 of receipts returns $300. The credit is capped at one third of your taxable income, and if you gave more than your income you can share the excess with your partner.

In myIR you can upload receipts during the year (register for donation tax credits first, then add each receipt as a PDF or photo). Without myIR you post all receipts with the IR526 tax credit claim form after 31 March. Either way, Inland Revenue processes the claim only after the year ends and once your taxable income is known, and you have 4 years to submit receipts.

What does not qualify: donations through payroll giving (you already got the credit through your pay), gifts of goods or services, childcare or housekeeper payments, donations made by forgiving a debt or in a will, and anything that gives you or your family a direct benefit. School donations count only if they go to the general fund; PTA membership fees and materials for things a student takes home do not.

Do you need a tax refund company?

For a wage earner, usually not: Inland Revenue works out the assessment itself and pays any refund into your bank account with no fee, so a refund company's charge simply reduces what you get. Paid help can be worth it if you must file an IR3 or want the later dates that come with a tax agent's extension of time. Either way, keep your bank account and contact details in myIR up to date so the refund is paid straight away.