Get the government contribution

To qualify for a government contribution, you must be:

1. Aged 18 or over
2. Living in New Zealand
3. Not yet eligible for a retirement withdrawal,
4. Below age 65

Even if you don't live in New Zealand, you may still qualify if you're:

1. A New Zealand government employee serving overseas
2. Working overseas as a volunteer
3. Working for token payment, for certain charitable organisations, if the work you’re doing meets certain conditions.

To receive your full government contribution of $521.43, you need to contribute at least $1,042.86 to your KiwiSaver account each year. The contribution each year, from 1 July to 30 June.

Even if you don't contribute $1,042.86 over the year, you're still eligible to get some government contribution – as long as you pay in some money before 30 June.

Use direct debit to make a one-off or repeat payment into your Booster KiwiSaver account. It's one of the quickest ways to contribute any extra money you need to get your government contribution.

You can set up a direct debit payment using the direct debit tool in your online Booster account.

Here’s some easy ways to contribute to your KiwiSaver account:

• Set up a Direct Debit on mybooster
• Make a top up payment via online banking. Add a new payee/select 'BOOSTER KIWISAVER SCHEME’ as you payee on your banking app and follow the steps
• Contribute from your salary or wages. You can choose a contribution rate that works for you: 3%, 4%, 6%, 8% or 10% on mybooster

Only employee or voluntary contributions count towards getting your full government contribution entitlement.

Other types of contributions don't count. These are:

• Employer contributions
• Government contributions
• Transfers from Australian complying superannuation schemes

Note that you'll be entitled to a lower government contribution than the full amount of $521.43 if one or more of the following is true. If you:

• Joined KiwiSaver part-way through the year
• Qualified for a government contribution for only part of the year
• Contributed less than $1,042.86 during the year

This is because your entitlement is based on the number of days in the GC year (which runs between 1 July to 30 June), that you are eligible.

You may already qualify for the full government contribution if your annual salary is either:

• $34,762 or more and you make employee contributions of at least 3%
• $26,072 or more and you make employee contributions of at least 4%

You may need to make voluntary contributions to make sure you get all of your government contribution if you're:

• Not contributing at least this much for the full year (1 July to 30 June)
• Self-employed
• Not in paid employment

To make sure you contribute enough to get the full government contribution each year, you can set up a direct debit to make regular payments into your Booster KiwiSaver Scheme account.

You can check your government contribution entitlement by logging into mybooster and going to ‘My KiwiSaver overview’.

There you’ll be able to see our estimate of:

• The amount of government contribution you qualify for
• How close you are to achieving it, based on the contributions we’ve received from you to date. Please note future contributions are not taken into account in the calculation

We claim your government contribution from Inland Revenue on your behalf in early July each year.

We usually get government contribution payments from Inland Revenue and apply them to your KiwiSaver account by mid- to late-July.

A government contribution is exactly the same as a member tax credit!

'Member tax credit' was the previous term used for 'government contribution'. However, the old term didn't really make much sense and could cause confusion for KiwiSaver members.

So, the government decided to start using 'government contribution' instead. This makes it much easier to understand exactly what it is, and the benefit for you!