New Zealand has no capital gains tax on most assets, no inheritance tax and one of the most generous arrival rules in the world. If you haven't been New Zealand tax resident for the past 10 years, most of your foreign income is free of New Zealand tax for your first 48 months.
This guide covers New Zealand personal tax for people moving to or living in New Zealand in the 2026-27 tax year (1 April 2026 to 31 March 2027), including the transitional resident exemption, the 183-day and 325-day residence rules, the new 275-day rule for visitors, income tax rates, ACC levies and how crypto, foreign shares and pensions are taxed.
The key question is simple. Is your income from working, or from what you own? The four-year exemption covers investment income and pensions, but not pay for work.
What's changed: since 1 April 2026, visitors who arrive on or after that date and work remotely for overseas employers or clients can stay up to 275 days in any 18-month period without becoming tax resident. New migrants can now use a revenue account method for unlisted foreign shares they owned before arriving, which taxes dividends and 70% of realised gains instead of a deemed return. The ACC earners' levy rose to 1.75% for 2026-27. A tax bill introduced on 10 September 2026 would raise the FIF threshold from NZ$50,000 to NZ$100,000 from the 2026-27 year and open the revenue account method for unlisted foreign shares to all individuals. Those two changes are Proposed, not law.
📋 New Zealand tax at a glance for 2026-27
Topic | Details |
|---|---|
Tax system | Worldwide income for residents. New arrivals can claim 48 months of exemption on most foreign income |
Top income tax rate | 39% above NZ$180,000. Income starts at 10.5%, with no tax-free band |
All-in on a US$100k salary | About 29% (about NZ$178,600, including the 1.75% ACC earners' levy) |
Special regime | Transitional resident exemption: 0% on most foreign income for 48 months, after 10 years of non-residence. Not foreign employment or services income |
Capital gains | No general capital gains tax. Foreign shares above NZ$50,000 are usually taxed on a deemed 5% return under the FIF rules |
Crypto gains | Taxed as income at 10.5% to 39% if you bought to sell or exchange |
Inheritance and wealth tax | None |
Residence at a glance | Getting in: more than 183 days in any 12 months, backdated, or a permanent place of abode. Leaving: hard, because you need more than 325 days away in 12 months and no home in New Zealand |
Double tax treaties | 41 in force |
The transitional resident exemption
Why do retirees and investors look at New Zealand? Because this exemption takes most foreign income out of New Zealand tax for four years.
Image 1 — 48 months with no New Zealand tax on most foreign income
You qualify if you become New Zealand tax resident after being non-resident for more than 10 years, you've never been a transitional resident before, and neither you nor your partner has applied for Working for Families. The exemption starts on the first day you're tax resident and ends on the last day of the 48th month after that.
While it lasts, most foreign income is exempt:
Foreign dividends and interest: you don't declare them, and you don't apply the FIF rules to foreign shares.
Foreign pensions: a pension from a foreign superannuation scheme is generally only taxable once your transitional residency ends.
Foreign rent and other investment income: exempt for the period.
The big exception is work. Foreign employment income and income from services are taxed from day one. If you move to New Zealand and keep working remotely for an overseas employer or overseas clients, that income is taxed at New Zealand rates, with a credit for any foreign tax. New Zealand income is always taxed too.
You don't have to claim the exemption, and Inland Revenue warns that you can't change your decision once made. A separate four-year exemption applies to lump sums withdrawn from a foreign superannuation scheme after you arrive.
👉 Inland Revenue: Foreign Income Guide IR1247 (transitional residents and FIFs)
👉 Inland Revenue: tax for New Zealand tax residents, including the 4-year temporary exemption
👉 Inland Revenue: Overseas pensions and annuity schemes IR257 (April 2026)
When you become tax resident in New Zealand
You're New Zealand tax resident if either of these applies:
183-day rule: you're in New Zealand for more than 183 days in any 12-month period. Part days count as whole days, the days don't have to be in a row, and your residence is backdated to the first of those days.
Permanent place of abode: you have somewhere in New Zealand you can call home. You don't need to own it. Inland Revenue looks at your family and social ties, your work and business, your economic interests and whether you intend to return. This test overrides the day counts.
The 275-day rule for visitors
From 1 April 2026, a non-resident visitor can spend up to 275 days in any 18-month period in New Zealand without the 183-day rule applying. It's for people who arrive on or after 1 April 2026 and meet every condition:
you weren't New Zealand tax resident or a transitional resident just before you arrived
you aren't working for or paid by a New Zealand resident or a New Zealand branch of an overseas employer, and you don't sell goods or services to people or businesses in New Zealand
your work doesn't require you to be in New Zealand
you're lawfully in New Zealand, you pay tax in the country where you're resident, and neither you nor your partner receives Working for Families
Stay longer than 275 days and you become tax resident from day 276. Having a permanent place of abode still makes you resident, whatever your day count.
How you stop being resident
Leaving is the hard part. You become non-resident only if you have no permanent place of abode in New Zealand and you're away for more than 325 days in any 12-month period. Your non-residence is then backdated to when you left.
When you become non-resident, you're generally treated as having sold your foreign shares within the FIF rules at market value just before the change.
