ACC levies

ACC levies are the third thing a self-employed contractor sets aside for, after GST and income tax. ACC covers you for injury, and in return charges a yearly levy on your self-employed earnings. Coffer estimates that levy and sets money aside as you get paid, the same way it ringfences GST and income tax, so the eventual invoice isn't a surprise.

How ACC levies work

Your levy is worked out on your liable earnings for the year, meaning your self-employed income before GST. ACC charges a few separate levies on that income, adds GST, and sends you one invoice. The rate depends on your line of work: riskier work carries a higher rate.

Two limits shape the figure:

• A maximum.Levies apply only up to a maximum level of earnings, $156,641 for the 2026/27 year. Income above that isn't levied, so the bill stops growing past the cap.
• A minimum for full-time work. If you work full-time at self-employment (30 or more hours a week), ACC charges a minimum levy even in a lean year. Part-time work has no minimum.

These figures are for standard CoverPlus, ACC's default cover for self-employed people.

The three levies

Coffer's estimate breaks the levy into the three parts ACC charges, all before GST:

• Work levy - the rate for your specific line of work, set by your ACC classification. This is the part that varies from one contractor to another.
• Earners' levy - a flat rate everyone pays, $1.52 per $100 of earnings for 2026/27.
• Working Safer levy - a small flat rate, $0.08 per $100.

ACC then adds 15% GST on top. Once ACC is set up, the ACC levies line on your dashboard opens a full worked example on your own income.

Setting up ACC in Coffer

In Settings, find your classification so Coffer knows your work levy rate. You can search by:

• a plain description of what you do (for example “software”, “building”, or “consulting”),
• your ACC classification number (the CU code on your ACC invoice), or
• your Business Industry Code, the BIC from your tax return.

Pick the match that fits, then tell Coffer whether you work full-time or part-time. Coffer shows an estimated annual levy on your expected income straight away. You can set this up when you first sign in, in the welcome steps, or add it any time from Settings.

How Coffer sets money aside

Each time you mark an invoice paid, Coffer adds a slice of that payment to your ACC set-aside for the current year, using the combined levy rate for your classification, GST included. It works on the income you've actually been paid this year, so the set-aside builds up in step with your earnings. By the time the invoice arrives, the money has been accumulating toward it all year.

That current-year figure is an estimate based on the income Coffer has seen so far. When the real invoice for a year arrives, you can enter the actual amount in Settings and Coffer uses that instead (see below), so the set-aside matches your bill exactly.

Coffer sets ACC aside for each fiscal year on its own. When you pay an ACC invoice, record it under Tax events as an ACC levy payment and choose the year it's for; that year's set-aside drops by what you paid, the same way logging a payment to the IRD lowers your GST or income tax set-aside. Because each year is separate, paying one year's bill never touches another year's set-aside.

The ACC set-aside is on top of your GST and income tax ringfences, and it's counted separately, so it doesn't change either of those. Now that Coffer sets ACC aside on its own, check your income tax rate isn't also padded for ACC, so you're not covering the levy twice. The Settings ACC section flags this too.

When the bill arrives

This is the part that catches people out. ACC bills in arrears: it invoices you for a year's levy after that year has finished, once your return is filed. In practice the invoice usually lands around September, covering the year that just ended, and sometimes more than one year at once if you're newly self-employed.

So the ACC set-aside on your dashboard is building up for a bill you receive later, roughly the following September. The money goes aside ahead of time on purpose, so the invoice is already covered when it comes.

Entering your actual ACC invoice

When your ACC invoice arrives for a past year, open the ACC section in Settings, under “ACC invoices for past years”, and enter the amount for that year. Coffer uses your figure in place of its own estimate for that year, so what's set aside matches your real bill. If you don't have the invoice yet, you can enter an estimate from that year's income and update it later.

The same place handles a bill from before you started using Coffer. If you were already contracting earlier, you'll still get an ACC invoice for that year; Coffer never saw that income, so enter the amount here and it's set aside as its own year. Because Coffer keeps each year separate, an earlier bill never mixes with the ACC building up on this year's income.

When you pay any of these, record an ACC levy payment under Tax events for that same year to close it off.

Your first year

If you've just started out, your first ACC invoice can take up to around 18 months to arrive, and then it covers everything at once. That's exactly the situation the set-aside is meant to soften: Coffer starts putting money aside from your first paid invoice, so the bill is already covered when it lands. Set up your classification early and let it build.

For how ACC sits alongside the rest of your tax, see Income tax and ringfencing.