The Honourable Finance Minister, Nicola Willis, has proposed the following amendments to KiwiSaver contribution rates as part of the 2025 Budget changes:

From 1 April 2026:

  • The default KiwiSaver contribution rate for both employees and employers will go up from 3% to 3.5%.
  • Employees aged 16 and 17 will become eligible to start receiving KiwiSaver contributions.

From 1 April 2028:

  • The default KiwiSaver rate will rise again, moving to 4% for both employees and employers.

Other Government Changes:

  • The Government’s matching contribution will drop from 50 cents to 25 cents for every dollar you contribute.
  • Employees earning over $180,000 a year will no longer qualify for Government contributions.
  • Employees aged 16 and 17 will receive Government contributions starting 1 July 2025, and employer contributions from 1 April 2026.
  • Government contribution rates will remain as they are until 30 June 2025, and continue during July and August 2025.

 Along with the above amendments, few additional changes that IRD is mandating effective April 2026 is stated below:
 
IRD number upper limit threshold changes effective April 2026:

The IRD (Inland Revenue Department) Number is a unique 8 or 9 digit number given to people, organizations, and businesses by Inland Revenue. The current highest IRD number allowed is 150,000,000, but this limit will be reached by October 2026. To keep everything compliant and allow for new numbers, the upper limit will be increased to 200,000,000 in system updates planned for April 2026.

Employment Information Validations effective April 2026 :

  • IRD number of non-individuals.
  • Invalid/Missing IRD number. 
  • No Student Loans account. 
  • Child Support deductions without a Liable Parent Account.

Note: There will not be any system changes for the April 2026 Employment Information Validations.
 
Our Position Statement for 2025 is updated with the details of the KiwiSaver changes and IRD Number validations for April 2026. We encourage our customers to review the latest statement to keep up to date. The updated Position Statement can be found on My Oracle Support, Doc ID   2973834.1