For New Zealanders

How tax residency works

You are a New Zealand tax resident if you have a permanent place of abode here, or if you spend more than 183 days in New Zealand in any 12 month period. Residents are taxed on worldwide income at rates up to 39%; non residents only on income from New Zealand.

The permanent place of abode test, known as PPOA, comes first and overrides the day counts. It asks whether there is a place in New Zealand where you usually live. You do not need to own it, and renting it out while you are away does not automatically stop it counting.

Inland Revenue, the New Zealand tax authority, replaced its 2016 guidance with interpretation statement IS 25/16 in May 2025. The law did not change, but the statement draws on recent court decisions: where you keep a dwelling here, a partner or children living here, your belongings and an intention to return all point towards a PPOA. A holiday home used for two or three months a year is generally not enough on its own.

• 183 day rule: more than 183 days in New Zealand in any 12 months makes you resident, backdated to the first of those days. Part days count as whole days.
• 325 day rule: you stop being resident only when you have no PPOA and have been away for more than 325 days in a 12 month period. Non residence is backdated to the first of those days.
• Transitional residents: people who arrive, or return after at least 10 years as non residents, can be exempt from tax on most foreign income for up to 48 months.
• Government service: working overseas for the New Zealand Government keeps you resident however long you are away.
• Tax treaties: if you are resident in two countries, a double tax agreement can make you resident only in your new one.

Leaving properly

There is no departure form that ends residency. You stop being resident when the facts change, so the work lies in arranging those facts, then telling Inland Revenue and everyone who deducts tax from your income.

1. 01

   Deal with the home

   Sell it, or let it on a long term lease to unrelated tenants, so it is no longer a place where you usually live. A home kept free for your return is the most common reason residency continues.

2. 02

   Plan the 325 days

   Arrange your first year abroad so you are away for more than 325 days in a 12 month period. Short visits are fine as long as they keep you within that limit.

3. 03

   File for the part year

   Ask Inland Revenue for an income tax assessment if you only had salary and taxed interest, or file an IR3 return covering 1 April to your departure date if you had other income such as rent or self employed earnings.

4. 04

   Update banks and funds

   Tell banks, share registries and fund managers you are non resident so the right non resident withholding tax is deducted, and change the prescribed investor rate on portfolio investment entity (PIE) funds to 28%.

5. 05

   Review trusts and loans

   If you settled a New Zealand trust, take advice before you go: a change in residence can change its tax status, and some changes need form IR462 within 3 months. Update your student loan travel details and your KiwiSaver provider.

6. 06

   Keep the evidence

   Keep travel dates, your lease or sale documents and proof of your home and tax residency abroad. Your accountant relies on these if Inland Revenue asks.

Exit tax, property and investments

New Zealand has no general capital gains tax and no exit tax on leaving. Foreign shares are the exception to watch. Under the foreign investment fund (FIF) rules, which apply once your offshore shares have cost more than NZ$50,000 in total, Inland Revenue generally treats them as sold at market value just before you leave, which closes out that year’s FIF income. After that the FIF rules stop applying. A bill introduced in September 2026 proposes raising the threshold to NZ$100,000.

Residential property is caught by the bright line test. For sales on or after 1 July 2024, a profit is taxable if you sell within 2 years of buying, unless the main home exclusion applies. If you are an offshore person when you sell within that period, your conveyancer deducts residential land withholding tax (RLWT) at settlement. Property bought with the intention of reselling it is taxable however long you hold it.

Rent from a New Zealand property stays taxable here after you leave and is declared on an IR3NR non resident return. Interest and dividends from New Zealand carry non resident withholding tax, which is usually the final tax. Foreign currency accounts and loans may need a final calculation under the financial arrangement rules.

KiwiSaver, student loans and NZ Super

KiwiSaver depends on where you go. If you move to Australia permanently, you can transfer your balance to an Australian complying super fund, where it follows Australian rules and is generally locked until retirement. You cannot cash it out on emigrating to Australia.

If you move anywhere else, you can withdraw your own and your employer’s contributions once you have lived overseas for 1 year. Government contributions cannot be taken and are returned to the Crown. Leaving the balance invested is also allowed.

A student loan stops being interest free once you spend fewer than 32 days in New Zealand in a 184 day period. You then become an overseas based borrower: interest runs from the day after you left, at 5.6% for the year to 31 March 2027, and minimum repayments are set by your loan balance rather than your income. Missed payments add late payment interest, and serious default can lead to court action.

New Zealand Superannuation (NZ Super), the state pension, is paid from 65 without contributions. The residence requirement is rising in steps from 10 to 20 years lived here since age 20, for people turning 65 between July 2024 and July 2042. It is normally claimed while living in New Zealand; once granted, it can often be paid abroad, with the amount depending on your years here between 20 and 65, except in the United Kingdom, where the UK agreement applies instead.

Dual citizenship

New Zealand allows dual and multiple citizenship. Taking another passport does not affect your New Zealand citizenship, so every citizenship program we offer is open to you, provided the other country also allows dual citizenship.

Citizenship by descent passes on only one generation automatically. A child born overseas to a parent who is a New Zealand citizen by descent does not become a citizen automatically, which matters if you plan to raise a family abroad.

A New Zealand passport already gives wide travel access, so a second passport is less a travel upgrade than a Plan B: a right to live, bank and invest elsewhere, and more options for your children.