Proposed Digital Services Tax Calculator NZ

Speculative: this tax does not exist

New Zealand has no digital services tax. A 3 percent DST Bill was introduced in 2023 and withdrawn on 20 May 2025, in favour of an OECD-led international solution. This page models a tax that has not been introduced, legislated or announced as government policy. It exists so you can see what such a tax would cost if it were ever introduced at a rate you choose.

The rate is yours to set on the slider. The 3 percent starting figure is the rate the 2023 Digital Services Tax Bill carried before it was withdrawn, so it is a real number from a real bill rather than an illustration. It is still not current law. No numbers on this page describe current New Zealand law, and none should be quoted as though they do.

This calculator models a digital services tax, a charge on the revenue a large multinational earns from users in New Zealand, if one were ever introduced. None exists. A Digital Services Tax Bill was introduced in 2023 proposing a 3 percent charge, and the Government withdrew it on 20 May 2025, choosing to wait for an OECD-led international solution instead. The bill is discharged, not merely paused, so this is a tax New Zealand considered and decided against for now. The 3 percent starting point on the slider is the rate that withdrawn bill carried, which makes it the one figure in this category with a real source behind it rather than an illustrative round number. A digital services tax is unusual because it applies to revenue rather than profit, which is deliberate: the companies it targets often book very little taxable profit in the country where their users are. It normally applies only above a revenue threshold, both globally and locally, so it reaches a small number of very large firms and no domestic small business. You enter the revenue earned from New Zealand users and the local threshold, then move the slider to the rate you want to model.

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digital services tax at your chosen rate
Revenue above threshold-
Profit on NZ revenue-
Tax as % of that profit-

A hypothetical figure for a tax that does not exist. It is arithmetic on the rate you chose, not a forecast, a policy costing or advice.

How it works

Taxable revenue is the revenue earned from New Zealand users above the threshold you set, never less than zero. The tax is that figure multiplied by the rate on the slider. The profit margin is used only to show what the tax represents as a share of profit, because a tax on revenue can be a very large share of profit on a thin margin, and that is the main argument made against this kind of tax.

Worked example

A firm earning $25,000,000 from New Zealand users, with a threshold of $3,500,000, has $21,500,000 of taxable revenue. At 3 percent the tax would be $645,000. If the net margin on that revenue is 12 percent, the profit is $3,000,000, so the tax is about 21.5 percent of profit, well above the 28 percent company rate would imply on the surface but applied to a different base.

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Frequently asked questions

Does New Zealand have a digital services tax?

No. A Digital Services Tax Bill proposing a 3 percent charge was introduced in 2023 and withdrawn on 20 May 2025, in favour of an internationally coordinated OECD solution. The bill was discharged rather than paused, so there is no digital services tax and none is currently before Parliament.

Why would a tax apply to revenue rather than profit?

Because the companies a digital services tax targets often report very little taxable profit in the countries where their users are, having attributed it elsewhere. Taxing revenue sidesteps that, at the cost of falling heavily on any business with a thin margin.

Would this affect a New Zealand small business?

Almost certainly not. Digital services taxes apply above both a global and a local revenue threshold, so they are aimed at a small number of very large multinationals. The threshold field lets you see the point at which the tax starts to apply.