Starting your first job
Your IRD number, your tax code, your payslip and your rights, explained once and properly.
Ends with: Being able to read your own payslip line by line and tell whether it is right.
Nobody sits a school leaver down and explains a payslip. You get handed a form on your first day, you tick something, and eighteen months later you find out you were on the wrong tax code the whole time and owe money you have already spent. That is not a failure of intelligence. It is a failure of anybody ever having told you.
This pathway goes in the order the questions actually arrive. First the paperwork that has to exist before you can be paid properly, because without an IRD number you are taxed at 45 per cent and getting that back is a chore. Then the employment agreement, which you sign before you start and which contains the trial period clause that decides what happens if it does not work out. Then what you must legally be paid, because knowing the minimum wage and the starting-out rate is the only way to tell whether your first payslip is right.
The middle is the payslip itself, line by line. Gross, PAYE, the ACC earner levy, KiwiSaver, student loan. Once you have seen each one explained you can check your own pay in about a minute, which is a skill that stays useful for the next forty years.
The entitlements at the end are the ones most commonly not taken, because people do not know they have them. Four weeks of annual leave accruing from your first day. Ten days of sick leave after six months. Paid rest breaks and unpaid meal breaks that depend on the length of your shift. None of these are favours and none of them need to be negotiated. They are the law, and the only reason they go unused is that nobody mentions them.
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Get an IRD number
Without one you are taxed at the no-declaration rate of 45 per cent. Sort this before your first payday, not after.
6 min read -
Read the agreement before you sign
Every employee must have a written agreement. The trial period clause is the one to find first, because it changes what happens if it does not work out.
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What you must legally be paid
Adult minimum wage is $23.95 an hour from 1 April 2026. Starting-out and training rates are $19.16, and only apply in specific circumstances.
Work out your own: Minimum Wage Calculator 7 min read -
Pick the right tax code
You fill in an IR330 on day one. The wrong code means you overpay all year or get a bill at the end of it.
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Understand your first payslip
Gross, PAYE, ACC levy, KiwiSaver, student loan. Every line explained, so you can tell whether you have been paid correctly.
Work out your own: Income Tax Calculator 8 min read -
Why gross is not what lands
The number in the job ad and the number in your account are different, and the gap is predictable once you have seen it broken down.
Work out your own: Take Home Pay Calculator 6 min read -
What the commute takes back out of your pay
The commute comes straight out of the take-home figure in the step above, and it is the easiest cost to leave out when comparing two offers. A job paying more an hour further away is often the worse one.
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KiwiSaver: what comes out and what goes in
Your contribution, your employer's contribution, and the government one. Opting out to take home more costs you all three.
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Choosing a KiwiSaver fund
The default fund is rarely the right one at your age. This is the decision with the longest run of compounding behind it.
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Annual leave
Four weeks a year, and it accrues from day one even though you cannot usually take it for twelve months.
Work out your own: Annual Leave Calculator 7 min read -
Sick leave
Ten days a year after six months, carrying over to a cap. You do not need a medical certificate for a single day.
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Rest and meal breaks
Paid rest breaks and unpaid meal breaks are a legal entitlement, not a favour, and the number depends on the length of your shift.
Work out your own: 8 Hour Shift Calculator 6 min read -
Where your pay goes
Now there is money arriving regularly, the account it lands in and the one it sits in should not be the same.
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Start an emergency fund
The single thing that stops a broken car becoming a debt. Start it now, while your costs are lower than they will ever be again.
Work out your own: Emergency Fund Calculator 8 min read
When to stop and get someone else
If you think you have been underpaid or your agreement looks wrong, Employment New Zealand runs a free service and can be contacted directly. A union covering your industry will also read an agreement for you. Neither costs anything, and both are better than guessing.
This pathway is information, not financial advice. Rates, thresholds and rules change; every guide carries the date it was last reviewed.
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