Tax codes: Primary (main) employment

Primary (main) employment tax codes

Use this table if you want to help your employee work out the right tax code.

If your employee ...	then the tax code is ...	or if they have a student loan use...
has only one job, or this job is their main job	M	M SL
is a New Zealand tax resident has income between $24,000 and $48,000, and qualifies for the independent earner tax credit	ME	ME SL
is a New Zealand tax resident works 20 hours or more per week in all jobs with an income less than $9,880 - see "Note" below is not entitled to Working for Families Tax Credits is not a child or attending school	ML	ML SL

Note
Certain criteria apply - employees should follow the Tax code declaration form (IR330) flowchart, or use our decision tree to work out their tax code.

Completing the tax code declaration form

Your employee must complete a Tax code declaration (IR330) form when they start working for you, or if their circumstances change.

Other sources of primary income

The following can also be considered primary employment if it is the main or only source of income:

• taxable pension
• benefit - this will always have an M tax code, even if it is a secondary source of income
• student allowance.

Only one primary tax code can be used

An employee can use only one main tax code at any time. If your employee is already using a main tax code for another job, then they must use a secondary tax code for the job they are doing for you.

Find out more about secondary tax codes

Other codes your employee may need

Other codes that your employee may need to use include:

• WT for schedular payments
• CAE for the earnings of casual agricultural employees
• EDW for the earnings of election day workers
• NSW - the tax code for Pacific Island workers employed under the Recognised Seasonal Employers scheme.
• STC for a special tax code. This is a tax rate worked out to suit your employee's individual circumstances. It usually applies when using one of the standard tax codes will result in too much or not enough tax being deducted.
• Student loan extra deduction codes
  • SLBOR - for voluntary extra student loan deductions requested by your employee on their salary or wage. Use this code on your Employer monthly schedule (IR348) whenever you make this extra deduction.
  • SLCIR - for compulsory extra student loan deductions we require you to make from your employee's salary or wage. We'll send you a notice with the additional deductions you must make. Use this code on your Employer monthly schedule (IR348) whenever you make this deduction.
• Student loan repayment deduction exemption - employees who are studying full-time may give you a student loan repayment deduction exemption certificate which means you don't need to make repayment deductions from your employee's salary or wage for the period stated on the certificate.

Note
If we determine your employee is using the wrong tax code, we'll write to you asking you to change it. We'll tell you which employees are using incorrect tax codes and let you know which code they should be on.

Find out more

Deducting student loan repayments
Student loan special deduction rates
Student loan repayment deduction exemptions
Student loan extra deductions for SLBOR or SLCIR tax codes
Using the tax code declaration
Secondary employment
Correcting employee tax codes

 

Date published: 26 Jan 2012

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