What payday filing replaced, and why
Before 1 April 2019, New Zealand employers reported employment information to Inland Revenue once a month, through the Employer Monthly Schedule. Payday filing replaced that with per-payday reporting: every time you run a pay, you also file the employment information for that pay run. It's now compulsory for every employer with PAYE obligations.
The practical effect is that IRD holds a much more current picture of what every employer has paid, which is also why filing errors surface – and get penalised – faster than they did under the old monthly cycle.
What you must file
Employment information
The payday date, the pay period start and end dates (these can vary by employee), and the relevant employee details for that pay run.
New and departing employee details
A new employee who doesn't already appear in myIR must be added when you first file their employment information. A departing employee is flagged in the same return, not through a separate process.
Source: ird.govt.nz – payday filing.
Deadlines and filing frequency
Electronic filers
Within 2 working days of each payday.
Paper filers
Paydays from the 1st–15th: within 10 working days of the 15th. Paydays from the 16th to month-end: within 10 working days of month-end.
New employers can choose either electronic or paper filing for their first six months. After that, electronic filing becomes mandatory once an employer's total annual PAYE and ESCT (employer superannuation contribution tax) reaches $50,000 or more.
Source: ird.govt.nz – filing employment information by paper.
How to file
There are three channels for payday filing:
- Payroll software with a direct IRD integration
- myIR online forms
- myIR payroll file upload
Source: ird.govt.nz – filing employment information electronically.
Common payday filing errors, and how to fix them
Amending a filed return
You have four years from the original submission date to amend an Employment Information return. In myIR:
- Open your Payroll account
- Go to Returns and Transactions
- Select the relevant pay period under the Returns tab
- Choose "Review or Amend Return"
- Amend employee details, add a new employee, or mark one as removed
- Declare the amendment
Amendments usually show in myIR within 3–5 working days, and you don't need to resubmit the whole return. Without myIR access, employers use the paper Employment Information Amendments (IR344) form. After four years the assessment becomes final, and only child support deductions can still be corrected, via the IR344.
Late filing
A flat $250 per month penalty applies to late employment information filing, regardless of employee count, due 30 days after the month the information was due. The first late return typically triggers a warning letter; a second late return within 12 months can result in an actual penalty. Where an employer has agreed to file electronically but files on paper instead, the penalty is the greater of $250 or $1 per employee.
Mismatched employee details
IRD numbers, names or dates of birth that don't match IRD's own records are a recurring, practical cause of rejected or flagged returns – it's an operational pattern rather than a formally named IRD error category. The fix is usually the same amendment process above: correct the employee's details and resubmit through the relevant pay period.
Source: ird.govt.nz – amend an employment information return, ird.govt.nz – late filing penalties.
Penalties for non-compliance
Late filing costs $250 a month, whether you have five employees or five hundred – there's no proportional scaling, so the penalty hits a small employer as hard as a large one, in dollar terms. A pattern of late returns (a second one within 12 months) moves from a warning letter to an actual penalty, and filing on paper when you've committed to electronic filing carries its own penalty of the greater of $250 or $1 per employee.
Payday filing for multi-entity employers
Every payday filing guide written by a vendor selling to small business assumes one employer, filing through one IRD number. That's not how a holding structure, a group with several trading entities, or an organisation running more than one payroll registration actually operates – and none of the guidance written for a single-entity filer addresses what happens in these situations:
Multiple IRD numbers under one payroll operation
Each entity's filing, deadlines and amendments need to be tracked and kept correct in their own right – not merged into a single view that obscures which entity a correction belongs to.
Corrections at scale
Amending employment information across several pay runs, or several entities, at the same time is a different operational task from correcting a single employee's record.
A pay run reversed after it's already been filed
The original return has already reached IRD, so the reversal has to be reconciled as an amendment, not quietly overwritten – and tracking that across multiple entities is where manual processes tend to lose the thread.
How Affinity handles payday filing
Affinity's NZ payroll platform files employment information directly with Inland Revenue as part of every pay run – there's no separate myIR upload to remember or fall behind on. It supports payroll operations for employers running multiple entities and IRD numbers, so each one's filing, amendments and records stay where they belong rather than becoming one another's problem.
That's the difference between payday filing as a once-a-payday chore and payday filing as something your NZ payroll platform simply takes care of, inside core payroll.
Frequently asked questions
What is payday filing?
Payday filing is how New Zealand employers report employment information to Inland Revenue (IRD) every payday, rather than once a month. It replaced the old Employer Monthly Schedule and covers the payday date, the pay period start and end dates, and employee details for that pay run.
Who has to use payday filing in New Zealand?
All employers with PAYE obligations must use payday filing – it has been compulsory since 1 April 2019. The choice employers do have is between electronic and paper filing (see below), not whether to payday file at all.
What's the deadline for payday filing?
Electronic filers must submit within 2 working days of each payday. Paper filers work to a twice-monthly cycle: paydays from the 1st to the 15th of the month are filed within 10 working days of the 15th, and paydays from the 16th to month-end are filed within 10 working days of month-end.
Do I have to file electronically?
New employers can choose either method for their first six months. After that, electronic filing becomes compulsory once an employer's total annual PAYE and ESCT (employer superannuation contribution tax) reaches $50,000 or more.
How do I amend a payday filing return after it's been submitted?
In myIR: go to your Payroll account, open Returns and Transactions, select the relevant pay period under the Returns tab, choose "Review or Amend Return", then amend employee details, add a new employee, or mark one as removed, and declare the amendment. It usually shows in myIR within 3–5 working days and you do not need to resubmit the whole return. Employers without myIR access use the paper Employment Information Amendments (IR344) form. You have four years from the original submission date to amend a return.
What happens if I file late?
Late employment information filing attracts a flat $250 per month penalty, regardless of how many employees you have, due 30 days after the month the information was due. The first late return typically triggers a warning letter; a second late return within 12 months can result in an actual penalty. If you have agreed to file electronically but file on paper instead, the penalty is the greater of $250 or $1 per employee.
Can I file payday information for multiple IRD numbers or entities in one system?
This is the part most payday filing guidance skips, because it is written for a single employer filing under one IRD number. A holding structure, a group with several trading entities, or an organisation with more than one payroll registration needs a payroll platform that keeps each entity's filing, amendments and reconciliation separate and correct – not one that assumes a single IRD number throughout.
What happens if a pay run is reversed after I've already filed?
The employment information for that pay period has already reached IRD, so a reversed or corrected pay run needs to flow through as an amendment to the original return rather than a silent overwrite – see the amendment process above. This is one of the more common points where multi-entity employers lose track of what has and hasn't been corrected with IRD.
How does Affinity help with payday filing?
Affinity's NZ payroll platform files employment information with Inland Revenue automatically as part of every pay run, so there's no separate myIR upload step to remember. It supports payroll operations for employers running multiple entities and IRD numbers, keeping each one's filing and records where they belong.
Next step
If payday filing is one of several NZ compliance obligations you're trying to keep on top of, it sits alongside the changes coming under the Employment Leave Act 2026 – worth reading together if you're reviewing NZ payroll compliance more broadly.