When Is Tax Return in NZ? 2026 Dates for Filing, Assessments and Refunds

Ask when tax return time is in New Zealand and you will hear a few different dates thrown around: 31 March, 7 July, 7 February. All of them matter, but they do different jobs. One closes the tax year, one is the filing deadline for people who have to send in a return, and one is the day any tax owing has to be paid.

Here is the short version. The tax year ends on 31 March. If your income is a salary or wage that has already been taxed, you usually do not file anything at all. Inland Revenue works out your tax for you and sends an automatic income tax assessment sometime between the last weekend of May and the end of July. If you do need to file an IR3 return, it is due by 7 July, or by 31 March the following year if you have a tax agent with an extension of time. Any tax you still owe after that is due by the following 7 February, or 7 April if you have an extension of time.

This guide walks through each date in order, who it applies to, and what happens around refunds and provisional tax. It is written for individuals. If you run a business and want the bookkeeping side of year end, the stocktakes, write-offs and reconciliations that sit behind these dates, our End of Financial Year NZ guide covers that side of things.

The 2026 dates at a glance

These dates are for the standard tax year that ended on 31 March 2026.

Date	What happens
31 March 2026	The tax year ends. The new tax year starts on 1 April.
Last weekend of May to end of July 2026	Inland Revenue issues automatic income tax assessments in batches. Refunds are paid as assessments go out.
7 July 2026	IR3 income tax returns are due for people filing without an extension of time.
28 August 2026	First provisional tax instalment for the 2026–27 tax year (standard option, 31 March balance date).
15 January 2027	Second provisional tax instalment.
7 February 2027	Deadline to pay any tax owing for the year ended 31 March 2026, if you have no extension of time.
31 March 2027	Final filing deadline for IR3 returns covered by a tax agent’s extension of time.
7 April 2027	Deadline to pay tax owing for the year ended 31 March 2026, if you have an extension of time.
7 May 2027	Third provisional tax instalment for the 2026–27 tax year.

The same rhythm repeats every year, so once you understand the shape of one cycle, the next one holds few surprises.

First, the tax year itself: 1 April to 31 March

New Zealand’s standard tax year runs from 1 April to 31 March. Everything in this guide hangs off that 31 March finish line. Income you earned up to 31 March 2026 belongs to the 2025–26 tax year, and it is that income your return or assessment is based on, taxed at the rates that applied for the year.

A small number of taxpayers have a different balance date, approved by Inland Revenue, and their filing and payment dates shift accordingly. If that is you, your personalised due dates show in myIR, and the standard dates below will not line up exactly. Everyone else works to 31 March.

Do you file a return, or does Inland Revenue assess you?

This is the fork in the road, and it decides which dates apply to you.

If your income was taxed before you received it

If your only income is a salary, wages, a benefit or investment income that had tax deducted along the way, Inland Revenue already holds the information it needs. You do not file a return. Instead, Inland Revenue prepares an income tax assessment for you automatically, using the income information reported by your employer, bank and other payers.

Your job is simply to check the assessment when it arrives. It shows the income Inland Revenue has on record, the tax you paid during the year, and whether you have a refund coming, a bill to pay, or paid exactly the right amount. If something looks wrong, or income is missing, contact Inland Revenue rather than ignoring it. Some people are asked to confirm or add information before their assessment can be finalised, so keep an eye on your myIR account through June and July.

If you had income that was not taxed at source

You need to file an Individual income tax return, the IR3, if you received income that was not taxed before you got it. Inland Revenue’s rule of thumb is that an IR3 is required if you received more than $200 (before tax) in income that Inland Revenue has not been told about. The common sources are:

• self-employment income, including a side business or contracting
• rental income, including from Airbnb or Bookabach
• overseas income, if you are a New Zealand tax resident
• income from taxable property sales
• cash jobs paid under the table
• income from an estate, trust or partnership
• profit or loss from buying, selling or trading cryptoassets

Plenty of people sit in both camps: a salary during the week and a rental property or a small business on the side. If that is you, the untaxed income puts you in the IR3 group. You file one return covering everything, and Inland Revenue prepares your assessment after your return is filed rather than during the May to July automatic run.

One more group worth knowing about: if your partner has to file an IR3 and you receive Working for Families, Inland Revenue may need to wait for your partner’s return before it can issue your assessment and any refund, because your entitlement depends on your combined family income.

When are tax returns due?

The standard filing deadline for an IR3 is 7 July following the end of the tax year. For the year ended 31 March 2026, that was 7 July 2026.

There are two ways that date moves:

You use a tax agent with an extension of time. Tax agents are generally granted an extension of time because Inland Revenue recognises they cannot prepare every client’s return by 7 July. Clients of an agent usually pick up the same extension status, which moves the filing deadline to 31 March the following year. For the 2025–26 year, that is 31 March 2027. No filing date can be extended beyond that 31 March, whatever your circumstances.

You apply for an extension yourself. If you do not have an agent but genuinely cannot file by 7 July, you can ask Inland Revenue for an extension of time. These are considered case by case, taking your circumstances into account, and the request should be made before the due date rather than after it.

Filing late when you were required to file can attract penalties, so if the deadline is going to be a problem, talk to Inland Revenue early. And note the distinction that catches people out: the extension moves your filing date, but the date your tax has to be paid is a separate thing, covered below.

When do automatic assessments arrive?

Inland Revenue issues automatic assessments in batches across a window that runs from the last weekend of May to the end of July each year. In 2026, most assessments went out from early June onwards, with the bulk released over a few weekends. Assessments for people receiving Working for Families mostly went out in June, although some took until 31 July where Inland Revenue needed more information.

