Set up an Employee's KiwiSaver Details

Overview

An employee’s KiwiSaver settings are configured in Users > Employees > select employee > Tax & Super > KiwiSaver.

You will need to set an eligibility status for the employee by selecting the relevant option from the Eligible for KiwiSaver drop-down list:

• Employees who are eligible for KiwiSaver are set to ‘Yes’
• For ineligible employees, you will need to nominate the relevant reason for their ineligibility

By default, new employees will be set with an eligibility status of 'None'.

The KiwiSaver member checkbox should be ticked for employees who are an existing KiwiSaver member prior to commencement of employment. 

To assist with monitoring which employees have been configured, you can refer to the Payroll Readiness Report, which will indicate if the KiwiSaver Eligibility status is not set on an employee profile.

Casual and Temporary Employees

When new employees are reported with a Casual Engagement Type, they are considered as casual or temporary employees and are not automatically enrolled into KiwiSaver. 

A casual or temporary employee will be automatically enrolled into KiwiSaver 28 days after their Employment Start Date unless they are opted out by checking the Opted Out checkbox in the employee’s Tax & Super tab. An Employee Details (ED) Update file will be generated by the system on the 29th day of employment for you to submit to the IRD. 

Automatic enrolment will only apply to casual employees who have been onboarded into portals after 16 May 2021. You can confirm which employees are impacted using the KiwiSaver Details Report, filtering  on employees with an Engagement Type of Casual and a Start Date after 16 May.

Employees who should not be automatically enrolled in KiwiSaver will need their Engagement Type to be changed to an option other than Casual, or have their KiwiSaver eligibility set to Opted Out or Not Eligible. 

You can also use the KiwiSaver Details Report to confirm that casual employees who have been enrolled in KiwiSaver have the correct deduction and contribution items assigned in their profile, so that KiwiSaver deductions and contributiosn can be calculated in Process Payroll.

Casual Agricultural Employees (CAE)

Employees are considered as Casual Agricultural Employees if they meet both of the following criteria:

• their engagement type is set as ‘Casual Engagement’; and,
• their tax code is set as ‘CAE’ in the Tax & Super tab of their profile.

A CAE will be opted into KiwiSaver after three months if they are eligible and have not opted out. 

An ED Update file will be generated for eligible CAEs on the day after three months has passed since their Employment Start Date. 

Opt an Employee Out of KiwiSaver

Employees can be opted out of KiwiSaver between the 14th and 56th day of their employment. This information is sent to the IRD as a Payday Filing Update action,

When you select 'Opt Out between 14 and 56 days' for an employee, , you will see an additional field where you can enter the date that the Opt Out notice was received.

The dates that you can select are limited to dates that fall between 14 and 56 days since the employee's start date.

Selecting 'Opt Out between 14 and 56 days' will generate an Update file to submit to the IRD. If the Opted Out checkbox is ticked prior to an employee’s 14th day of employment, the Update action will fail during generation. You will need to wait until the minimum time has passed and regenerate the action. 

Late Opt Out of KiwiSaver

Employees who wish to opt out of KiwiSaver contributions after 56 days of employment can be set with the 'Late Opt Out' option in their KiwiSaver settings. You'll also need to select a date here, with options limited to dates that fall more than 56 days after the employee's start date. 

Late Opt Out requests are not sent via Payday Filing and need to be submitted directly to the IRD by the employee.

This field is only for recording Late Opt Out details if the request is accepted by the IRD. Before you select Late Opt Out, you will need your employee to provide you with confirmation from IRD to stop KiwiSaver deductions. 

Contributions Holidays

Employees may request to take a temporary break from making contributions into their KiwiSaver account. If a request is approved by the IRD, both you and your employee will receive a notice that indicates how long the contribution suspension will continue. 

Once you receive the notification, you can suspend contributions for the employee by ticking the On Contributions Holiday checkbox in their Tax & Super tab. You’ll also need to enter the Contributions Holiday Start Date and End Date in the provided fields. 

This is also referred to as a savings suspension.