Tax in New Zealand: GST, income tax, company tax, capital gains

GST in New Zealand

Value-added with very few exemptions: GST on sales less GST on purchases.

Standard rate

15%

Local name

GST — Goods and Services Tax

Type

GST

Reduced rates

None on record

Registration threshold

NZD 60,000 turnover/yr

Filing

Monthly, 2-monthly or 6-monthly

Authority

Inland Revenue

Current rate since

1 January 2000

Company tax in New Zealand

The headline corporate income tax rate is 28%. In effect since 1 January 2026.

Flat 28% for most companies; Māori authorities 17.5%. No small-business company rate. | Cross-check: OECD 2026: central statutory CIT 28%, combined (central+sub-central) 28%

New Zealand company tax calculator →

Did you know? New Zealand tax facts

• New Zealand's GST is one of the broadest consumption taxes in the world - it taxes almost everything, including food, with tax specialists noting that only Brazil runs a broader base.

  Unlike most VAT systems that carve out food, books or medicine, NZ keeps exemptions to a tiny handful (financial services, residential rent, donated goods, precious metals), and Bloomberg Tax describes its GST as 'best in class,' noting only Brazil has a broader base because Brazil also taxes financial services.

  Source: Bloomberg Tax ↗

• Because NZ taxes all food, it sidesteps the quirky tax-classification debates seen elsewhere - like the UK courts having to rule whether a Jaffa Cake is a cake or a biscuit, or whether a Pringle is a potato chip.

  Deloitte NZ cites the UK Jaffa Cake and Pringle cases as exactly the boundary disputes NZ avoids by refusing to exempt any food category, warning that an NZ food exemption would create the same headaches (e.g. a chocolate-chip cookie GST-free but a chocolate-dipped biscuit taxed).

  Source: Deloitte New Zealand ↗

• When Labour campaigned in 2023 to make fresh fruit and vegetables GST-free, nearly every tax expert RNZ surveyed - about a dozen - questioned it, including Don Brash, who chaired the 1985 committee that designed NZ's GST.

  Economist Brad Olsen noted the Tax Working Group itself reckoned shoppers would be lucky to see 30% pass-through, with the rest pocketed by retailers; only one of the dozen experts RNZ approached offered even qualified support.

  Source: RNZ ↗

• In 2010 New Zealand raised GST from 12.5% to 15% while simultaneously cutting income tax across the board and lifting pensions and benefits to compensate - an explicit switch from taxing earning to taxing spending.

  From 1 October 2010 the top income tax rate dropped from 38% to 33%, every income bracket was cut, the company rate fell to 28%, and benefits, superannuation and Working for Families were lifted about 2% to offset the GST rise.

  Source: NZ Herald ↗

• New Zealand was an early mover on the 'Netflix tax', extending 15% GST to offshore digital ('remote') services like streaming and apps from 1 October 2016.

  The rule forced foreign suppliers selling to NZ consumers to register and charge GST, and NZ later extended GST collection to low-value imported goods too.

  Source: Wikipedia (Goods and Services Tax, New Zealand) ↗

• New Zealand's income tax began in 1891 under the Liberal government with a top rate of 5% and an exemption for incomes under £300; today the top personal rate is 39% and companies pay 28%.

  Wikipedia: income tax began in 1891 under the Liberal Government 'with a top rate of 5% and an exemption for incomes under £300'; 'Companies pay income tax at 28% on profits'; the 39% rate applies above $180,000; 'personal tax years run from 1 April to 31 March'.

  Source: Wikipedia — Taxation in New Zealand · checked 10 October 2026 ↗

• New Zealand has no comprehensive capital gains tax — it taxes investment returns through specific regimes instead — and no social security or payroll tax either.

  Wikipedia: New Zealand 'taxes investment returns via specific regimes instead of a comprehensive capital gains tax', with capital gains taxed only in limited cases such as some residential property sold within a set period; 'There is no social security (payroll) tax.'

  Source: Wikipedia — Taxation in New Zealand · checked 10 October 2026 ↗

• KiwiSaver began on 2 July 2007 and automatically enrols every new employee aged 18 to 64, who can opt out between day 14 and day 56 of the job; the minimum contribution rises from 3% to 3.5% on 1 April 2026.

  Wikipedia: the scheme 'Started operating on 2 July 2007'; the $1,000 'kick-start' for new members was removed 'effective from 21 May 2015'; from 1 July 2025 the maximum annual government contribution was halved from $521.43 to $260.72.

  Source: Wikipedia — KiwiSaver · checked 10 October 2026 ↗

More stories, for every country that has one, on the tax facts page.