Employer of Record in New Zealand: what one employee really costs
New Zealand, Oceania. One software engineer at $65,000 gross per year, priced through 12 providers with a published fee, on the ECB reference rates of 18 Sept 2026. Change the salary and headcount below.
- Employer on-cost
- +3.6%
- statutory charges on top of gross
- All-in per month
- $5,811 – $6,311
- salary + charges + published fee, cheapest to dearest listed provider
- Onboarding through an EOR
- 2 days
- per Deel - Hire employees in New Zealand ('your next hire could start in as little as 2 days with Deel')
Hiring one software engineer in New Zealand at $65,000 gross a year costs about $195 a month in statutory employer charges (+3.6%), plus an EOR fee of $199 to $699 per month depending on the provider: $5,811 to $6,311 all-in, before deposits, FX margins and add-ons. Prices checked 2–24 Sept 2026.
Disclosure Some provider links on this page are affiliate links: if you become a customer after clicking, the provider may pay us a referral fee. It never changes the price you pay, and it never changes the numbers on this page, which come from official sources and are dated. How we are paid
Cost engine · preset to New Zealand
Price your own hire, line by line.
≈ NZD 113,824 gross / year · NZD at ECB reference rate, 18 Sept 2026
| Per employee | Rate | Per month |
|---|---|---|
| Gross salary | $5,417 | |
| Compulsory KiwiSaver employer contribution | 3.50% | $190 |
| ACC Work levy (Workplace Cover), office classification | 0.02% | $1 |
| Working Safer levy (funds WorkSafe New Zealand), billed with the ACC Work levy | 0.08% | $4 |
| Employer on-cost | +3.6% | $195 |
| Cost of employment, before EOR fee | $5,612 |
$5,811/ month · 1 employee
- Fee / mo
- from $199
- Per year
- $69,728
- Fee share
- 3.4%
Checked 2 Sept 2026
Get a RemoFirst quote$6,111/ month · 1 employee
- Fee / mo
- from $499
- Per year
- $73,328
- Fee share
- 8.2%
Checked 2 Sept 2026
Get a Papaya quote$6,211/ month · 1 employee
- Fee / mo
- from $599
- Per year
- $74,528
- Fee share
- 9.6%
Checked 2 Sept 2026
Get a Deel quoteEmployer charges from official sources; provider fees are list prices on the dates shown; deposits, FX margins and add-ons are not included. Not legal or tax advice. Methodology
14 providers, one scenario, all-in totals.
| Provider | EOR fee / employee / mo | All-in / mo, 1 hire | Deposit | Countries | Checked | Quote |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RemoFirst EOR in 185+ countries from $199 per employee per month, no annual contract. | from $199 | $5,811 | Not stated on the pricing page | 185+ | 2 Sept 2026 | Get a quote from RemoFirst· $5,811/mo |
| Rivermate EOR in 180+ countries from $319 to $639 per employee per month. | from $319 | $5,931 | Not stated on the pricing page | 180+ | 2 Sept 2026 | Get a quote from Rivermate· $5,931/mo |
| Pebl Velocity Global, renamed Pebl in 2026. Prints $399 per employee per month. | from $399 | $6,011 | Not stated on the pricing page | 185+ | 22 Sept 2026 | Get a quote from Pebl· $6,011/mo |
| Playroll EOR in 180+ countries from $399 per employee per month; deposit of one month's salary. | from $399 | $6,011 | Fully refundable security deposit equivalent to one month's salary when onboarding an employee (pricing page). | 180+ | 2 Sept 2026 | Get a quote from Playroll· $6,011/mo |
| Multiplier EOR from $459 (annual) or $499 (monthly) per employee, plus mandated add-ons. | from $499 $459 billed annually | $6,111 | Refundable security deposit required per employee by the EOR terms (effective 1 June 2026), sized by Multiplier; not on the pricing page. | 150+ | 24 Sept 2026 | Get a quote from Multiplier· $6,111/mo |
| Papaya Global EOR starting from $499 per employee per month, quote-based, 160+ countries. | from $499 | $6,111 | Not stated for EOR on the pricing page (the contractor block states 'No deposit required'). | 160+ | 2 Sept 2026 | Get a quote from Papaya Global· $6,111/mo |
| Borderless AI EOR at $579 per employee per month, no deposit or pre-funding, 170+ countries. | $579 | $6,191 | No deposit: 'No upfront deposits or pre-funding required' (pricing page). | 170+ | 24 Sept 2026 | Get a quote from Borderless AI· $6,191/mo |
