New Zealand guides
Money that crosses a border stops fitting either country's rules. These pages answer one question at a time, from the legislation and the agencies that administer it, with every source named and dated so you can check it yourself.
32 guides involve New Zealand. Guides covering more than one country appear under each.
Start here
Do funds get safer as you get older?
Some do it for you automatically, and no rule anywhere says they must. Australia and the United States both build the idea into their default products, which shift towards steadier assets as you age. New Zealand does not, and its government moved the KiwiSaver default the other way in 2021, from conservative to balanced. What none of the regulators publish is the part people actually want: at what age, and by how much. Australia's own regulator says there is no single approach that suits everyone.
How are NZ Super, the Australian Age Pension and US Social Security different?
They are built on three different ideas. New Zealand Superannuation is paid on age and residence, and the criteria carry no income or assets test, so you can keep working and still get it. The Australian Age Pension is paid on age and residence too, but it is means tested against both your income and your assets. US Social Security is earned through work: you build credits by paying in, and no benefit needs more than 40 of them, which is ten years. So one asks where you lived, one asks where you lived and what you have, and one asks how long you paid in.
How do people actually spend in retirement?
Less as they get older, on the official statistics, and on different things. In the United States, average household spending falls from $56,267 a year in the late fifties to $36,673 from 75, while the share going on health almost doubles. Australia's last survey of it found $888 a week for a household headed by someone 65 or over and $540 for a lone person of that age. New Zealand does not publish the figures by age at all, which is worth knowing before trusting a number you have seen quoted.
What changes how long retirement money lasts?
Four things, and the one people think about least matters most. How long you need it for, which is longer than the life expectancy figure most people have in their heads, because reaching 65 pushes the number out. What prices do over twenty or thirty years. What returns do and, separately, the order they arrive in. And the size of the gap between what you spend and what the government pays you, because that gap is the only part that can run out at all.
What's the difference between KiwiSaver, Australian super and a US 401(k)?
All three are retirement savings you build up through work, and that is where the similarity ends. KiwiSaver runs on matching: you choose a rate from your pay, and your employer must put in at least 3.5% as well. Australian super is compulsory for your employer whether you contribute or not, at 12% of ordinary time earnings. A US 401(k) is voluntary on both sides: it exists only if your employer offers one, and what goes in is what you choose to pay from your wages, plus whatever the employer chooses to add. They unlock at different ages too: 65, 60, and 59 and a half.
Where does retirement income come from?
From three places, and every one of these countries is built the same way. There is a government payment, which you qualify for by age plus either residence or a record of paying in. There is money you built up through work, in KiwiSaver, Australian super or a US 401(k) or IRA. And there is everything else you own or earn, which nobody administers for you. The first two have rules you can look up and dates you can plan around. The third is whatever you have made of it.
Can I get a pension?
Can I get the Australian Age Pension as a New Zealander?
Usually yes, but not by the route most people assume. Under Australia's ordinary rules only a 'protected' Special Category visa holder counts as an Australian resident, and whether you are protected depends on where you were living back in February 2001. The Social Security Agreement between the two countries gets around that. For the purposes of the Agreement, every New Zealand citizen lawfully living in Australia on a Special Category visa counts as an Australian resident, protected or not, and can claim the Age Pension that way. You still need ten years of Australian residence, and your New Zealand years can be counted towards it.
Can I get US Social Security while living in New Zealand?
If you are a United States citizen, yes, and for as long as you live. If you are not, your payments stop from the seventh month of an unbroken absence from the United States, and New Zealand citizenship carries none of the exceptions that keep other nationalities paid. There is no social security agreement between the two countries, which is why. The same person living in Australia would keep being paid, because Australia has one.
Do my years in Australia count towards NZ Superannuation?
Yes, they can. New Zealand Superannuation normally asks you to have lived here for a set number of years, which depends on when you were born and now runs as high as twenty. The Social Security Agreement between New Zealand and Australia lets your Australian working age years be treated as New Zealand years for the purpose of qualifying. You need at least one year of working age residence in Australia, six months of it unbroken.
How does the Social Security Agreement between New Zealand and Australia work?
It lets each country count the years you spent living in the other, so that moving across the Tasman does not leave you short of the residence either country's pension requires. It covers NZ Superannuation, the Veteran's Pension and Supported Living Payment on the New Zealand side, and the Age Pension, the Disability Support Pension and Carer Payment on the Australian side. It also treats every New Zealand citizen lawfully living in Australia on a Special Category visa as an Australian resident for these payments. If you end up with payments from both countries, New Zealand counts the Australian one against your New Zealand payment.
How long do I need to have lived in New Zealand to get NZ Super?
Between ten and twenty years since you turned 20, depending on when you were born, and at least five of them since you turned 50. The requirement used to be ten years for everyone. It is rising by a year for every two years of birth dates, and reaches twenty for anyone born on or after 1 July 1977. You also need to be 65, a citizen, permanent resident or residence class visa holder, and ordinarily resident here when you apply. The years do not have to be in a row, but they only count when you were both living here and physically here.
