Employee Details - KiwiSaver

Both the employee and the employer contribute to KiwiSaver. Employers are required to contribute a minimum of 3% of the employee’s gross salary and the employee can elect to either contribute 3%, 4%, 6%, 8% or 10% of their gross salary. 

It is an automatic opt in process for new employees unless specified otherwise, although KiwiSaver deductions must cease if the employee opts out of KiwiSaver or the employer is provided with a savings suspension notice for the employee from the Inland Revenue Department. 

KiwiSaver contribution deductions must be paid to Inland Revenue along with PAYE. Inland Revenue will on-pay it to the employee’s KiwiSaver provider.

On the employees KiwiSaver page you'll find the following options:

KiwiSaver Enrolment Option:

• Automatically enrol - If the employee is not already in KiwiSaver, are eligible and want to join you can choose to automatically enrol them. There are requirements and forms needed for this process which can be found here. 
• Opt in - If your eligible employee was not automatically enrolled in KiwiSaver they can later choose to opt in through their employer. Sometimes employees opt into KiwiSaver through a scheme provider. This means they've chosen their own scheme and joined KiwiSaver through them. If this is the case, the IRD will notify the employer of this. Eligibility and deduction forms can be found here. 
• Savings Suspension - Your KiwiSaver employees can apply for a temporary break from paying into their KiwiSaver account. It’s called a ‘savings suspension’. Employees can apply for the suspension through myIR. If the suspension is approved you stop employee deductions and your contributions. The employer is notified with a savings suspension notice as is the employee. This notice has dates showing how long the suspension is for. Employee can apply for a suspension from here. 
• Opt out - The employee can choose to opt out of KiwiSaver between weeks 2 - 8 of starting the job by informing their employer. If the employee chooses to opt out of KiwiSaver outside of this period they can make this change online through their myIR portal where the employer will then be notified by the IRD. Any payments already made will be returned to the employer and in turn the employer will return to the employee. If it’s a late opt out (that's after 8 weeks), send the form to the the IRD at the address printed on the form. The opt out request form can be found here. 
• Not enrolled - This option is selected for existing employees who are not enrolled in KiwiSaver and do not wish to do so. 
• Ineligible - There are numerous reasons you may choose this enrolment option such as being under the age of 18. The list of reasons are listed here. 

Employer Contribution: This is set as a percentage 

Reason for KiwiSaver Savings Suspension: A "To"  date must be entered and the end date is optional.

Reason for KiwiSaver ineligibility: If the employee has been set up as ineligible for KiwiSaver the following options are available for selection:

• Not a citizen/permanent resident
• Not normally living in NZ
• Under 18 years of age
• Working as an independent contractor (only available if feature has been enabled, refer to Advanced Settings for more information. This option will be set automatically if the employment type has been set as independent contractor).

N.B. It is your responsibility to verify that your employee meets all IRD requirements for enrolling, opting in, opting out, or taking a savings suspension. The system does not verify employee eligibility or prevent you from saving.   

Details on KiwiSaver exempt employees:

http://www.ird.govt.nz/kiwisaver/employers/how/working-with-employees/exempt-from-auto-enrolment/

List of approved Super (KiwiSaver and default schemes) providers:

http://www.kiwisaver.govt.nz/providers/ks-providers.html

If you have any questions or feedback, please let us know via support@nzpayroll.co.nz.