| Atlas HXM EOR from $599 through its own entities, plus an Agent of Record at $199. | from $599 | $6,211 | Not stated on the pricing page | 160+ | 21 Sept 2026 | Get a quote from Atlas HXM· $6,211/mo |
| Deel EOR in 130+ countries, starting at $599 per employee per month. | from $599 | $6,211 | Not stated on the pricing page | 130+ | 2 Sept 2026 | Get a quote from Deel· $6,211/mo |
| G-P EOR in 180+ countries from $599, with no minimum contract length. | from $599 | $6,211 | Not stated on the pricing page | 180+ | 24 Sept 2026 | Get a quote from G-P· $6,211/mo |
| Oyster EOR in 120+ countries at USD 699 per employee per month; refundable deposit. | $699 | $6,311 | Refundable deposit required for EOR team members 'to initiate the engagement and to ensure on-time payments' (pricing FAQ). | 120+ | 24 Sept 2026 | Get a quote from Oyster· $6,311/mo |
| Remote EOR in 90+ countries at $699 per employee per month, no deposit. | $699 | $6,311 | No deposit: 'We collect reserve payments in rare, high risk circumstances' (pricing FAQ). | 90+ | 2 Sept 2026 | Get a quote from Remote· $6,311/mo |
| Rippling EOR bundled with the Rippling platform; custom quote only. | Quote only | — | Not stated on the pricing page | — | 24 Sept 2026 | Get a quote from Rippling |
| Safeguard Global EOR sold alongside entity setup and payroll; no price published. | Quote only | — | Not stated | 187+ | 21 Sept 2026 | Get a quote from Safeguard Global |
Same salary and statutory charges in every row; only the fee segment changes.
What New Zealand adds on top of the salary, and where each rate comes from.
Rates apply to the base named in each line; capped lines stop growing above the ceiling. Engine assumptions: The employee is a KiwiSaver member = 1; The ACC Work levy is priced at an office classification unit = 1.
| Line | Employer rate | Base & ceiling | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Compulsory KiwiSaver employer contributionEmployees who are KiwiSaver members and aged 16 or over | 3.50% | Gross salary Inland Revenue's KiwiSaver employer guide, edition of April 2026, states it in one line: 'The compulsory employer contribution rate is 3.5% of your employee's gross salary or wages.' The rate rose from 3% with effect from the start of the 2026-27 year, and the same guide lists the member's own choices as 3.5%, 4%, 6%, 8% or 10% with 3.5% as the default. There is no ceiling on it - the contribution is a flat share of gross pay however senior the hire, which is the opposite of the ACC line below. Employer superannuation contribution tax is taken out of this contribution rather than added to it; see the ESCT entry in the notes below, because getting that wrong is the most common way a New Zealand quote is overstated. | Inland Revenue2026-09-20 |
| ACC Work levy (Workplace Cover), office classificationEvery employer, on each employee's liable earnings up to the annual maximum | 0.02% | Gross salary , capped at NZD 156,641 / yr The Accident Compensation (Work Account Levies) Regulations 2025, version as at 1 April 2026, Schedule 2 'Classifications and Work Account levy rates for 2026/27 tax year', set the levy for CU 78340 'Computer systems design and related services' at 0.02 per $100 of earnings, that is 0.02%, exclusive of GST; ACC's Levy Guidebook 2026/27 prints the same $0.02 for employers, or $0.02144 for an employer in the Experience Rating programme. Until September 2026 this line carried 0.21%, a provider figure. The ceiling is read from ACC's page 'Calculating your levies': 'You'll only pay levies on an individual's earnings up to the maximum level. If an employee on your payroll earns more than the maximum, we'll only levy you for the maximum', with the maximum liable income for employees set at NZD 156,641 for the year starting 1 April 2026, up from NZD 152,790 the year before. Provider pages have not all caught up - Deel's own New Zealand page still prints the 2025-26 figure of NZD 12,732.50 a month. The practical effect is that the Work levy fades as pay rises while the KiwiSaver line does not, so a senior New Zealand hire gets slightly cheaper as a percentage, not dearer. | Accident Compensation (Work Account Levies) Regulations 2025 (SL 2025/17), version as at 1 April 2026, Schedule 2, CU 783402026-09-24 |
