Written by Henry Smith · Reviewed by Smiths Insurance & KiwiSaver — licensed Financial Advice Provider (FSP712931) · Last updated 2026-09-08

ACC Levy for the Self-Employed: CoverPlus, CPX and the First Invoice

A self-employed carpenter with $90,000 of liable income pays $3,477.60 in ACC levies for the 2026/27 year on standard CoverPlus. The same carpenter with $90,000 of agreed cover on full CoverPlus Extra pays $4,140.00. That is 19% more levy. The weekly compensation on offer goes up by 25%. Both figures are our arithmetic on ACC's published 2026/27 rates.

That trade is the decision most self-employed people never see priced. The two products are levied on different bases. They are also charged from different columns of the same rate table.

What a self-employed ACC invoice is made of

Work for yourself in New Zealand and you are covered by ACC from day one. You go on standard CoverPlus automatically (ACC, retrieved 19 August 2026). Your invoice then carries three levies. There is a work levy set by your classification unit, the earners' levy, and the Working Safer levy that ACC collects for WorkSafe New Zealand. GST is added and, if you are registered, it is deductible (ACC, retrieved 19 August 2026).

For 2026/27 the earners' levy is $1.52 per $100 of liable earnings. The Working Safer levy is $0.08 per $100. Both are GST exclusive (ACC Levy Guidebook 2026/27, page 9, retrieved 19 August 2026). Those two are flat for everyone. Only the work levy is yours, and the step-by-step arithmetic is in ACC levies explained.

CoverPlus and CoverPlus Extra are levied on different things

Standard CoverPlus is levied on your liable income, taken from the income you declared to Inland Revenue. If an accident stops you working, ACC pays up to 80% of your taxable income. It uses your most recently completed financial year (ACC, retrieved 19 August 2026).

CoverPlus Extra is levied on an agreed cover amount you settle with ACC in advance, and it pays 100% of that amount before tax. For 2026/27 the minimum agreed cover is $40,401 and the maximum is $125,313 (ACC, retrieved 19 August 2026). There are two CPX options. One is full compensation. The other is a cheaper option called lower levels of weekly compensation. Under it, payments drop if you go back part time or the business keeps earning (ACC, retrieved 19 August 2026).

The levy guidebook prints all three rates on the same row. Take carpentry services, classification unit 42420. The standard CoverPlus rate is $1.76 per $100. The CPX lower-levels rate is $2.29. The CPX standard rate is $2.40 (ACC Levy Guidebook 2026/27, levy rates table, retrieved 19 August 2026).

Total annual ACC levy at $90,000 of liable income or agreed cover, 2026/27 levy year. Rates from the ACC Levy Guidebook 2026/27 table. The flat earners' levy of $1.52 and Working Safer levy of $0.08 are added, then GST at 15%. The totals are our arithmetic. ACC publishes the rates, not the totals.

Carpentry services is CU 42420 and accounting services is CU 78420. All rates per $100, GST exclusive; totals GST inclusive on $90,000.

Which one is cheaper per dollar of cover

Comparing the two levy totals on their own is the wrong test. The two products do not buy the same amount of compensation.

On standard CoverPlus, weekly compensation is up to 80% of $90,000, which is $1,384.62 a week gross. On full CoverPlus Extra with $90,000 of agreed cover, it is 100% of $90,000, which is $1,730.77 a week gross (ACC and ACC, both retrieved 19 August 2026). The weekly figures are our arithmetic on those published percentages.

On these published rates, CoverPlus Extra buys weekly compensation slightly more cheaply per dollar than standard CoverPlus does, for both occupations. The reason is arithmetic rather than generosity. For the carpenter, the CPX work levy rate is 36% higher than the CoverPlus rate. The compensation is only 25% higher. On the work levy line alone, CoverPlus wins. But the earners' levy and the Working Safer levy are charged at the same flat $1.60 combined, on the same $90,000 base, under either product. Under CPX those flat lines buy 25% more compensation. They are large enough to flip the result.

The flip is much stronger for the accountant. Her work levy is almost nothing, so her bill is nearly all flat levy. It is weaker for high-risk classification units. There the work levy dominates, and the gap between the CoverPlus and CPX columns is wide in dollars.

This comparison assumes the agreed CPX cover is set equal to liable income. Set it higher or lower and the arithmetic moves.

There is no provisional levy on CoverPlus

Business owners often expect the bill their employer friends describe. That is a wash-up for the year just gone plus a provisional levy for the year ahead. It is the WorkPlace Cover invoice, and only employers get it. ACC names its two parts. The final levy is "the year end, or 'wash up' for the previous year". The provisional levy is "the estimate invoice based on your payroll for the previous year and is adjusted for expected salary increases" (ACC, retrieved 19 August 2026).

Standard CoverPlus does not work that way. ACC's levy liable earnings policy, released under the Official Information Act, says so plainly: "ACC does not issue provisional invoice for CoverPlus (CP) policies" (ACC OIA response GOV-027418, 19 September 2023, retrieved 19 August 2026). ACC's public page matches. It lists liable income, the three levy lines and GST, and no provisional component (ACC, retrieved 19 August 2026).

