Painless Payroll Compliance
The Essential Setup Checklist
Before processing any payments you must register as an employer with the IRD, gather your team’s tax and retirement savings forms, and lock in a pay schedule that aligns with your cash flow.
Register with the IRD
Starting your journey as an employer is an exciting milestone. Before you run your first pay you must use the IRD's online portal or complete an IR334 form to register your business as an employer.
Determine Employee Tax Codes
Every team member must complete an IR330 form before work begins. This guarantees they are assigned the correct tax code so you can determine precise PAYE deductions and track student loan obligations.
Set Up KiwiSaver
Use the KS2 form to automatically enrol eligible employees into KiwiSaver. New Zealand citizens and permanent residents aged 18 to 64 are eligible. You must also provide employees with a KiwiSaver information pack upon arrival.
Define Your Payroll Timeline
Select your pay cycle frequency (weekly, fortnightly or monthly) and select a fixed pay date.
Evaluate your business cash flow patterns carefully before finalising these dates, as they will define your long-term pay rhythms. This must be documented inside your employment agreements.
Who Does What In The Payroll Process?
You manage operational inputs, like checking contracts and verifying team timesheets. Thankyou Payroll takes responsibility for calculations, payroll payments and IRD reporting.
Employer Responsibilities
Contract Verification
Cross-check your staff agreements against the employee settings in Thankyou Payroll.
Onboarding Inputs
Enter employee data accurately into Thankyou Payroll to ensure they are paid correctly.
Time Tracking
Validate employee hours and record any leave taken during the specific pay cycle.
Thankyou Payroll Responsibilities
Wage Distribution
Deposit net wages directly into your employees’ nominated bank accounts.
IRD Compliance
File required employee information with the IRD within two working days of your payday.
Deduction Payouts
Calculating and paying payroll deductions to the IRD on your behalf.
What to Enter Each Pay Cycle
Once your employee profiles are added, your recurring administrative focus centers on inputting current cycle values. To run a successful pay cycle, you must input daily hours worked from verified timesheets and account for any leave taken during that pay window.
Daily Hours Worked
Input the exact hours worked each day for any waged, casual or variable-hour employees.
Tracking hours on a daily basis is a mandatory legal requirement under the Holidays Act 2003 to ensure annual leave is calculated accurately.
Leave Taken
Record any leave taken during the pay cycle, such as sick leave, annual holidays or bereavement leave.
One Off Adjustments
Add any unique payment types relevant to the pay cycle. This could include overtime rates, commissions, penal shifts, productivity incentives or bonuses.
Funding Your Pay
When your data entry is complete and the pay is confirmed, you will be given the gross payroll value that will need to be transferred to Thankyou Payroll. Employers can fund their pay runs smoothly using either automated direct debit or internet banking.
Direct Debit
This is the simplest and most automated method. By setting up a secure direct debit, you simply review and authorise the totals before your pay date.
The software automatically draws the exact amount from your designated business account on schedule. This eliminates manual transfers. All you have to do is check that you have sufficient funds in your bank account prior to finalisation.
Internet Banking
If you choose manual banking, you must log into your online banking and manually transfer funds to Thankyou Payroll. To avoid delays in your payment, ensure your Customer Reference Number is used as your payment reference.
What Happens Behind The Scenes?
Once you hit confirm, your job is completely done. Thankyou Payroll automatically pays your employees, sends them their payslips, files information with the IRD and submits their tax deductions.
Employees Paid
Net wages are deposited seamlessly via direct credit directly into your staff members' bank accounts on your chosen payday.
Payslips Sent
Detailed payslips are automatically emailed out to your employees. A summary report is also delivered to your payroll administrator.
Payday Filing Complete
We automatically file your employee information forms with IRD within two working days of payday.
Deductions Sent To IRD
All collected PAYE, student loan deductions, child support payments and KiwiSaver contributions are batched and sent to the IRD on time. This protects your business from costly late payment penalties.
Frequently Asked Questions
What happens if I make a mistake on my first pay run?
If you spot an error before finalising the pay run, you can adjust the values inside your dashboard. If the pay has already been confirmed and processed, contact Thankyou Payroll's Customer Support Team to assist you with an adjustment or correction.
Is there an extra fee for sending payslips or filing with the IRD?
No. Core functions like electronic payday filing, automated deduction payments and emailing employee payslips are standard features managed completely by Thankyou Payroll.
Can I choose any day of the week to pay my employees?
You can select any pay date allowed by Thankyou Payroll (Tuesday - Saturday). Before locking in a permanent pay day, it is highly recommended to evaluate your business' cash flow patterns and the administrative resources you have available to process each cycle. Once decided, this cadence should be formally documented in your staff employment agreements.
If an employee opts out of KiwiSaver, do I stop deductions on the first pay?
No. By law, every eligible employee aged 18 to 64 must be automatically enrolled when starting a new job. They can only choose to opt out after they have officially worked for you for 14 days. If their first pay run happens within that initial two-week window, you must make the standard deductions and contributions.
How do my employees receive their payslips?
Thankyou Payroll automatically emails a detailed payslip directly to your employees on your behalf and delivers a summary report straight to your account administrator.
What happens if an employee cannot afford all their deductions?
New Zealand law dictates a strict priority order for payroll processing . If you receive an official Child Support Notice from the IRD, child support deductions must take absolute priority over any other form of employee deduction except for standard PAYE tax .
Do I need to keep a copy of my employees' signed IR330 and KS2?
Yes, you are legally required to retain all payroll records for a minimum of 7 years. These can be stored physically or digitally?