Which legislative changes taking effect on 1st April 2026 will impact my payroll?

Updated: February 2025

There are four confirmed changes directly affecting payroll for the 24/25 financial year. They fall into place on 1st April 2025, and are:

Minimum wage increase
- Adult minimum wage will increase to $23.95 from $23.50 per hour
- Starting out and training minimum wage will remain at 80% of adult minimum wage, increasing from $18.80 to $19.16 per hour
ACC Earners Levy increase
- ACC Earners Levy rate will increase from $1.67 to $1.75 per $100
- Maximum annual threshold for liable earnings will increase from $152,790 to $156,641
Student loan threshold remains the same
- At $24,128, which translates to $464 per week.
KiwiSaver Contribution rates
- Minimum contribution rates will rise to 3.5% for both employee and employers
- Employees can apply for a temporary reduction and if granted this will also apply to the employer contributions.
Kiwisaver Inclusion of Employees aged 16 and 17
- If the employee is making regular contributions to a KiwiSaver fund, employers minimum contributions of 3.5% are now required.

The Thankyou Payroll system will automatically update to reflect ACC Earners Levy and KiwiSaver Contribution rates for pays dated ! April and after.

As an employer, you must keep your employees informed about any differences they may notice in their paychecks as a result of these changes.

Info - Blue Block (1) Two updates are the employer's responsibility and not done automatically by our system.

These are:

Adapting minimum wage thresholds is the employer's responsibility. You might need to change the pay rate during a pay period. Our help article will show you how to do this easily.
Reducing the KiwiSaver contribution rates where a temporary rate reduction has been granted.

Follow these links to find out more information on the increases listed above:

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