Does my Australian super affect my NZ Super?

What does New Zealand actually deduct?

Overseas pensions, as the Social Security Act 2018 defines them. Section 189 says that when you receive one, your New Zealand Superannuation "must be reduced by the amount of the overseas pension". Dollar for dollar.

So the question is not whether you have money from Australia. It is whether that money counts as an overseas pension under section 187.

What counts as an overseas pension?

Section 187 sets several tests. The two that decide this question are that the payment must be part of a programme that is:

• "administered by or on behalf of the Government of the country from which the benefit, pension, or periodical allowance is received", and
• not "attributable to any voluntary contributions" made by you, your partner or your parent.

That second test was added on 9 November 2020. Work and Income put it more simply: an overseas pension is a payment "administered by, or on behalf of, another country's government", and if you made voluntary contributions, "the voluntary amount is not counted as part of an overseas pension."

Australian superannuation is mostly money you and your employers paid into a fund run by a private trustee. On those words, it is not the obvious fit for a programme administered by or for a government. But whether a particular payment passes the tests is something the Act leaves to the Ministry of Social Development to determine, so the words alone do not settle it for your fund.

What has MSD actually said about Australian super?

It has published a list, and the list is useful.

In an Official Information Act response dated 23 April 2021, MSD released its working list of overseas payments that are not deducted from New Zealand Superannuation. The Australian entries include several superannuation schemes by name:

• Commonwealth Superannuation Scheme
• Military Superannuation Benefit Scheme
• Air Force Superannuation
• Non-Government School Superannuation Fund
• a private super fund administered by Australian Executor Trustees
• the Low Income Superannuation Contribution

The same list covers payments such as Family Tax Benefit and Youth Allowance.

Two cautions come with it, both from MSD. It describes the list as "a working list" that "is being continuously collated and updated as countries and pensions are queried". And it names particular schemes rather than ruling on Australian super as a whole. So the list shows that super schemes are routinely treated as non-deductible, but it is not a blanket statement that yours will be.

And the Australian Age Pension?

That one is deducted. Work and Income state that "the Australian payment from Centrelink is classed as an overseas pension", and MSD's February 2025 response lists Australia among the countries whose pensions reduce New Zealand Superannuation.

This is the distinction worth holding on to. The Age Pension is paid by the Australian Government, so it meets the test. Super generally is not, so it generally does not.

Could super still affect other payments?

Yes, even where it is not deducted.

MSD's February 2025 response says that a pension which does not meet the deduction criteria "may still be treated as income for the purposes of income-tested assistance from the Ministry." New Zealand Superannuation itself is not reduced, but extra help that depends on your income could be.

Does New Zealand tax it?

Not when you take it out or move it. Inland Revenue: "You will not be taxed on withdrawals or transfers from an Australian superannuation." That is separate from the pension question, but it is often the next thing people ask.

What this guide does not tell you

It does not tell you how MSD will treat your particular fund. The list we have is five years old by MSD's own dating and is a working document. If a lot turns on the answer, MSD's International Services team is who decides, and asking them directly is the only way to be certain.

It also leaves alone how income-tested assistance works out your income, how super paid as an income stream might be viewed differently from a lump sum, and what Australia does with New Zealand Superannuation if you live there.