Does one affect the other?
Do I still have to file a US tax return from New Zealand?
Yes. The United States taxes its citizens and resident aliens on worldwide income wherever they live, so moving to New Zealand does not end the obligation to file. It moves the deadline instead, automatically to 15 June with a further extension to 15 October on request. There are usually two other filings people miss entirely, because they are separate from the tax return and triggered by balances rather than income: the FBAR once your foreign accounts together pass $10,000, and Form 8938 at much higher thresholds.
Does my Australian super affect my NZ Super?
Usually not directly, but there is no single published ruling that covers every fund, so it depends on yours. New Zealand Superannuation is only reduced by an overseas pension that comes from a programme run by or for a foreign government, and not by anything built from voluntary contributions. The Ministry of Social Development's own list of Australian payments it does not deduct includes several superannuation schemes. The Australian Age Pension is a different matter, and is deducted in full.
Does my NZ KiwiSaver affect the Australian Age Pension?
Yes, but only once you can actually get at the money. Australia does not count KiwiSaver as superannuation, because it is an overseas fund. That means it is not set aside and ignored until you reach Age Pension age, the way an Australian super balance would be. It is assessed as an ordinary managed investment from the day you can withdraw it, which is your 65th birthday. The Age Pension does not start until 67, so there are two years where your KiwiSaver counts against a payment and the same money in an Australian fund would not.
Does my NZ Super affect the Australian Age Pension?
Yes, and not through the income test. Under the Agreement, New Zealand Superannuation is left out of Australia's income test and then taken straight off the Age Pension you would otherwise be paid, dollar for dollar. That is deliberate. The Agreement is built so that the two payments together come to no more than the country you are living in would have paid on its own, so crossing the Tasman with a New Zealand pension changes where the money comes from rather than how much of it there is.
Does my NZ Super reduce my US Social Security?
Not any more. It used to. The Windfall Elimination Provision cut US Social Security for people who also drew a pension from work that never paid into the US system, and a foreign pension such as New Zealand Superannuation counted. The Social Security Fairness Act of 2023 repealed it, and the repeal reaches back to benefits payable from January 2024. Note the direction of travel though, because it only runs one way. New Zealand still reduces New Zealand Superannuation by the amount of a US Social Security payment.
Is my KiwiSaver taxable in the United States?
Some of this is settled and some of it has never been answered. What is settled: the tax treaty names KiwiSaver as a pension fund, and the treaty's saving clause lets the United States tax its own citizens as though the treaty did not exist, with a short list of exceptions that does not include pensions for past employment. What has never been answered is the part people most need: whether a US person's KiwiSaver is taxed year by year as it grows, and what the account is treated as while it sits there. No published IRS ruling names KiwiSaver outside the treaty definition.
Is my US Social Security deducted from my NZ Super?
Yes, if you live in New Zealand. A United States Social Security retirement payment meets both limbs of New Zealand's test for an overseas pension, so it comes off your New Zealand Superannuation dollar for dollar at the gross rate. If it is larger than your NZ Super, you get the US payment and nothing else. Because the two countries have no agreement, none of the softeners that exist for Australia or the United Kingdom are available: there is no Special Banking Option for the United States, so you carry the exchange rate and the New Zealand tax yourself.
Will my Australian Age Pension be deducted from my NZ Super?
Yes. If you live in New Zealand and receive an Australian Age Pension, New Zealand treats it as an overseas pension and reduces your New Zealand Superannuation by the amount of it, dollar for dollar. Two things soften that. Your own New Zealand Superannuation is not reduced because your husband, wife or partner receives an overseas pension, only because you do. And the deduction does not apply to New Zealand Superannuation that is being paid to you while you live overseas.
Moving money between countries
Can I move my 401(k) or IRA into KiwiSaver or Australian super?
Not directly. The IRS lets a 401(k) or IRA be rolled over only into another eligible retirement plan, and every plan type it lists is a US one, so there is no tax-free route across. The money has to come out of the US account first. The taxable part is income in the United States, tax is usually held back before it is paid, and under 59½ a 10% additional tax may apply. After that each country applies its own rules. New Zealand taxes a lump sum from a foreign scheme once your first four years of tax residence are up, whether it lands in your bank account or in KiwiSaver, and anything paid into KiwiSaver is locked in until 65. Australia counts money moved into super from a foreign fund as a contribution under its caps, and taxes the earnings built up since you became resident.
Can I transfer my Australian super to my NZ KiwiSaver?
Yes, once you have permanently moved to New Zealand, as long as your super is in an APRA regulated fund and both providers take part in the scheme. It has to be the whole balance, and New Zealand does not tax the transfer. Inside KiwiSaver the Australian money keeps some of its Australian character. You can take it out at 60 if you have retired, five years before the rest of your KiwiSaver unlocks, but it cannot go towards a first home or come out if you later emigrate somewhere else.
