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Public Holiday: Christmas & New Year's 2025/2026

Find out how to prepare your payroll for Christmas and New Year's and make this holiday season a merry one.

Updated: August 2025

Not using Thankyou Payroll software to process your payroll? No problem.

Check out our blog on 5 Payroll Mistakes to Avoid This Christmas to make sure you're prepared for the Holiday Season!


In this article


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. 


Do I need to make changes to my payroll? 

Friday 26th, Saturday 27th December and Friday 2nd and Saturday 3rd January cannot be pay days in our system

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

 

Log in to Thankyou Payroll

Info - Blue Block (1)

 

Please Note: Thankyou Payroll is closed on the festive holidays, so our urgent same-day service is not available from 25th to 29th December and 1st to 5th January

*If you require an urgent pay over the festive season, these are available on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays. 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 - Green Block (1)

 

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 Christmas and Boxing Day, as well as New Years' and the Day After Public Holiday.

Open Hours: Our Customer Service team is available from:

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

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


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