New Zealand income tax 2026: rates, 183 days in, 325 days out, and the abode test above both

New Zealand's rules are lopsided on purpose. Getting in takes just over 183 days, in any 12-month period, and the status reaches back to the first of those days. Getting out takes more than 325 days away in a 12-month period and no permanent place of abode in the country, and once you have been resident under the 183-day rule you stay resident until you meet that test. So a year of work in Auckland, followed by a departure, does not simply end with the flight: a person who leaves on the last day and comes back for 41 days in the next 12 months has not left at all, on the numbers. Above both counts sits the permanent place of abode test, which Inland Revenue's guide IR292 says overrides any rule about days away. A tax resident is taxed on worldwide income; a non-resident only on New Zealand-sourced income. The tax year runs from 1 April to 31 March, and IR292 in its April 2026 edition is the text this page mostly follows.

The rates, since 1 April 2025

Rates in force since 1 April 2025; the tax year runs from 1 April to 31 March.

There is one table, and Inland Revenue's page also still shows the blended rates for 2024-25, the year the thresholds moved. A non-resident's other income, such as rent or business income, is taxed at the normal rates, on a Non-resident individual taxpayers return, IR3NR. If the only New Zealand income is interest, dividends or royalties and the correct non-resident withholding tax has been deducted, no return is required.

Reaching back: how 183 days changes your earlier months

"More than 183" means day 184 is the one that does it. IR292 counts any part of a day as a whole day, so arrival and departure days are "days present". Its example: 10 days in April and 20 in September of the same year make 30. The days need not be consecutive, and the window can start anywhere, which is why the counter looks at your busiest 12 months and not at a tax year. The default above is 40 days in winter 2026 and 151 days across the summer, 191 in all, with no tax year showing that total.

Backdating is the part that gets missed. When you pass the line, residence runs from the first of those days. Income from those earlier weeks is then the income of a resident. Plan for that before you pass the line, not after.

A non-resident visitor since 1 April 2026

This is new. If you arrived on or after 1 April 2026, you can be a non-resident visitor and be free of the 183-day rule, for up to 275 days in any 18-month period, provided all of the following hold:

So someone working remotely for a foreign employer from a rented bach can fit this. Stay past 275 days while still lawfully present, and you become resident from day 276: no backdating on that route. Lose a condition earlier, and you are resident from the earlier of the 183-day rule, with visitor days counted, or having a permanent place of abode. If you stop being lawfully present, the days count toward the 183-day rule and it reaches back to the first of them. Note that our counter does not know about this exemption, and shows only the plain 183-day line.

The test no counter settles: a permanent place of abode

The Income Tax Act 2007 says that a person with a permanent place of abode in New Zealand is resident. There must be a house or other dwelling where you habitually reside from time to time, and you need not own it. Inland Revenue makes an overall assessment. IR292 lists the things it looks at: time in New Zealand, how you have used the accommodation and your connection with it, where immediate family lives, clubs and associations, bank accounts and investments, business or a job to return to, possessions kept there, whether and when you intend to come back, benefits or pensions from New Zealand agencies. The list is a guide only. Keeping a home in another country does not help: with a place of abode in New Zealand, IR292 says you will always be resident.

Four years of tax-free foreign income, once

New migrants and New Zealanders returning after at least 10 years without tax residence can get a temporary exemption on most foreign income. It starts on the first day of residence and ends 48 months after the month you qualify. In IR292's example, Sarah visits on 10 March 2024, moves on 22 April, qualifies on 16 October, and is exempt from 10 March 2024 to 31 October 2028. It is automatic and one-off, and you cannot extend it or receive Working for Families Tax Credits at the same time. Foreign dividends, interest, rents and attributed foreign investment fund income are covered. Employment income for overseas work done while living in New Zealand and business income from services performed offshore are not, so a remote worker's salary stays taxable throughout.

The year you go, and treaties

If you will have no New Zealand income after leaving, you may need to file an IR3 up to the departure date, listing income from all sources. If income continues, the IR3 runs to the 31 March after you leave, with the before and after clearly split. Government service abroad keeps you resident however long you stay, though that does not extend to an accompanying partner or children. Being resident of two countries is what double tax agreements exist to settle, and New Zealand's calculation of overseas income still follows its own law. Compare with Australia or the wider country table. For a dated log across the 12-month windows, the Taxlag app works from your trips; the counter here stays free.