Tax in New Zealand
See what New Zealand's tax rules do to your property portfolio.
What Freeholt models for property, income and retirement in New Zealand, and what it does not.
Free to start. No card. Rules reviewed 22 August 2026.
Modelled here
- Tax on rental income
- Capital gains on a sale
- Income tax beyond the rent
- Dividends, interest and share sales
- Retirement savings
- Inheritance and what happens on death
NZD · Rates as at 22 August 2026 · Rates editable in Settings · Estimates, not advice
Rental income is taxed at marginal rates for residents and non residents alike. Mortgage interest is 100% deductible again (from April 2025), rental losses are ring fenced, and the 2 year bright line test taxes quick resales.
How rental income is taxed in New Zealand
For a resident owner: Progressive rates from 10.5% to 39%, stacked on other income in this country. The top rate of 39% applies above NZ$180,000. For an owner living abroad and renting this out: Progressive rates from 10.5% to 39%, stacked on other income in this country. The top rate of 39% applies above NZ$180,000.
Interest and losses
Mortgage interest is deductible against the rent. A rental loss is ring fenced: it carries forward against future rental income rather than reducing other income now.
Capital gains on a sale
Gains are added to income and taxed at the marginal income rate. The gain is fully exempt once the property has been held 2 years. 10% of the SALE PRICE is withheld at settlement from a non resident seller. It is a credit against the bill, not an extra tax, but it is cash the seller does not get on the day.
Annual property tax while holding
There is no annual property or land tax here. What people pay instead is council rates, set by each council on the land, capital or annual value of the property.
What it costs to buy
No purchase or transfer duty is charged. No stamp duty, but overseas buyers are largely banned from existing homes (eased from March 2026 for NZ$5m+ investors).
Can a foreign buyer purchase here?
Foreign buyers are generally BANNED from buying existing residential property here. Overseas persons generally cannot buy existing residential property (2018 ban). Australians and Singaporeans are exempt; from 6 Mar 2026 the Overseas Investment (National Interest Test and Other Matters) Amendment Act lets an Active Investor Plus, Investor 1 or Investor 2 visa holder buy or build ONE home worth over NZ$5m, on consent.
Buying here from abroad
The rules a foreign or non resident buyer meets here, as at 23 October 2026. Each line links to the official page it comes from, which is the one to rely on as these rules change. Estimates for planning, not advice.
- Most overseas persons cannot buy residential land in New Zealand without consent under the Overseas Investment Act. Official source
- Holders of an Active Investor Plus, Investor 1 or Investor 2 visa can apply for consent to buy or build a house costing more than NZD 5 million, and other visa types do not qualify for this pathway. Official source
- The consent application fee is NZD 2,040 where the land includes an existing dwelling bought for more than NZD 5 million, and NZD 3,500 in all other cases. Official source
- A home sold on or after 1 July 2024 within 2 years of purchase falls under the bright line test, and residential land withholding tax is deducted at settlement when the seller is an offshore person. Official source
The full guide: buying property in New Zealand as a foreigner
Residents of New Zealand with property abroad
A resident of New Zealand is taxed on rent and sale gains from property abroad under the same rules as property in New Zealand, with a credit for the tax paid where the property is. The credit stops at New Zealand's own tax on that income, so the total is broadly the higher of the two countries' charges. A special regime for people who have just moved to New Zealand applies in Freeholt's figures only when it is chosen on the tax residence.
Income tax in New Zealand, beyond the rent
Progressive, up to 39%. The bands run Up to 15,600 at 10.5%; 15,600 to 53,500 at 17.5%; 53,500 to 78,100 at 30%; 78,100 to 180,000 at 33%; Above 180,000 at 39%. Rental profit joins this ladder. Figures in NZD, as verified 22 August 2026.
Dividends, interest and share sales
How New Zealand taxes investment income. For dividends: Taxed at the marginal income rate. Company tax already paid is credited back in full. For interest: Taxed at the marginal income rate. For share sale gains: Not taxed. Inside the foreign investment fund (FIF) fair dividend rate the holder is taxed on a DEEMED return rather than on anything received: 5% of the balance is treated as income each year and charged at the ordinary income rates, stacked on the holder's other income. A holding that fell in value is charged the same as one that rose. A capital loss that this year's gains cannot absorb is lost: it does not carry forward to later years.
Pensions and retirement savings
TTE. Taxed at more than one stage. Contributions are made from money already taxed. No annual cap is modelled. Growth inside the fund is taxed at 28%. Withdrawals can start from age 65. After that age, withdrawals are tax free.
Inheritance and what happens on death in New Zealand
No inheritance, estate or gift tax. But something else stands in its place. That is a researched finding rather than a gap in the model, and it is not the end of the story: Freeholt holds four rules that stand where a transfer tax would be in another country, broadly what a beneficiary's cost base becomes and when a charge falls due, and this page does not attempt to summarise them. These rules were verified 5 August 2026. Freeholt models the country's rules rather than any particular will, so what an estate pays still depends on who inherits and what is in it.
Worth knowing about tax in New Zealand
New Zealand runs one scale for residents and non residents alike, so the same schedule is the researched answer here rather than a missing one. Resident withholding tax is taken from New Zealand interest and dividends at source and squared up at the end of the tax year. The figure here is the year end liability; only the timing of the cash differs. New Zealand has no general capital gains tax. That is a researched finding, not a gap in what is modelled.