Your assessment lands in your myIR account. If you do not have a myIR account, it comes by post. There is no need to contact Inland Revenue before yours arrives, and no significance in a neighbour or workmate getting theirs weeks before you. It is a staggered process by design.

For IR3 filers, the sequence runs the other way around: you file first, then Inland Revenue prepares your assessment from your return. File early in the season and your assessment, and any refund, follows sooner.

When are refunds paid?

If your assessment shows you paid too much tax during the year, the refund is paid automatically into the bank account Inland Revenue has on record for you, at the same time your assessment is issued. There is no separate claim to lodge and no form to send in. For IR3 filers, the refund follows once your return has been processed and your assessment prepared.

Two practical points follow from that:

• Keep your bank account details current. A refund can only go where Inland Revenue thinks it should. If you have changed banks since last year, update your details in myIR so the money is not delayed.
• Expect the refund and the assessment together. If your assessment has arrived but no money has, check the bank account details on the assessment first, then give it a few working days before chasing it up.

A word on scams, because refund season is when they spike. Inland Revenue will never put a refund amount in an email or text message, will never ask for your card details to pay a refund, and will never ask you to reply to a message with your bank account details. Refunds only ever go directly into the bank account on record. If a message about a refund asks you to click a link and enter details, it is not from Inland Revenue. Our separate guide to how tax refunds work in NZ goes deeper on working out whether you are due one.

When is tax to pay due? Terminal tax

If your assessment or return shows tax still owing, that final amount is generally called terminal tax, and it is not due straight away. For the year ended 31 March 2026:

• 7 February 2027 is the payment deadline if you have no extension of time.
• 7 April 2027 is the deadline if you have a tax agent and an extension of time.

That long gap between the end of the tax year and the payment date is deliberate. It gives time for returns to be filed, assessments to be worked out and the final number to be known before anyone has to pay it. Inland Revenue sends reminders closer to the date.

If paying the full amount by February would be a stretch, instalment arrangements are available, so you can pay the bill off over time. Again, the trick is to arrange it before the due date rather than after. Penalties can be charged where tax is paid late.

It is also worth knowing how your bill was worked out in the first place. The assessment applies the income tax rates and thresholds for the year to the income Inland Revenue has on record. If you want to see the rates themselves, our Tax Rates NZ guide sets them out.

Provisional tax dates, in brief

Terminal tax settles last year. Provisional tax is how you pay this year’s tax as you go, in instalments, instead of facing one large bill the following February. You will generally need to pay provisional tax if your tax to pay for a year comes to more than $5,000.

Under the standard option, which is what most individuals use, provisional tax for a 31 March balance date is paid in three instalments:

• 28 August
• 15 January
• 7 May

So for the 2026–27 tax year, the instalments fall on 28 August 2026, 15 January 2027 and 7 May 2027. Under the standard option each instalment is based on your previous year’s tax to pay, with a 5 percent uplift added. Other options exist (estimation, ratio and the accounting income method), and GST-registered taxpayers have some additional choices, but the three dates above are the ones on most people’s calendars.

Notice how the two systems overlap in February, March and April: terminal tax for last year and the second and third provisional instalments for this year can land within a few months of each other. That bunching is normal, and it is the main reason self-employed people set money aside through the year rather than treating each bill as a surprise.

What if you miss a date?

File late or pay late and Inland Revenue can charge penalties, and interest can apply to unpaid tax. The amounts depend on the situation, so check your myIR account or talk to Inland Revenue for your own numbers. The consistent advice from Inland Revenue is to make contact early: extensions of time can be requested before a filing deadline, instalment arrangements can be set up before a payment deadline, and both are much harder to arrange after the date has passed.

The pattern to remember

Strip away the detail and the New Zealand tax year for individuals runs on a simple loop. The year ends on 31 March. Wage and salary earners are assessed automatically between late May and the end of July, with refunds paid as assessments go out. Anyone with untaxed income files an IR3 by 7 July, or by the following 31 March with an agent’s extension. Whatever is still owing is due the following 7 February, or 7 April with an extension. And if you are in the provisional tax system, 28 August, 15 January and 7 May keep the next year ticking over in between.

You will find more guides like this in our Finance section.

Sources

• Inland Revenue, End of tax year: know what to do: https://www.ird.govt.nz/end-of-tax-year
• Inland Revenue, End-of-year assessments: https://www.ird.govt.nz/working-for-families/yearly-review-and-assessment-processes/end-of-year-assessments
• Inland Revenue, Income tax returns are due 7 July: https://www.ird.govt.nz/pages/campaigns/7-july
• Inland Revenue, Refunds and tax bills: https://www.ird.govt.nz/income-tax/income-tax-for-individuals/what-happens-at-the-end-of-the-tax-year/income-tax-assessments/refunds-and-tax-bills
• Inland Revenue, Payment dates for provisional tax: https://www.ird.govt.nz/income-tax/provisional-tax/paying-your-provisional-tax/payment-dates-for-provisional-tax
• Inland Revenue, Work out provisional tax using the standard option: https://www.ird.govt.nz/income-tax/provisional-tax/provisional-tax-options/standard-option/work-out-provisional-tax-using-the-standard-option
• Inland Revenue Tax Technical, SPS 24/02: Extension of time applications from customers without tax agents: https://www.taxtechnical.ird.govt.nz/-/media/project/ir/tt/pdfs/standard-practice-statements/general/2024/sps-24-02.pdf
• Inland Revenue, Media release: Watch out for scammers this tax season (15 May 2026): https://www.ird.govt.nz/media-releases/2026/watch-out-for-scammers-this-tax-season