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Kiwisaver Employer Contribution

Employers are required to contribute the equivalent of 3% of their employee's gross pay from 1 April 2013.

It is important to remember that for the purposes of calculating Kiwisaver employer contributions, gross pay means total salary or wages, including:

• bonuses
• commission
• extra salary gratuity
• overtime, and
• any other remuneration of any kind before tax e.g ACC or Paid Parental leave (PPL) payments

but excluding:

• redundancy payments
• the value of providing: board or lodging, or use of a house or part of a house, or the payment of an allowance instead of the provision of the benefit. • expenditure or allowances for accommodation and living costs overseas
• payments under a Voluntary Bonding scheme funded by the Ministry for Primary Industries, the Ministry of Health or the Ministry of Education.

This is particularly relevant for our farming clients who have employees who are provided with accommodation on the farm and have the value of that accommodation added to their gross income every pay period for PAYE purposes. It is important to note that the employer contribution is calculated on the gross income excluding the accommodation amount.

For example, farm worker Sam is paid $700.00 in gross wages for his pay week and he is provided with a house on the farm to a value of $100.00 per week which is added to his gross wages for PAYE purposes:

The 3% Employer Contribution for Sam is calculated on the $700.00 gross wages only (excluding the value of accommodation) to total $21.00.