Calculators

What is owed on leaving a job, gross

Final pay under the Holidays Act 2003: leave, notice and redundancy.

The twelve month line decides the whole calculation. Under twelve months of service no leave entitlement has vested, so the Act pays 8% of everything earned during the employment. At twelve months and over, unused leave is paid out at a daily rate. Someone eleven months in with a leave balance showing in payroll is owed the 8%, not the balance, and getting that branch wrong is the usual mistake.

service is therefore the input that matters most, and under12 requires gross_earnings_total rather than a leave balance.

Read excludes before quoting the total. Ordinary wages for days actually worked are not in it and are paid on top at the usual rate. Everything returned is gross: the leave payout is taxed as an extra pay, which is what /v1/lump-sum-tax is for.

New Zealand has no statutory redundancy compensation. Whatever the employment agreement provides is an input here, never a derivation.

post/v1/final-pay

Request

  • Base URL: https://api.calculate.co.nz
  • URL: https://api.calculate.co.nz/v1/final-pay
  • Auth: API key in header X-API-Key

Request body

annual_salarynumber

Annual salary. Give this OR hourly_rate.

hourly_ratenumber

Hourly rate, used with hours_per_week when there is no salary.

hours_per_weeknumber

Ordinary hours a week. Only used with hourly_rate.

servicestring

over12 for twelve months service or more, under12 for less. This picks the calculation entirely: under twelve months the payout is 8% of gross earnings, not a leave balance.

leave_balance_daysnumber

Unused annual leave in DAYS. Used when service is over12.

gross_earnings_totalnumber

Total gross earned across the whole employment. Required when service is under12, where the payout is 8% of it.

average_weekly_earningsnumber

Optional 12 month average weekly earnings. The Holidays Act pays leave at the greater of this and ordinary weekly pay; supply it and the higher of the two is used.

notice_weeksnumber

Weeks of notice paid in lieu.

redundancynumber

Agreed redundancy compensation from the employment agreement. New Zealand has no statutory minimum, so this is an input.

Example request

{
  "annual_salary": 78000,
  "average_weekly_earnings": 0,
  "gross_earnings_total": 0,
  "hourly_rate": 0,
  "hours_per_week": 40,
  "leave_balance_days": 12,
  "notice_weeks": 4,
  "redundancy": 0,
  "service": "over12"
}

Response

Leave payout, notice pay and redundancy, with the leave working shown.

disclaimerstring required

Scope and limits of this calculation.

Example response

{
  "disclaimer": "Gross estimate under the Holidays Act 2003. Excludes ordinary wages for days actually worked, which are paid on top, and excludes PAYE. Leave is paid at the greater of ordinary weekly pay and average weekly earnings; ordinary weekly pay is used unless you supply the average. Not legal or employment advice.",
  "result": {
    "annual_gross": 78000,
    "excludes": [
      "ordinary wages for days actually worked in the final pay period, which are paid at the usual rate on top of this",
      "PAYE and other deductions: every figure here is gross",
      "any alternative (worked public) holidays owed"
    ],
    "leave_basis": "ordinary weekly pay",
    "leave_payout": 3600,
    "leave_working": "Unused leave: 12 days x daily rate of $300.00 (based on ordinary weekly pay / 5) = $3,600.00.",
    "notice_pay": 6000,
    "notice_weeks": 4,
    "redundancy": 0,
    "service": "over12",
    "tax_year": "2026/27",
    "total_final_pay": 9600,
    "weekly_gross": 1500
  }
}

Changes

No recorded changes to this operation across all 1 revision of this API.