Q: Can  you please advise on the following situation:

• Employee is on a Savings Suspension and therefore there are no employee contributions being deducted from payroll
• Employer would still like to make contributions to KiwiSaver – even though there is no requirement for the Employer to do so
• Does the Employer have to contribute a minimum of 3% of the Employee’s gross pay?  Or is this requirement void due to the employer already going above legislation?

Our employer would like to continue to contribute, however in some situations the contribution may be less than 3% of the employee’s gross pay.

Let me know if you require further clarification of the situation to be able to provide your understanding.

A: This should be seen as an agreed term (as it is better than the act), so for the employer they are not held to the 3% of gross.  The one thing I am not sure of in this situation is how your payroll system will apply this or even allow it and payday filing.  So you need to do a few checks to ensure it can be done or you could create a nightmare for payroll.