Find out here what to do if you are self-employed or earn other income in New Zealand.

This applies to you if:

• your income doesn't come from a salary or wage, eg if you earn income through:
  • self-employment
  • a partnership or trust fund
  • rental income, or
  • income from overseas, or
• you earn schedular payments (formerly withholding payments).

Once you're earning over the student loan repayment threshold you'll need to start making repayments towards your student loan.

• Your first year of being self employed
• Subsequent years of being self-employed
• Making interim repayments
• What you need to do at the end of the tax year (31 March)
• When you're self-employed and earn a salary or wage
• If you change from being self-employed to earning a salary or wage

You can make extra repayments at anytime.

Your first year of being self-employed

For the first year that you're self-employed, you can make your repayments:

• directly to us at the end of the tax year (31 March), or
• throughout the year so you don't have as much to pay at the end of the tax year.

Subsequent years of being self-employed

For all the following years, you'll most likely need to make interim repayments 3 times a year.

Making interim repayments

You'll need to make interim repayments if you:

• earn over the repayment threshold, and
• have a student loan bill of over $1,000 at the end of the year.

What you need to pay

We'll work out the amount you need to repay once you've filed your Individual tax return (IR3) at the end of the tax year (31 March). We'll let your know how much you need to pay on your end-of-year repayment calculation.

When you need to pay

You'll need to pay in 3 equal instalments. If your tax year ends on 31 March, you need to make repayments on 28 August, 15 January and 7 May. If your tax year ends at any other time, give us a call - see "Contact us".

When your self-employed income is less than last year

If you think your self-employed income will be less than the amount you earned last year, you can estimate your interim repayments.

Remember though that when you do this you can't change back to the standard option for the rest of the year. The standard option is what you had to pay the year before plus 5% of this amount. However, you can re-estimate as many times as you like up until your third instalment date.

Making your estimate

You'll need to make a reasonable estimate of what your repayments will be. If you estimate, and your interim repayment for the third instalment is less than 80% of what you have to pay, you'll be charged an underestimation penalty. This is 10% of the difference between what you should've paid and what you actually paid. To avoid a penalty you can re-estimate your income and adjust your interim repayment amount. If you're unsure of what to do give us a call and we'll talk you through it - see "Contact us".

When you have estimated your interim repayments you'll need to go to "Forms and guides" and complete our Student loan interim repayment estimation (SL3E) form and send it in to us. You'll get a statement from us confirming the new payment amounts and dates within 15 working days.

What happens if you also earn a salary or wage

We take any repayment deductions made by your employer off the amount you owe, and any remainder is called your residual repayment obligation. If this is less than $1,000, you won't need to make interim repayments.

The deductions your employer make do not include any additional or interim repayments that you make.

When you receive a bill for more than $1,000

You'll need to pay your previous year's student loan bill by 7 February and you'll also need to make interim repayments for this tax year.

When you receive a bill for less than $1,000

If you have to pay less than $1,000, you won't need to make interim repayments, but you'll receive a bill after the end of the next tax year.

What you need to do at the end of the tax year (31 March)

You'll need to fill out an Individual tax return (IR3) - go to "Forms and guides" and send it to us. Remember to include all income you've received throughout the year. We'll then work out your repayments based on the income you have given us.

You'll get an end-of-year repayment calculation which shows if you have paid too much or if you owe anything. It will also tell you the interim repayments you need to pay in the following year.

If you've paid too much, you can ask us for a refund or leave the amount there and it will reduce your loan balance.

As long as you're earning above the repayment threshold, you'll need to continue to make interim repayments and end-of-year repayments when you need to. When you get close to paying off your loan in full, we'll calculate your final interim repayments so that you don't overpay your loan.

When you're self-employed and earn a salary or wage

You'll need to tell your employer you have a student loan and choose the correct tax code for your salary or wage income.

If you change from being self-employed to earning a salary or wage

If you change from being self-employed to earning income you'll need to estimate your total income for the tax year so we can work out what your repayments will be.

Your total income means your income from self-employment and your salary and wages too. You'll need to:

• fill out a Student loan interim repayment estimation (SL3E) form, and
• make sure you give your employer the correct tax code for them to use for your salary or wage income.

You'll get a statement from us telling you what you need to pay and when. Once you've paid these amounts, you won't need to make any more interim repayments as long as you're using the correct student loan tax code.

If your self-employed income is less than $10,000

If your self-employed income is less than $10,000 (not including any income from your salary or wage) you can estimate your income to nil. This means that you won't have to make any more interim repayments for the year. However, at the end of the tax year, if your combined income (self-employed and salary or wage) is over the repayment threshold , you'll have a bill to pay.