Understanding levies if you work or own a business

Everyone who works or owns a business in New Zealand pays levies. These levies cover injuries that happen at work, at home, on the sports field, and when you’re out and about.

Glossary of terms

Claims history

Whether there's been any work-related injury claims made to us by your employees.

Contractor

You're a person or company that works on a contract basis. You agree to provide goods or services at a mutually agreed price and within a specific timeframe.

Earner's Levy

This levy covers accidents outside the workplace. It’s charged at a flat rate for all levy payers.

 

Employer

You're responsible for paying salary or wages to one or more employees.

Liable income 

The part of your income that you have to pay levies on. 

Non-PAYE shareholder-employee

You own part of the company you work for. You also receive a salary or wage from the company and you don't pay PAYE tax.

PAYE shareholder-employee

You own part of the company you work for. You also receive a salary or wage from the company and you pay PAYE tax.

Treatment Injury Account

Pays for injuries that are caused by, or happen during, medical treatment. It’s funded by both the Earners’ and Non-Earners’ Account depending on whether the injured person is employed.

Working Safer Levy

This levy is collected on behalf of the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment to support the activities of WorkSafe New Zealand. It’s charged at a flat rate for all levy payers.

Introduction to levies quick guide page one information

Quick guide: An introduction to levies

It doesn't matter where you're injured – at home, work or while you're out
and about – everyone is eligible for ACC cover. The levies you pay as an
employer, shareholder employee or self-employed person help fund this,
and is separate from general tax.

Download pdf 575 KB

Paying levies on your income

The levies you pay are separate from general tax. They’re used to cover the cost of injuries caused by an accident and to help protect your most important asset – you and your people.

You're covered by us as soon as you start your business or start working for yourself. The cover we provide helps with payment towards medical bills, treatment, help at home and work, and loss of income. 

ACC levies

Video transcript for ACC levies
In most places around the world, if you have an accident
and are unable to work, you have to use your savings,
have insurance, or take legal action
and win to cover the cost of treatment
and provide some income while you recover.
In Aotearoa, New Zealand, we have ACC.
ACC is a no fault scheme.
It supports anyone who is injured in an accident no matter
how or where the accident happens.
Everyone in Aotearoa, New Zealand helps ACC
fund the care, treatment, and support of injured people
through levies from salaries, at the petrol pump,
and through vehicle registrations.
In this video, we are going to take a look at how ACC works
for people who manage other people's business finances,
like a tax agent or accountant,
and how you can make your dealings
with ACC much easier online using MyACC for business.
You can expect to get ACC levy invoices in July for clients
that employ people and September
for your self-employed clients,
This invoice amount will be based on two things.
First, the business's classification unit.
This tells ACC what industry your client is in.
Different businesses have different levels of risk
for injury and accidents,
so the classification unit affects the levy amount.
Second, liable earnings for the year.
For self-employed clients levies may vary depending on
whether they work full-time or part-time.
For employers and shareholders,
the levy invoice will show in a final washup levy
for the previous year
and a provisional levy for the current year.
The provisional levy is an estimate
based on the previous year's payroll with adjustments
for expected salary increases.
Employer levies may also be affected
by their experience rating or no claims discount,
depending on their workplace health and safety record.
Self-employed and shareholder clients
can get a no claims discount.
ACC has minimum and maximum levels of liable income,
so your clients will only pay levies up to the maximum level
for themselves or their employees.
These levels tend to change annually,
but you can always find the latest information
on the ACC website.
If your client starts working
in a different industry, ceases trading,
or if self-employed goes from part-time to full-time work,
or vice versa, or decides to work
for someone as an employee,
it's really important to let ACC know as soon as possible.
The easiest way to check
and change details for the clients you manage is
through ACC's self-service portal, MyACC for Business.
You can find it at business.acc.co.nz.
To use MyACC for Business, you need
to complete an online form
and ACC will sort out an organisation account for you.
You can access the form from the MyACC for Business homepage
where it says, "Are you an agent or advisor?"
We've also provided a link below this video.
Once your organisation account is set up, you'll need
to add your clients to it.
If you're a tax agent, you can do this yourself.
Click add clients, search for your client using their ACC
or IRD number.
Once you have located your clients,
click add clients and next.
Then you can assign them to portfolios
if you have different team members looking
after different clients.
If you are an advisor, you need
to forward the ACC 1766 authorization forms
to the ACC business team
and they will link your clients for you.
You can have as many clients link
to your organisation account as you wish.
Once clients have been added to your account,
their portfolio manager can use MyACC for Business
to update a client's business and contact information
or set themselves up as the primary levy contact,
change a client's classification unit,
see a client's invoices
and transaction history, cease a policy,
add Cover Plus Extra to a policy
or use the live chat function
to ask the MyACC business team any questions or get support.
MyACC for Business is easy and hassle-free
and there are new useful features being added all the time.
It's free, it's secure, and accessible 24/7,
so it's there whenever it suits you.
(upbeat music)

Everyone who earns a salary in New Zealand pays the Earners' levy.

If you’re self-employed, a shareholder-employee or a contractor you’ll pay three different levies:

  • Earners’ levy
  • Work levy
  • Working Safer levy

If you’re an employer with staff, your business will pay the:

  • Work levy
  • Working Safer levy.

The Earners' levy

Your Earners' levy goes into the Earners' Account to help cover the cost of accidents that happen while going about your everyday activities. This could be doing DIY at home, working out at the gym, playing sport, hitting the ski slopes, or doing some window shopping in town.

It also funds part of the Treatment Injury Account.

Current Earners' levy rate

This is a flat rate, currently $1.39 per $100 (excluding GST) of your liable income.

How you pay the Earners' levy

If you’re a PAYE employee or PAYE shareholder-employee, your employer will pay this on your behalf. This comes out of your income, like tax.

If you’re self-employed or a non-PAYE shareholder-employee, we'll send you a levy invoice after you file a tax return.

The Work levy

Your Work levy goes into the Work Account to fund cover for injuries and accidents that happen at work or are work-related. It insures and protects your most important assets – you and your people. 

Current Work levy rate

This is different for every business. We'll base your Work levy on:

  • the risk of injury at work
  • your claims history
  • your liable income or payroll.

The Working Safer Levy

We collect this levy on behalf of WorkSafe New Zealand. It goes towards supporting WorkSafe’s activities and injury prevention across the country.

Current Working Safer levy rate

This is a flat rate, currently $0.08 per $100 of your liable payroll or income.

How you pay the Work levy and Working Safer levy

To pay the Work levy and Working Safer levy you'll get an invoice from us. We'll get your income and payroll details from Inland Revenue after you file your tax return and Employer Monthly Schedules.

Working out how much you have to pay

If you know your business and income details you can calculate your levies. If you’re new to business or just want an idea of how much your levies will be, try our levy estimator.

Estimate your levy

Calculating your levies

Contact us

If you have any questions or want to know more, contact our business team:

Email business@acc.co.nz
Phone 0800 222 776  (Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm)
Phone (from overseas) +64 7 859 8675

Use live chat through MyACC for Business

Talk to us using live chat:

Log into or register for MyACC for Business

Last published: 25 March 2024

Related topics

Estimate your levy

Estimate how much your business levies will be for the year, so that you know what to expect when your invoice arrives
Estimate how much your levies will be

If you've received an invoice from us

If you’d like to know more about the invoice you’ve received, we’ve included some handy links to pages that contain helpful information.
Find out more about what your invoice means