👉 Inland Revenue: tax residency status for individuals (183, 275 and 325-day rules)
👉 Inland Revenue: leaving New Zealand
Income tax rates for 2026-27
The tax year runs from 1 April to 31 March. The 2026-27 tax bill keeps the rates that have applied since 1 April 2025. There's no tax-free band: tax starts at 10.5% on the first dollar.
New Zealand income tax rates for 2026-27
Taxable income | Rate |
|---|---|
Up to NZ$15,600 | 10.5% |
NZ$15,601 to NZ$53,500 | 17.5% |
NZ$53,501 to NZ$78,100 | 30% |
NZ$78,101 to NZ$180,000 | 33% |
Over NZ$180,000 | 39% |
Source: Inland Revenue tax rates for individuals from 1 April 2025, kept at the same levels for 2026-27 by the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2026-27, FBT Simplification, Foreign Investment Funds, and Remedial Measures) Bill, at select committee.
👉 Inland Revenue: tax rates for individuals
Worked example
You're single, employed in New Zealand and earn NZ$178,600 (about US$100k) in 2026-27.
Your income tax is NZ$48,816: NZ$1,638 at 10.5%, NZ$6,633 at 17.5%, NZ$7,380 at 30% and NZ$33,165 at 33%.
Your ACC earners' levy is NZ$2,741: 1.75% on earnings up to the NZ$156,641 maximum.
Your all-in bill is about NZ$51,557, or 29% of your salary. If you join KiwiSaver, you also save 3.5% of your pay by default, but that's your own savings and you can opt out.
Freelancing in New Zealand
If you're self-employed, your profit is taxed on the same scale. You don't have PAYE, so you file an IR3 return and pay provisional tax during the following year once your tax bill at the end of a year is more than NZ$5,000.
ACC invoices self-employed people directly for the earners' levy and a work levy, which depends on your industry classification. For 2026-27, liable earnings for the self-employed run from a minimum of NZ$50,501 to a maximum of NZ$156,641. On US$100k (NZ$178,600) of profit, income tax and the earners' levy alone come to about 28.9%, and the work levy takes it to roughly 29%.
👉 ACC: calculating your levies if you're self-employed
👉 Inland Revenue: provisional tax
Crypto, investments and pensions
How is crypto taxed in New Zealand? Inland Revenue treats crypto as property. If your main purpose when you bought or mined it was to sell or exchange it, your profit is taxed as income at your normal rates. How long you hold it doesn't matter.
Swapping one crypto for another counts as a disposal.
Moving crypto between your own wallets doesn't.
If you make a loss when you sell, you may be able to claim it.
On a US$100k (NZ$178,600) gain with no other income, the tax is about NZ$48,816, or 27%.
New Zealand has no general capital gains tax, but gains on some assets, such as some property sales, can be taxed. Foreign shares are handled by the FIF rules once their total cost is more than NZ$50,000. Most people use the fair dividend rate method, which taxes 5% of the portfolio's opening market value each year, whatever it actually paid or gained. On a US$1m (NZ$1.79 million) portfolio that's about NZ$89,300 of taxable income and NZ$19,350 of tax, roughly 14% of the 8% total return in our scenario. Transitional residents don't apply the FIF rules at all.
Since 1 April 2025, migrants who became resident on or after 1 April 2024 after at least five years away can choose a revenue account method instead for unlisted foreign shares they owned before arriving. It taxes dividends when received and 70% of gains when you sell. The 2026-27 tax bill would raise the FIF threshold to NZ$100,000 from 1 April 2026 and open the revenue account method for unlisted foreign shares to all individuals, whenever they arrived. Proposed, not law.
Foreign pensions are taxed as income once your transitional residency ends. A US$40k (NZ$71,400) pension plus NZ$35,700 of investment income would then cost about NZ$25,220, or 24%. New Zealand has no inheritance tax, gift duty or wealth tax.
👉 Inland Revenue: acquiring cryptoassets to sell or exchange
👉 Inland Revenue: commentary on the 2026 Act (revenue account method and the 275-day visitor rule)
👉 Inland Revenue Tax Policy: the 2026-27 tax bill, introduced 10 September 2026
👉 Inland Revenue Tax Policy: bill commentary on the NZ$100,000 FIF threshold
Social security and ACC
New Zealand has no social security contributions in the usual sense. Instead, employees and the self-employed pay the ACC earners' levy, which funds accident cover. For 2026-27 it's 1.75% (including GST) on earnings up to NZ$156,641, so the most you pay is about NZ$2,741. It rises to 1.83% in 2027-28.
KiwiSaver is New Zealand's workplace savings scheme. New employees can be enrolled automatically, but you can opt out. If you stay in, the default employee rate is 3.5% of pay, and you can choose 4%, 6%, 8% or 10%.
👉 Inland Revenue: ACC earners' levy rates
👉 Inland Revenue: KiwiSaver employee contributions
Double tax treaties
Does New Zealand have double tax treaties? Yes. New Zealand has 41 double tax agreements in force, including with the UK, the United States, Australia, Canada, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong and the UAE. Agreements with Croatia and Iceland have been signed but aren't in force yet.