| Working Safer levy (funds WorkSafe New Zealand), billed with the ACC Work levyEvery employer, on liable earnings up to the ACC maximum | 0.08% | Gross salary , capped at NZD 156,641 / yr ACC's Levy Guidebook 2026/27 states that the Working Safer levy 'is a flat rate, currently $0.08 per $100 of your liable earnings', that is 0.08% of pay up to the same ceiling - on an office classification that is four times the Work levy itself. ACC's own description of what an employer is invoiced names three levies - 'ACC will send you an invoice for Earners', Work and Working Safer levies' - and the Working Safer levy funds WorkSafe New Zealand rather than ACC. It is charged per $100 of the same liable payroll as the Work levy and adds about US$4 a month on this salary. Ask the provider to show the Work and Working Safer lines separately on a sample invoice. | ACC2026-09-20 |
| ESCT - taken out of the employer contribution, not added to it not in total | — | Carried at zero because it costs the employer nothing extra, and named because treating it as an extra cost is the single most common error in New Zealand EOR comparisons. Employer superannuation cash contributions are liable for employer superannuation contribution tax, and Inland Revenue's own worked example shows where the money comes from: an employee on $2,600 a month, 'The net compulsory employer contribution will be: $2,600 x 3.5% = $91; $91 x 17.5% = $15.93 (ESCT); $91 - $15.93 = $75.07'. The employer pays 3.5% of gross; the tax is deducted from that 3.5% and the balance reaches the employee's scheme. Adding an ESCT rate on top of 3.5% - which several comparison pages do - overstates a New Zealand hire by a point or more. The ESCT rate itself is set from the employee's total pay plus employer contributions, so it changes what the employee receives, never what you pay. | Inland Revenue2026-09-20 |
| Thirteenth month - not required by New Zealand law not in total | — | Carried at zero because New Zealand law creates no thirteenth-month salary and no holiday supplement. What the Holidays Act 2003 does create instead is worth knowing when you compare: annual holidays are paid at the greater of ordinary weekly pay and average weekly earnings, an employee who works a public holiday must be paid at least time and a half and given an alternative day off, and the four-week entitlement arrives as a block after twelve months of continuous employment rather than accruing month by month. None of that is an employer contribution, but the public holiday rule is a real cost for any role with weekend or on-call work. | Holidays Act 2003, version as at 20 December 2023, New Zealand Legislation2026-09-20 |
| Employer on-cost at $65,000 | +3.6% | $2,340 a year, $195 a month |
EOR or your own entity
Fees scale with headcount. An entity does not.
New Zealand has no social security contributions in the continental sense, so the employer ledger is three lines, KiwiSaver and two ACC levies, and each of them rests on an assumption the page states. That makes the entity question unusually simple on the money and unusually awkward on the risk. On the money: at 3.60%, Working Safer levy included, the statutory charge on a US$65,000 salary is about US$195 a month, well under any published provider fee, so a New Zealand subsidiary of your own saves the fee and almost nothing else - the same KiwiSaver contribution and the same ACC levy would follow you. On the risk: the two things that actually differ are the ACC classification, which is assigned to the legal employer and is adjusted by its claims history under ACC's Experience Rating programme, and the 90-day trial provision, which only works for an employee who has not previously been employed by that employer. Under an employer of record the legal employer is the provider, so a trial provision sits in the provider's agreement and depends on the provider having never employed that person before - worth confirming in writing if the trial period is part of why you are hiring this way. Weigh that against a provider fee that, on this salary, runs from about the same as the whole statutory ledger to about three and two-thirds times it.
