ACC Levy by Classification Unit Calculator NZ 2026/27
This calculator works out your ACC levy once you know your classification unit (CU), the category ACC uses to price the Work Levy on your business or occupation. Every self-employed person and every employer pays a Work Levy that funds cover for injuries that happen on the job, and ACC sets the rate for that levy according to the CU your work is assigned to, since some occupations carry far more injury risk than others. Alongside that sits the Earners' Levy, a flat 1.75% charged on liable earnings for everyone, which funds cover for injuries that happen away from work. Enter your annual liable earnings and the Work Levy rate per $100 shown on your ACC invoice or myACC account, and the calculator adds the two levies together to estimate your total annual ACC bill, along with the combined effective rate on your earnings. It updates instantly as you type. This is built for sole traders, contractors and business owners who want to understand how much of their ACC bill comes from their own classification, particularly useful if your CU rate has changed, if you are comparing occupations, or if you are budgeting ahead of an invoice that, unlike PAYE, is not deducted automatically through the year. Figures are rounded for display and are an estimate for planning, since your actual invoice depends on ACC's confirmed classification of your business and the current rates published for your CU.
Work Levy: your classification unit (CU) rate per $100 of liable earnings, applied to the same liable earnings figure up to the $156,641 cap. CU rates for 2026/27 range from roughly $0.10 to $8 or more per $100 depending on the assessed injury risk of the CU, so this calculator takes your own rate as an input rather than assuming one.
Minimum liable earnings: $50,501 a year for people who work full time as self-employed, below which ACC may still levy on the minimum figure.
Source data: ACC (acc.co.nz/for-business) and central site rate file
paye-data.js. Last verified 1 April 2026.
Work Levy = liable earnings (capped at $156,641) ÷ 100 × your CU rate. Earners' Levy = liable earnings (capped at $156,641) × 1.75%. Estimate only, not an ACC invoice or financial advice.
Worked example
Rachel is a self-employed electrician with expected liable earnings of $85,000 for the year. Her classification unit's Work Levy rate, shown on her latest ACC invoice, is $2.10 per $100 of liable earnings. Her Work Levy is $85,000 ÷ 100 × $2.10 = $1,785.00. Her Earners' Levy is $85,000 × 1.75% = $1,487.50. Adding the two gives an estimated total ACC levy of $3,272.50 for the year, an effective combined rate of 3.85% of her liable earnings. If Rachel's business instead sat in a much lower-risk CU, say an office-based administration rate of around $0.30 per $100, her Work Levy would fall to $255.00 and her total ACC bill to $1,742.50, showing how much of the bill is driven by the classification itself rather than the Earners' Levy, which is the same for everyone at the same income.
What is an ACC classification unit?
ACC groups every type of business activity and self-employed occupation into a classification unit, commonly shortened to CU. Each CU is assigned a Work Levy rate that reflects the injury claims history and risk profile of that kind of work, reassessed by ACC each levy year using updated claims data. There are several hundred classification units in total, covering everything from clerical and professional services at the low-risk end through to forestry, roofing and commercial fishing at the high-risk end. Two businesses with identical turnover can pay very different Work Levies purely because they sit in different CUs, which is why this calculator asks for your own rate rather than assuming a single figure for everyone.
Work Levy versus Earners' Levy
It helps to keep the two levies separate in your head, because they exist for different reasons. The Work Levy funds ACC cover for injuries that happen because of your work, and its rate is priced to the risk of your classification unit, so it varies enormously between a graphic designer and a scaffolder. The Earners' Levy funds cover for injuries that happen away from work, in the same pool that funds an employee's non-work injury cover, and it is charged at the same flat 1.75% to every earner regardless of occupation, up to the same liable earnings cap. Most self-employed people pay both, since they are both their own employer for Work Levy purposes and an earner in their own right for Earners' Levy purposes.
How to find your classification unit and rate
Your CU code and current Work Levy rate are printed on your ACC invoice and are visible in your myACC for Business account online. If you are setting up as newly self-employed, ACC assigns a CU when you register based on the description of your business activity, so it pays to describe your actual work accurately, since a mismatched classification can mean paying the wrong rate. If you believe your business has been placed in the wrong CU, for example because it has changed activity over time, you can contact ACC and ask for a review. Because rates are reset each levy year, always use the figure from your current invoice rather than one from a prior year when using this calculator.
Minimum and maximum liable earnings
ACC applies both a floor and a ceiling to liable earnings for levy purposes. For the 2026/27 year, people who are self-employed full time have a minimum liable earnings figure of $50,501, so if your actual earnings fall below that but you work full time, ACC may still assess your levy as though you earned the minimum amount. At the other end, liable earnings are capped at $156,641, so no one pays levy on income above that regardless of how high their earnings actually are. This calculator applies the $156,641 cap automatically and flags when your entered earnings sit below the minimum threshold, since whether the minimum applies depends on whether you work full time, which only you know.
Employees versus self-employed: who pays what
This distinction catches a lot of people out. If you are an employee, your employer pays the Work Levy on your wages, based on the business's own classification unit, and you never see that cost on your payslip because it is not yours to pay. You do, however, have the Earners' Levy deducted automatically from your pay through PAYE, the same way income tax is. If you are self-employed, there is no employer to carry the Work Levy for you, so you pay both the Work Levy on your own classification and the Earners' Levy on your own income, usually billed together by ACC after your tax return shows your income for the year. This calculator is built for that second group, self-employed people and business owners working out their own combined liability.
Who this calculator is for
This calculator suits sole traders, contractors and small business owners who already know, or can look up, their classification unit's Work Levy rate and want to combine it with the Earners' Levy to see their likely total ACC bill. It is also useful for anyone comparing how a change of business activity, and therefore a change of CU, would affect their annual levy. Employees do not need this tool for their own pay, since their Earners' Levy is already deducted through PAYE and their employer carries the Work Levy separately.
What this calculator assumes
- You enter your own current CU Work Levy rate; the calculator does not look this up or guess it for you, since rates vary too widely between classification units to assume one.
- Liable earnings are capped at $156,641 for both levy components, the 2026/27 maximum.
- The Earners' Levy is a flat 1.75%, unchanged for 2026/27.
- It does not include the separate Working Safer levy that funds workplace health and safety initiatives, GST treatment of your ACC invoice, or any experience rating adjustment, all of which can shift your actual bill slightly.
- Results are indicative and rounded for display; your actual ACC invoice is the authoritative figure.
Related calculators
- Self-Employed ACC Levy Calculator: a simpler earners plus work levy estimate with a weekly budgeting figure.
- ACC CoverPlus Extra Calculator: compare standard CoverPlus with an agreed CoverPlus Extra cover amount.
- ACC Weekly Compensation Calculator: what ACC pays weekly if an injury stops you working.
- Tax Reserve Per Invoice Calculator: what to set aside from every invoice for tax, ACC, student loan and KiwiSaver.
- Sole Trader vs Company Tax Comparison: compare structures once ACC and tax are both in the picture.
Official NZ sources
This calculator is built from primary New Zealand sources. Always confirm current figures against the official source for your situation:
- ACC: levies for business and self-employed people, including classification units
- ACC: understanding your ACC invoice
- Inland Revenue (IRD): tax for self-employed people