Up to $830 off your rates — if you put your hand up by 30 June
This check is free. If it finds something and you want the paperwork done for you, that pack is $9.90 — one payment, nothing renews. That one price covers every personal pack this site finds for you, however many. All prices.
Before you start
Go and get these — it makes the rest quick
Two documents. Both have the number printed on them.
- This year's rates notice
- The annual total — usually the front page, labelled "total rates for the year"
- Include water rates if your council bills them
- Last year's household income, before tax
- For 1 April to 31 March — LAST tax year, not this one. The single most common mistake on this form
- Everyone living there, including a partner. NZ Super counts
- An IRD summary of income, or benefit and NZ Super statements
On a phone? Write the numbers down, or have the document next to you on paper. Swapping between tabs while holding a figure in your head is where people lose their place.
In a retirement village and there is no rates notice? Ask the office for your rates apportionment — they do this constantly.
Takes a few minutes, saves as you go, and you can stop and come back. Checking is free whatever it finds.
The detail, if you want it
The rates rebate has existed since 1973 and thousands of eligible households miss it every year, mostly older homeowners. Two reasons: nobody tells you, and the deadline is genuinely hard — apply through your council by 30 June or that year's rebate is gone, no exceptions, no backdating. People who wait for their rates invoice or assume a March deadline lose the lot.
Sixty seconds of arithmetic below. Free, nothing leaves this page, and if the answer is "no rebate", that is worth knowing too.
The traps, named
- The income year is last year. The 2026-27 rebate is assessed on income from 2025-04-01 to 2026-03-31. If you retired or your income dropped this year, you might still qualify next year even if you miss out now.
- SuperGold changes the threshold. A cardholder household has much more income headroom — and a cardholder whose only income is NZ Super, with rates over about $2,000, gets the full rebate.
- It goes through your council, on paper. The official form, proof of income, a signed declaration, to your own council. They credit your rates; nobody sends you cash.
- Retirement villages count. Residents apply with a special declaration on the same form — village operators can confirm the rates portion.
Sources: Beehive — 2026/27 rates; govt.nz — rates rebate.