Fees grow with every hire; the charges line is owed under an entity too.
| Headcount | RemoFirst fees / yr | Borderless AI fees / yr | Statutory charges / yr |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $2,388 | $6,948 | $2,340 |
| 3 | $7,164 | $20,844 | $7,020 |
| 5 | $11,940 | $34,740 | $11,700 |
| 10 | $23,880 | $69,480 | $23,400 |
| 20 | $47,760 | $138,960 | $46,800 |
Statutory charges are owed either way; the provider fee is the only line an entity removes, against the cost of incorporating and running local payroll.
Employment terms that move the cost
- Paid leave
- 20 days
- Public holidays
- 12
- 13th month
- Not mandatory
- Probation
- up to 3 months
- Notice
- Whatever the individual employment agreement specifies. New Zealand sets no statutory minimum notice period for an ordinary resignation or dismissal, which moves the whole question into the contract; one month is the usual market term for a professional role. Inside the first 90 days a trial provision under section 67A of the Employment Relations Act 2000 lets the employer dismiss without the employee being able to bring a personal grievance over the dismissal, provided the employee has not worked for that employer before and the provision is written into the agreement before work starts.
- Reviewed
- 2026-09-20
Get a quote for New Zealand.
The lowest published total here, next to the two providers searched for most often (the rule). Totals for 1 hire at $65,000. Ask each provider about deposits, FX margins and mandatory add-ons for New Zealand: those are the lines that move.
Disclosure Some provider links are affiliate links; they never change the numbers on this page. Details
Questions people ask before booking a demo
- How much does an employer of record cost in New Zealand?
- The statutory employer charge is about 3.60% of gross pay: a compulsory KiwiSaver employer contribution of 3.5%, an ACC Work levy of 0.02% for an office classification and a Working Safer levy of 0.08%. On a US$65,000 salary that is roughly US$195 a month on top of pay. Published EOR fees then run from about $199 to $699 per employee per month, so the all-in cost lands near $5,810 to $6,310 a month and the provider's fee is about one to three and a half times the statutory charge.
- Does ESCT add to the cost of a New Zealand hire?
- No. It is deducted from the employer's KiwiSaver contribution, not charged on top of it. Inland Revenue's employer guide works the example through: on $2,600 a month the employer contribution is $91, ESCT at 17.5% is $15.93, and the net contribution reaching the employee's scheme is $75.07. Your cost is the 3.5%. Any comparison that shows KiwiSaver and ESCT as two separate employer lines is counting the same money twice and overstating New Zealand by about a point.
- What if my New Zealand hire is not in KiwiSaver?
- Then the compulsory employer contribution does not apply and the employer cost falls to the ACC levies alone, about 0.02% of pay for the Work levy plus 0.08% for the Working Safer levy. New employees aged 18 to 64 are automatically enrolled but may opt out between the second and eighth week, members can take a savings suspension, and no compulsory contribution is required for employees under 16. That is why this page states the assumption openly rather than burying it: the same salary can carry 3.5% or nothing depending on a decision your hire makes after they start, and no quote can settle it in advance.
- Does the ACC levy have a ceiling?
- Yes. ACC states that you pay levies on an individual's earnings only up to the maximum level, and that where an employee earns more you are levied on the maximum. For the year starting 1 April 2026 that maximum is NZD 156,641, up from NZD 152,790 the year before - and Deel's New Zealand page still prints the older figure. The KiwiSaver contribution has no such ceiling, so as a salary rises the ACC share of the ledger shrinks while the KiwiSaver share does not.
- What leave, public holidays and trial period apply in New Zealand?
- Section 16(1) of the Holidays Act 2003 gives 'not less than 4 weeks' paid annual holidays' after each completed twelve months of continuous employment - twenty working days, arriving as an entitlement on the anniversary rather than accruing monthly. There are eleven national public holidays plus one regional anniversary day, so twelve for any given employee. A written trial provision under section 67A of the Employment Relations Act 2000 can run for up to 90 days for an employee who has not previously worked for that employer; since 23 December 2023 every employer may use one, not only those with fewer than twenty staff.