Month: July 2025

If you are an employer, you need to be aware of several changes to KiwiSaver which will come into effect on 1 July 2025, 1 April 2026 and 1 April 2028.

Government KiwiSaver contributions – 1 July 2025 Changes

The government contribution has dropped from 50 cents to 25 cents for each dollar you contribute to KiwiSaver each year, dropping the maximum government contribution from $521.43 to $260.72.

People aged 16 and 17 will now qualify for government contributions, so long as they meet other eligibility requirements. Prior to 1 July 2025, members must be 18 or older to qualify.  

People who earn more than $180,000 of taxable income in a year will no longer qualify for government contributions. 

There’ll be no change to government contributions for the year ending 30 June 2025. These will be paid in July and August at the current government contribution rate.

Default employer and employee contribution rates – 1 April 2026 Changes

The default KiwiSaver contribution rates for employers and employees will rise to 3.5% (from 3%).  

Members will be able to apply for a temporary rate reduction from 1 February 2026 if they wish to continue contributing at 3% from 1 April 2026. 

As an employer, you will be able to match your employee’s temporary rate reduction. Once your employee moves to a higher contribution rate, you will need to increase your employer contributions to the default 3.5% rate. Inland Revenue will notify you of this.

People aged 16 and 17 will qualify for employer contributions from 1 April 2026, so long as they meet other eligibility requirements. If they contribute to KiwiSaver from their wages, you will need to start making employer contributions.  

1 April 2028 changes

The default contribution rates for employers and employees will rise to 4% (from 3.5%).  

Source: KiwiSaver changes(external link)

Disclaimer
Unfortunately, with details changing all the time and at such speed, we need to add that the above content is correct at the time of writing as far as the author is aware and is very much subject to change. We have, to the best of our ability, acknowledged any shared content. All related links provided to the corresponding websites are subject to change as they are live links.

The Charities Act changed in 2023 and now there is a new requirement related to the governance of your charity. Charities will now need to review their governance every three years. When you come to file your annual return, there will be a new question in the form asking whether you have reviewed your governance and the date you did the review.

Please note that this is a self-directed review and will be different for every charity. Charities vary immensely in size, skill and capacity.

The most important thing to remember when reviewing your current governance activities and procedures, is to think about whether what you have in your governance kete is “fit for purpose”, if it “assists your charity to achieve its charitable purpose” and “assists your charity to meet your legal requirements”.

We recommend starting with your rules document, your essential policies and procedures.  You can find your rules document on the Charities Register.  Take a good look at your most essential governance tools and see if they are still working for you.  Think about the biggest areas of risk for your charity and plan to mitigate them with good governance.

Source: https://not-for-profit.org.nz/good-governance-and-the-charities-act/

Disclaimer
Unfortunately, with details changing all the time and at such speed, we need to add that the above content is correct at the time of writing as far as the author is aware and is very much subject to change. We have, to the best of our ability, acknowledged any shared content. All related links provided to the corresponding websites are subject to change as they are live links.

From 8 May 2025 the UOMI rates on underpayment and overpayment of tax will change.  If you overpay any tax or duty, the IRD will pay you back with interest.  If you underpay tax, the IRD will charge you interest.  They may also charge a penalty with interest.  This is often called use of money interest, or UOMI.

What interest is applied to:

• child support deductions by employers (CSE)
• FamilyBoost (FMB)
• fringe benefit tax (FBT)
• goods and services tax (GST)
• imputation accounts
• income tax
• KiwiSaver contributions
• non-resident withholding tax (on interest and dividends)
• PAYE deductions
• residential land withholding tax (RLWT)
• resident withholding tax (RWT) (on interest and dividends)
• student loan deductions by employers
• ESCT (employer superannuation contribution tax)
• Working for Families Tax Credits (WfFTC)

Interest Amounts

Interest gets calculated daily on your overpaid or underpaid tax. It does not compound and is not included when calculating penalties.  The interest rates are set by Government and are based on market rates, so they vary over time.

The new rates are:

• Underpayment – 9.89% down from 10.88%
• Overpayment – 3.27% down from 4.30%

When interest starts

If you’ve underpaid tax or duty, interest:

• starts on the day after the original due date for the amount owing, or
• starts from a new due date (if you received Working for Families Tax Credit and you meet specific criteria to have a new due date)
• stops on the day the overdue balance (including interest) gets paid in full.

If you’ve overpaid tax or duty, interest starts on the latest of either:

• the day after the original due date
• the day after payment.

Source:  IRD: https://www.ird.govt.nz/managing-my-tax/penalties-and-interest/interest-on-overpayments-and-underpayments

Disclaimer
Unfortunately, with details changing all the time and at such speed, we need to add that the above content is correct at the time of writing as far as the author is aware and is very much subject to change. We have, to the best of our ability, acknowledged any shared content. All related links provided to the corresponding websites are subject to change as they are live links.