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Which tax code am I?
Answer four questions to get the code for your IR330. For a second job, see whether the flat rate takes too much or too little.
Your tax code
ME
Your main job, and your income of $60,000 is between $24,000 and $70,000, so you qualify for the independent earner tax credit (up to $10 a week, taken off your tax each pay).
What to do
Fill in IRD's tax code declaration (IR330) with ME and give it to your employer. Without one, they have to take 45% (code ND).
Covers salary and wages. Paid as a contractor? That's a withholding tax rate (WT) instead: see the contractor calculator. The check leaves out tax credits. Not tax advice.
Right code sorted? See where the pay actually goes each week. Track it free in KeaBudget →
Uses 2026/27 rates · figures last checked October 2026.
Sources
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How NZ tax codes work
Your tax code tells your employer how much tax to take from each pay. Your main job (the one that pays the most) uses M, or ME if you qualify for the independent earner tax credit. Main-job codes tax you on the normal sliding scale.
Every other job uses a secondary code, which takes one flat rate from every dollar. The rate comes from your total income for the year, all jobs together. Add SL to any code if you have a student loan.
| Code | Total income, all sources | Flat rate |
|---|---|---|
| SB | $0 to $15,600 | 10.5% |
| S | $15,601 to $53,500 | 17.5% |
| SH | $53,501 to $78,100 | 30% |
| ST | $78,101 to $180,000 | 33% |
| SA | Over $180,000 | 39% |
Before the ACC earners' levy, which comes off on top. Add SL with a student loan.
Tax code questions, answered
- What's the difference between M and ME?
- Both are for your main job and tax you on the same sliding scale. ME also gives you the independent earner tax credit, up to $520 a year taken off your tax each pay. You can use ME if your income is between $24,000 and $70,000 and neither you nor your partner gets Working for Families, and you don't get NZ Super, a main benefit, a veteran's pension or a student allowance.
- How do I pick a secondary tax code?
- By your estimated total income for the year from all sources, main job and second job together, not the second job alone: SB $0 to $15,600, S $15,601 to $53,500, SH $53,501 to $78,100, ST $78,101 to $180,000, SA over $180,000. Each one takes a flat rate from every dollar of the second job.
- Why does my second job take so much tax?
- A secondary code takes one flat rate from every dollar, but your real tax is on a sliding scale across all your income. When the second job sits partly in a lower bracket, the flat rate takes too much and you get it back after 31 March. The calculator works out roughly how much.
- What does SL mean on a tax code?
- It means you have a student loan, so 12% comes off for repayments. On a main job (M SL, ME SL) it's only on pay above the repayment threshold. On a second job (S SL, SH SL and so on) it's every dollar, because your main job already uses the threshold.
- What happens if I don't give my employer a tax code?
- They have to use the no-declaration rate, code ND, and take 45% of your pay. Fill in IRD's tax code declaration (IR330) and give it to them before your next payday.
- What's a tailored tax code (STC)?
- A code IRD sets just for you when the standard one would take noticeably too much or too little, often with a second job. You apply to IRD, and if it's approved you give your employer the certificate and write STC as your code.
- I'm a contractor. Which code do I use?
- Contractors on schedular payments use a withholding tax rate (code WT) on a different form, the IR330C, not M or S. The contractor calculator shows what to set aside.
Right tax, right pay. Now make it go further.
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