Public Holiday: Christmas & New Year's 2026/2027

Updated: February 2026

In this article

• What dates are the public holidays during this festive season?

• Do I need to make changes to my payroll?

• Employer obligations.

• Feeling stuck or looking for our Open Hours?

What dates are the public holidays during this festive season?

There are four public holidays over this holiday season.

Christmas Day, 25th December, Boxing Day 26th December. New Year's Day 1st January and 2nd January being the Day after New Year's Day public holiday. 

This year Boxing Day 26th December and the Day after New Years day 2nd January have been Mondaized so the public holiday falls on the Monday after these dates if you do not work on a Saturday.

Do I need to make changes to my payroll? 

Saturday 26th, Tuesday 29th December and Saturday 2nd and Tuesday 5th January cannot be pay days in our system this year. 

If these are you regular pay dates you will need to select another payday for you pay to process.

Click on the image below to enlarge for easier reading. 

Log in to Thankyou Payroll

Please Note: Thankyou Payroll is closed on the festive holidays, so our urgent same-day service is not available on 25th though 28th December and 1st though 4th January.

*If you require an urgent pay over the festive season, these are available on the Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. Please get in touch with our Team to use this service at an additional charge of $15.

Employer obligations

Some of your employees might work on these public holidays, you might have a business closedown period, or some employees may take time off. This will impact how you enter their timesheets. Find out how to enter public holidays on employee timesheets.

The festive season is a time employers tend to have casual employees working. To find out how to complete their timesheets, follow this link.

Remember: If your employee works on a public holiday, you are required to pay them ‘time and a half’ or 1.5 times their standard rate for this day. If the public holiday is an otherwise working day for this employee, you’ll also need to allocate alternative holidays to their leave balance.

Did you know: For more information on public holidays and your obligations as an employer, check out our Public Holidays Guide or visit the Employment New Zealand website.

Feeling stuck?

Our friendly payroll experts are just an email or a phone call away. Thankyou Payroll will be closed on both Fridays of Christmas, New Years' and the following Mondays.

Open Hours: Our Customer Service team is available from:

• 9:00 am till 2 pm on Thursday  24th December
• 9:00 am till 4 pm on Tuesday 29th December
• 9:00 am till 4 pm on Wednesday 30th December
• 9:00 am till 2 pm on Thursday  31st December
• 9:00 am till 4 pm on Tuesday 5th January.

Email us at help@thankyoupayroll.co.nz, or call us on 04 488 7531 for professional, one-on-one guidance.

Making payroll easy. Supporting you.