How Freeholt models New Zealand
Every rate above is priced from Freeholt's own table for New Zealand and runs through the whole projection: rental income, a modelled sale and the annual holding costs all use the same figures. They are also defaults that can be edited in Settings, so a position that differs, or a rate that changes before we catch it, can be corrected and the projection reprices around it.
What running this property costs
In New Zealand this covers council rates, landlord/building insurance, body corporate levies (apartments), maintenance and ~7 to 9% management fees. There is no annual land tax.
How borrowing works here
Usually 30 year principal & interest (interest only periods are common), split across 1 to 5 year fixed rate tranches.
What actually happened here
This country's own record, one year at a time. Nothing on this page is borrowed from another country. Move across a chart to read a year.
Recent rule changes in New Zealand
- 2027-07-01 An opposition (Labour) election policy, not a government bill: a 28% tax on gains on residential investment and commercial property accruing after a 1 July 2027 valuation date, the family home excluded. It depends on the 7 Nov 2026 election.(proposed only, never priced into your figures)
- 2028-04-01 KiwiSaver contribution rates rise from 3.5% to 4% on 1 Apr 2028, for both the default employee rate and the compulsory employer minimum (Taxation (Budget Measures) Act 2025, ss 20 and 22). The plan uses the rates entered on each salary.
- 2026-04-01 The Taxation (Annual Rates for 2026 to 27, FBT Simplification, Foreign Investment Funds, and Remedial Measures) Bill, introduced 10 Sep 2026, would raise the foreign investment fund threshold for individuals from $50,000 to $100,000 of cost and open the revenue account method to all residents, from 1 Apr 2026 for the 2026 to 27 year. Not law, so not computed.(proposed only, never priced into your figures)
What Freeholt models here
- ModelledTax on rental income
- Resident and non resident rates, with interest and losses treated under the local rule.
- ModelledCapital gains on a sale
- Priced in the year of the sale under the rules of that year.
- None hereDuty on purchase
- No duty is charged on a purchase here.
- None hereAnnual property or land tax
- No annual charge on the property itself here.
- ModelledIncome tax beyond the rent
- Salary and other income, stacked with the rent.
- ModelledDividends, interest and share sales
- Investment income and gains, with the local allowances.
- ModelledRetirement savings
- Contributions, the fund and the way out.
- ModelledInheritance and what happens on death
- Who pays, and on what, when property passes on.
What Freeholt does not model here
- Treaty relief between this country and the owner's country of residence
What the figures above leave out (7)
- The ACC earners' levy (1.75% of earnings up to $156,641 in 2026 to 27, at most $2,741.22 a year) is not taken off salary here, so take home pay is overstated by up to that amount. Investment income is treated as outside the levy, which the research has not confirmed.
- The independent earner tax credit (up to $520 a year for New Zealand residents earning $24,000 to $70,000 who receive no Working for Families, NZ Super or benefit) is applied only when eligibility is stated. For an eligible earner the tax here is overstated by up to $520.
- Unused imputation credits carry forward in New Zealand; that carry forward is not modelled.
- Two exceptions to the nil charge on share gains are not modelled: the bright line test on residential land sold within its window, which belongs to the property side, and share trader status, where shares bought in order to sell on are taxed as ordinary income. For someone who trades shares as a business, a gain shown here as untaxed is understated by the whole of the tax.
- The KiwiSaver government contribution (25 cents per dollar of the member's own contributions, up to $260.72 a year) runs on a 1 July to 30 June year and is counted here as a full year in each plan year in which the member reaches 16 to 64, ending in the year they turn 65, with taxable income read from salary alone. The law pro rates the years they turn 16 and 65, so the account is overstated by part of a year's contribution in the first year and understated by part of one in the year of 65. And overstated for a member whose other income takes them over $180,000.
- The tax on an employer's KiwiSaver contribution (ESCT) is banded here on this year's pay plus that contribution. The law uses the previous tax year's figure, so after a pay rise across a band edge the rate here is one band too high and the money landing is understated, and after a pay cut it is overstated. The employer contribution is counted only when a rate is entered on the salary.
- KiwiSaver earnings are charged at the top prescribed investor rate (PIR) of 28%. For a member whose own PIR is 17.5% or 10.5% the tax on the fund's earnings is overstated, in that direction only, and exact at 28%.
Coverage deepens country by country. Every figure is an estimate, not advice.
Compare with another country
Each page is built from the same table the app runs on, so the figures line up side by side.
Compare New Zealand with another country — rent, gains, annual tax and duty, side by side.
Questions people ask
- Does Freeholt model New Zealand property tax?
- Yes. Rental income tax and capital gains on a sale are priced from Freeholt's own rate table for New Zealand. New Zealand levies no purchase duty and no annual property or land tax, so there is nothing to price. Any rate or threshold can be corrected in Settings so the whole projection reprices. Every figure is an estimate, not advice.
- How is rental income from New Zealand taxed if I live somewhere else?
- Progressive rates from 10.5% to 39%, stacked on other income in this country. The top rate of 39% applies above NZ$180,000. Tax may also be due in the country of residence, with credit for what was paid here. Estimates only, not advice.
- What are the New Zealand figures as at?
- The rate table for New Zealand was last reviewed on 22 August 2026. Freeholt date stamps every country rather than implying all of them were checked on the same day. Estimates only, not advice.
Model a property in New Zealand alongside everything else you own: see the year your portfolio starts paying you back.