Can I transfer my KiwiSaver to an Australian super fund?
Yes, if you have permanently emigrated to Australia and both providers take part in the scheme, which is voluntary for them. It has to be the whole balance, it can only go into an APRA regulated fund and never a self managed one, and the transfer itself is not taxed. The catch people miss is that moving the money does not unlock it. Your New Zealand sourced savings stay locked until 65 even after they are sitting in an Australian fund.
How is my US 401(k) or IRA taxed if I move to New Zealand?
New Zealand taxes a foreign retirement scheme in two different ways depending on how you take the money. Regular pension or annuity payments are simply income and go in your tax return. A lump sum withdrawal or transfer is taxed under special rules, using either the schedule method or the formula method, which tax a portion of the lump sum rather than the whole thing. New arrivals get a four year window in which lump sums are exempt entirely, and that window is the single most valuable thing to understand before you touch the money.
When can I access my KiwiSaver if I live in Australia?
At 65, the same as if you had stayed. Moving to Australia does not let you cash out early, and this is where people get caught. Emigrating anywhere else in the world lets you withdraw your KiwiSaver a year after leaving. Emigrating to Australia does not. The KiwiSaver Act removes that option for Australia and replaces it with a transfer into an Australian complying superannuation fund, so your choice is to move the money across the Tasman or leave it where it is until you turn 65.
Paying in and taking out
At what age can I get my retirement money in New Zealand, Australia and the US?
In New Zealand, 65 for both KiwiSaver and NZ Superannuation. In Australia, super opens at your preservation age of 60 if you have retired, or at 65 even if you are still working, while the Age Pension starts at 67. In the United States, 401(k) and IRA money can come out without the extra 10% tax from 59 and a half, and Social Security can start at 62 at a reduced rate or in full at 67 for anyone born in 1960 or later. Money that has moved between New Zealand and Australia keeps the age of the country it came from.
Can I keep contributing to my US 401(k) or IRA while living in New Zealand?
For an IRA, it depends on how you treat your New Zealand wages on your US tax return. You can only contribute up to the amount of your taxable compensation, and the IRS says compensation does not include foreign earned income you exclude from income. Exclude all your New Zealand wages and there is nothing to contribute from; keep them in your taxable income and they count. A 401(k) is different again, because it is an employer's plan funded from that employer's payroll, so it turns on who you work for rather than where you live.
What happens if...?
Can I keep my Australian Age Pension if I move to New Zealand?
Usually yes. The Age Pension can keep being paid to you in New Zealand, but it does not stay the same. If you move there to live, or plan to stay more than a year, it is recalculated under the Social Security Agreement from the day you arrive; on a shorter trip, that happens after 26 weeks. The new rate depends on how long you lived in each country. And if you also get NZ Superannuation, New Zealand counts the Australian payment as an overseas pension and takes it off your NZ Super.
What happens if I need the money before I'm allowed to have it?
The three countries take two entirely different approaches. New Zealand and Australia lock the money away and publish a list of circumstances that unlock it, with someone else deciding whether you qualify: serious illness, hardship, palliative care, a home about to be lost. The United States does not lock it at all. You can take money out of a 401(k) or IRA whenever you like, and pay income tax plus an extra 10 per cent for doing it early unless one of a long list of exceptions applies.
What happens to my KiwiSaver when I die?
It goes to your estate, and that is the whole answer. KiwiSaver has no death benefit nomination: you cannot tell your provider who to pay, and if you tried, it would not bind them. The Act says the manager pays your personal representative, as part of your estate, so your will decides where it ends up. If you have no will, the intestacy rules decide instead, and they may not decide the way you would have. Balances up to $40,000 can be released without probate.
What happens to my pension if I keep working?
It depends entirely on which country is paying you. New Zealand does not test your income at all, so you can work full time and your New Zealand Superannuation is untouched. Australia counts employment income in the pension income test, but the Work Bonus ignores the first $300 a fortnight and lets unused credit build up to $11,800. The United States withholds $1 of benefit for every $2 you earn over $24,480 before full retirement age, then stops testing altogether and pays the withheld months back to you.
What happens to my pension when my partner dies?
Your household stops being paid as a couple and starts being paid as one person, and all three countries handle the drop differently. New Zealand keeps paying the old amount for 28 days. Australia pays a lump sum covering the difference for 14 weeks. The United States has no transition period at all, because it never paid a couple's rate: the smaller of the two payments simply stops, and the survivor keeps the larger. What none of them do is leave the surviving partner on the same money.
What happens to my retirement savings if we separate?
They are on the table. All three countries treat retirement savings built up during a relationship as property to be divided, and all three have a specific mechanism for piercing a lock that otherwise stops anyone touching the money. New Zealand's KiwiSaver interest cannot be assigned to anyone, with one named exception: an order under section 31 of the Property (Relationships) Act. Australia splits super by agreement or court order. The United States uses a qualified domestic relations order. In each case what the other person receives is still retirement money, not cash.