CoverPlus Extra is different again. Because the cover amount is agreed in advance, the invoice can be issued in advance. ACC says you are invoiced soon after you accept your offer letter. Start a new levy year on a CPX policy and you are invoiced in April (ACC, retrieved 19 August 2026). CPX is billed forward. CoverPlus is billed backward.

Sourced from ACC, ACC, ACC and ACC OIA response GOV-027418 (all retrieved 19 August 2026).

Why the first invoice surprises people

Two published mechanics do most of the damage, and they compound.

The first is timing. ACC invoices you after Inland Revenue passes on your filed return. For a new business, ACC states the invoice "will be triggered when you file your first tax return. This is usually in your second year of business" (ACC, retrieved 19 August 2026). CoverPlus invoices go out around September (ACC, retrieved 19 August 2026). So you can trade for well over a year, covered the whole time, before the first bill lands. By then you have spent the money.

The second is the minimum. ACC defines full time as an average of more than 30 hours a week over the tax year. Work full time and earn less than the minimum liable income, and ACC levies you on the minimum instead (ACC, retrieved 19 August 2026). For 2026/27 that minimum is $50,501.

Year one of self-employment is exactly where those two collide. A full-time carpenter who took home $20,000 in a start-up year is levied as though the income were $50,501.

Calculated from the ACC Levy Guidebook 2026/27 rates and the published 2026/27 minimum liable income of $50,501 (both retrieved 19 August 2026). Totals are our arithmetic.

Nearly ten percent of a lean first year, on an invoice that arrives after the year has ended. That is the surprise, and it is a rule rather than an error.

There are two published ways out of it. First, if you genuinely work 30 hours a week or less, tell ACC. Part-time self-employed people are levied on actual income, with no floor. Second, if your income is irregular or you are newly self-employed, ACC points to CoverPlus Extra for exactly that case. It lets you agree the cover amount, and so the levy, in advance (ACC, retrieved 19 August 2026). The full product comparison is in CoverPlus vs CoverPlus Extra.

The honest limits

The levy rates above are published and exact. Four things around them are not.

GST is our arithmetic. ACC publishes GST-exclusive rates and confirms a deductible GST line on the invoice, but not a worked GST-inclusive total.

The weekly compensation figures assume the compensation base equals the levy base. Under standard CoverPlus it may not. Levies are charged on the income you have just filed. Compensation is worked out from your most recently completed financial year at the time of the accident. In a year when your income has moved, those are two different numbers.

CPX cover levels are constrained. The 2026/27 range is $40,401 to $125,313. Earn above $125,313 and you cannot agree cover equal to your income. ACC may also ask for financial documents if the cover you request is above current earnings.

The whole scheme covers accidents, not illness. ACC does not cover illness or conditions related to ageing (ACC, retrieved 19 August 2026). No amount of levy, on either product, closes that gap. What sits outside it is set out in what ACC does not cover.

The decision underneath the invoice

CoverPlus and CoverPlus Extra decide what ACC pays you after an accident. Neither touches the months you cannot work because of an illness. That is the exposure most self-employed people carry without knowing the number.

Our income protection calculator sizes that, and our guide for the self-employed sets out how private cover sits alongside CoverPlus and CPX. Financial advice is provided by Craig Smith Business Services Limited, trading as Smiths Insurance & KiwiSaver, a licensed Financial Advice Provider (FSP712931). QuoteHub is a trading name. Our panel is listed on our disclosure page. We are paid commission by the insurer if you take out cover, which is disclosed to you before you decide.

References

• ACC, Levy Guidebook 2026/27 (rates effective 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2027, retrieved 19 August 2026): CoverPlus, CPX standard and CPX lower-levels rates by classification unit, plus the earners' and Working Safer levy rates
• ACC, Cover for self-employed (retrieved 19 August 2026): automatic CoverPlus placement, 80% of last completed year, September invoicing, the three levy lines
• ACC, CoverPlus Extra (CPX) (retrieved 19 August 2026): agreed cover, 100% payment, the two CPX options, the 2026/27 minimum and maximum, and invoice timing
• ACC, Calculating your levies (retrieved 19 August 2026): minimum and maximum liable income, full-time and part-time definitions
• ACC, Understanding your levy invoice (retrieved 19 August 2026): first invoice triggered by the first tax return, usually in the second year of business
• ACC, Understand your CoverPlus invoice and Understand your WorkPlace Cover invoice (both retrieved 19 August 2026): invoice components, final and provisional levies
• ACC, OIA response GOV-027418, levy liable earnings policy (19 September 2023, retrieved 19 August 2026): ACC does not issue provisional invoices for CoverPlus policies
• ACC, injuries we don't cover (retrieved 19 August 2026): illness is outside the scheme

Disclaimer: This article is general information only and does not constitute personalised financial advice, tax advice or an ACC quote. Every rate is reproduced from ACC's published 2026/27 material as at the date stated, and rates change on 1 April each year. Totals shown are our arithmetic on those published rates for the stated profile. Check your own position with ACC or your accountant. Financial advice is provided by Craig Smith Business Services Limited, trading as Smiths Insurance & KiwiSaver, a licensed Financial Advice Provider (FSP712931). QuoteHub is a trading name.

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