Wage and salary income includes any gross earnings received from any employer where pay as you earn (PAYE) was deducted or the income was otherwise reported by employers through the PAYE system, e.g. salary and wages, income received in the form of shares and share options and Paid Parental Leave. Not included in these statistics are:
- New Zealand Superannuation
- taxable welfare benefits
- student allowances
- earnings-related ACC payments
- shareholder-employee salaries (since there was no PAYE deducted).
All data published uses tax years ending 31 March, rather than calendar years.
The table includes individuals with part-time or part-year PAYE incomes and can also include children. Individuals who did not receive any wage or salary income (as defined above) are not included in the table. The data up to the 2015 March year in the table and graphs was based on a random sample of individuals scaled up to population estimates. The sample was 2% of wage and salary earners, and 10% of IR3 filers (with wages or salaries). From the 2016 March year the tables reflect data from the full population.