👉 Inland Revenue Tax Policy: New Zealand's double tax agreements
Remote working from New Zealand
New Zealand doesn't have a digital nomad visa. Instead, every visitor visa applied for on or after 27 January 2025 lets you work remotely for an overseas employer or overseas clients. You can't work for a New Zealand employer or do work that needs you to be in New Zealand.
A visitor visa lets you stay for up to 6 or 9 months, with a maximum of 9 months in any 18-month period. That lines up with the 275-day tax rule: a qualifying visitor who arrived on or after 1 April 2026 doesn't become tax resident under the 183-day rule while they stay within it.
👉 Immigration New Zealand: working remotely on a visitor visa
👉 Immigration New Zealand: Visitor Visa and how long you can stay
Who is New Zealand good for?
How does New Zealand compare for different kinds of mover? Ratings are relative to the 150+ countries TaxPilot covers, based on 2026-27 rules and the all-in cost including ACC levies. The Retirees and Investment income ratings count the transitional resident exemption.
☑️ Who is New Zealand good for? Tax ratings for expats in 2026-27
Expat profile | New Zealand rating | Why |
|---|---|---|
Employees | Moderate | About 29% all-in on a US$100k salary (about NZ$178,600), including the 1.75% ACC earners' levy. KiwiSaver is not counted because you can opt out. The transitional resident exemption doesn't cover salaries, wherever your employer is. |
Freelancers (self-employed) | Moderate | About 29% on US$100k of profit: the same tax scale plus ACC levies, which ACC invoices to you directly. Fees for services are outside the transitional resident exemption, so a freelancer gets no new-arrival relief. |
Retirees | Excellent | 0% on a US$40k foreign pension plus US$20k of foreign investment income for your first 48 months as a transitional resident. New Zealand has no inheritance tax. After the exemption, the same income costs about 24%, which would rate Moderate. |
Crypto gains | Moderate | About 27% on a US$100k gain with no other income. Inland Revenue taxes crypto gains as income if your main purpose when you bought was to sell or swap, however long you hold it. |
Investment income | Excellent | Foreign dividends, interest and gains are exempt for 48 months, and the foreign investment fund (FIF) rules don't apply. After that, a US$1m foreign share portfolio is usually taxed on a deemed 5% return, about 14% of the scenario income, which would rate Good. |
Digital nomad visa | Moderate | New Zealand has no digital nomad visa. Visitor visas applied for since 27 January 2025 allow remote work for overseas employers and clients, for up to 9 months in 18. Since 1 April 2026, qualifying visitors can stay up to 275 days without becoming tax resident. |
Filing and deadlines
Employees pay through PAYE. You file an individual tax return (IR3) if you're self-employed or have income not taxed at source, such as foreign income that isn't exempt.
For the 2026-27 tax year, which ends on 31 March 2027:
file your IR3 by 7 July 2027, unless you have a tax agent or an extension of time
pay any tax to pay by 7 February 2028 for most people
pay provisional tax in instalments during the year if your bill is large enough
👉 Inland Revenue: timelines at the end of the tax year
Frequently asked questions
What is the transitional resident exemption in New Zealand?
If you become New Zealand tax resident after more than 10 years of non-residence, and you've never been a transitional resident before, most of your foreign income is exempt from New Zealand tax until the end of the 48th month after you became resident. Foreign employment income and income from services are not covered.
Does the 4-year exemption cover a remote job for an overseas employer?
No. Foreign employment income and income from services are taxed in New Zealand from your first day of residence, even as a transitional resident. You can usually claim a credit for foreign tax paid on the same income.
How many days can I spend in New Zealand without becoming tax resident?
You become resident after more than 183 days in any 12-month period, backdated to the first day, or straight away if you have a permanent place of abode. Since 1 April 2026, qualifying visitors who work remotely for overseas employers or clients can stay up to 275 days in any 18 months.
What are the New Zealand income tax rates for 2026-27?
Income is taxed at 10.5% up to NZ$15,600, 17.5% up to NZ$53,500, 30% up to NZ$78,100, 33% up to NZ$180,000 and 39% above that. Employees also pay the ACC earners' levy of 1.75% on earnings up to NZ$156,641.
Is crypto taxed in New Zealand?
Usually, yes. If your main purpose when you bought or mined crypto was to sell or exchange it, your profit is taxed as income at your normal rates, however long you held it. Swapping one crypto for another counts as a disposal.
How many double tax treaties does New Zealand have?
New Zealand has 41 double tax agreements in force, including with the UK, the United States, Australia, Canada, Germany, Japan, Singapore and the UAE.
Where to go next
👉 Best countries for investors
👉 Best countries for entrepreneurs
👉 Hardest countries to stop being tax resident
Important information
This article is general information and does not constitute tax, legal, immigration or financial advice, and does not create a client relationship. Tax outcomes depend on travel history, income sources, treaty status and the law applying to the relevant year. Rates, thresholds and regimes change, and some measures described may be proposed rather than enacted; this article reflects our understanding as at the date of publication. Obtain advice from a suitably qualified professional before acting or refraining from action.
