Enter what you earned and what PAYE was taken, and get an honest estimate of whether IRD owes you or you owe them.
This free tax refund calculator for NZ estimates whether you overpaid or underpaid income tax for the year. Enter your total gross income and the total PAYE actually deducted from your payslips or your IRD account, and it compares that to your correct liability on current 2025/26 rates. It is an estimate for salary and wage earners, not the official assessment, which Inland Revenue does for you automatically between May and July. Below is a plain guide to why refunds happen and how NZ auto-assessment now works.
Because you only worked part of the year, your yearly income sits low against the tax bands, so PAYE deducted at your working-week rate is often too high. That is exactly the case where a refund usually lands.
An estimate only. It does not include the Independent Earner Tax Credit, Working for Families, other income, or donation rebates, all of which change the real figure. IRD's own assessment is the number that counts.
Rates current as at July 2026. Income tax brackets from 1 April 2025 and the auto-assessment process checked against ird.govt.nz; ACC Earners' levy from the ACC Levy Guidebook 2026/27 (acc.co.nz). Guide only, not tax advice.
This tool answers one question for a salary or wage earner: across the whole tax year, did the PAYE taken out of your pay come to more or less than you actually owed? If more, that gap is your likely refund. If less, it is a likely bill.
It is an estimate, not the assessment. Your real position depends on things this tool cannot see: the Independent Earner Tax Credit, Working for Families, any second income, interest, dividends, and donation rebates. Treat the number here as a heads-up, then let Inland Revenue do the official maths, which it does for free.
Started mid-year, took months off, or left a job? Each payslip taxes you as if that pay ran all year. Over a short stint, too much comes out, and the year-end assessment hands it back.
Secondary-job tax codes assume your main income already used up the low bands. If your total for the year was modest, that can over-deduct, and you get the difference back.
A code that was too high pulls out more PAYE than needed all year. It is the single most common cause of both refunds and surprise bills. Check your code matches your situation.
New Zealand no longer runs the old personal tax summary you had to request. Throughout the year, your employer sends Inland Revenue the details of every pay. After 31 March, IRD reconciles what you earned against what was deducted and issues an automatic income tax assessment.
Those assessments roll out from the last weekend of May, through June and into July. If you overpaid, the refund is paid straight into the bank account IRD holds for you. If you underpaid, you get a bill with a due date. There is nothing to file for a standard salary or wage earner, but it pays to log in to myIR, check the numbers look right, and make sure your bank account is on file so any refund can actually be paid.
Because IRD now assesses most people automatically and pays refunds itself, the tax refund companies that advertise heavily are, for the ordinary wage earner, charging a fee to collect a refund that was already on its way to you for nothing. Many take a slice of the refund, so the bigger your refund, the more they keep.
There are genuinely complex situations where paid help earns its keep, rental income, overseas income, a mix of self-employment and wages. But if your income is salary or wages from one or two normal jobs, the honest move is to wait for IRD's assessment, check it, and keep the whole refund. If your business needs the money working harder than a refund ever could, that is usually a website and lead problem, and we can help with that side directly.
Rates current as at July 2026. Income tax brackets from 1 April 2025 and the auto-assessment process checked against ird.govt.nz; ACC Earners' levy from the ACC Levy Guidebook 2026/27 (acc.co.nz). This is a guide, not tax advice. Inland Revenue's assessment is the figure that counts.
For most salary and wage earners, no. Inland Revenue automatically works out your income tax after 31 March and sends you an assessment between late May and July. If you overpaid, the refund is paid into your bank account without you lifting a finger. You only need to do something if IRD asks for more information or if you have income they do not already know about.
Inland Revenue runs its automatic assessment process from the last weekend of May through June and into July each year. Refunds are paid into the bank account IRD holds for you during that window. If they do not have your bank details, log in to myIR and add them so any refund can be paid.
Usually not. Inland Revenue assesses most people automatically and pays refunds for free. Tax refund companies charge a fee, often a percentage of your refund, to do something IRD already does for nothing. The one time it can be worth paying is a genuinely complex situation, but for a straightforward salary or wage earner it is money handed away.
The common reasons are working only part of the year, having more than one job, or being on a tax code that took out too much. Your employer deducts PAYE each pay as if you earn that amount all year. If you did not, too much came out, and the year-end assessment gives it back. Wrong tax codes and mid-year income changes are the usual culprits.
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