ACC’s Work levy depends on two things only: your liable earnings, and the rate for your five-digit classification code. The earnings are what they are, but the code was often picked in a hurry at registration — and a wrong code is charged every year. Everything below uses the real rates from ACC’s official levy guidebooks to show what the right and wrong code are worth, how to change it, and whether anything comes back.
Work levy = liable earnings × your code’s rate ÷ 100. At 2026-27 rates, $100,000 under carpentry services (42420, $1.76) is $100,000 × 1.76 ÷ 100 = $1,760; under construction with all trades subcontracted (42595, $0.40) the same earnings pay $400. Changing the code changes only this part: the Earners’ levy and the Working Safer levy are the same across every industry. All figures exclude GST.
Differences are worked out at 2026-27 rates on $100,000 of liable earnings, GST-exclusive. The court cases were decided in other years at other rates; only the dividing line is borrowed here.
42420 Carpentry services $1.76 → 42595 Construction services and property developers – all trades subcontracted $0.40: $1,360 a year on $100,000
Many builders registered under their own trade — carpentry, painting and so on. If you now only manage projects and subcontract every trade, the guidebook has a unit for exactly that: construction services and property developers with all trades subcontracted. If you still do the work yourself, it does not apply.
ACC Levy Guidebook 2026/27 · CU 42420 · CU 42595
45310 Timber wholesaling $1.45 → 52330 Hardware and building supplies retailing $0.69: $760 a year on $100,000
ACC moved a building-supplies store from hardware and building supplies retailing to timber wholesaling — more than double the rate. The store took it to court and won. The court looked at how the goods were sold — a shop front, priced displays, the public free to walk in and choose — not at who bought them: over 80% of its sales went through trade accounts and it was still retail.
ACC v Building Connexion Ltd [2021] NZACC 41 — ACC v Southern Lakes Building Ltd [2022] NZHC 1288 · CU 45310 · CU 52330
61100 Road freight transport $2.25 → 47130 Dairy produce wholesaling $1.00: $1,250 a year on $100,000
A dairy wholesaler delivered daily in refrigerated trucks, and ACC levied it as road freight transport. The court put it back as dairy produce wholesaling: the goods were bought and resold, daily delivery was what the trade itself required, no separate delivery charge was made, and delivery was not a second activity.
ACC v Peninsula Distribution Ltd [2012] NZACC 257 · CU 61100 · CU 47130
The names are ACC’s own; the groups are ours, to make the list easier to scan. A matching name does not make it your code: ACC classifies by what the business actually does, and a business doing several things has its own rules (next section). Amounts are the Work levy only — the part that moves with the code — excluding GST.
| Code | Official name | Per $100 | $100k a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 41110 | House construction | $1.53 | $1,530 |
| 42420 | Carpentry services | $1.76 | $1,760 |
| 42440 | Painting and decorating services | $1.67 | $1,670 |
| 42430 | Tiling and carpeting services | $1.76 | $1,760 |
| 42310 | Plumbing services | $1.35 | $1,350 |
| 42320 | Electrical services (including telecommunication services within buildings) | $0.68 | $680 |
| 42510 | Landscape construction services | $1.76 | $1,760 |
| 42595 | Construction services and property developers – all trades subcontracted | $0.40 | $400 |
| Code | Official name | Per $100 | $100k a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 78660 | Cleaning services and facilities management (not elsewhere classified) | $1.00 | $1,000 |
| 95250 | Gardening and turf management services | $1.76 | $1,760 |
| 95260 | Hairdressing and beauty services | $0.50 | $500 |
| 71120 | Courier pick-up and delivery services | $1.30 | $1,300 |
| 61230 | Taxi and road transport (not elsewhere classified) | $0.78 | $780 |
| Code | Official name | Per $100 | $100k a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 57300 | Cafes and restaurants | $0.40 | $400 |
| 51250 | Takeaway food services | $0.40 | $400 |
| 51100 | Supermarket and grocery stores | $0.67 | $670 |
| 21640 | Bakery product manufacturing (non-factory-based) | $0.67 | $670 |
| 52210 | Clothing retailing | $0.23 | $230 |
| 52330 | Hardware and building supplies retailing | $0.69 | $690 |
| Code | Official name | Per $100 | $100k a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 78540 | Office administrative services | $0.21 | $210 |
| 78420 | Accounting services | $0.03 | $30 |
| 78410 | Legal services | $0.05 | $50 |
| 78550 | Management services and related consulting services | $0.12 | $120 |
| 78340 | Computer systems design and related services | $0.02 | $20 |
| 77200 | Real estate services | $0.16 | $160 |
| 66410 | Travel agency and tour arrangement services | $0.19 | $190 |
| 84400 | Adult, community, and other education (not elsewhere classified) | $0.37 | $370 |
| 77110 | Residential property operators | $0.40 | $400 |
On the levy invoice ACC sends you: the five-digit number marked CU or Classification unit, usually printed next to the unit’s name and its rate per $100.
Work levy = liable earnings × your code’s rate ÷ 100. There are also the Earners’ levy and the Working Safer levy, which are the same in every industry and do not change with the code. All exclude GST, and earnings above the year’s ceiling are not levied.
Generally not. A corrected classification usually takes effect from the date of the change. To protect the year on your current invoice, apply for a formal review (ACC33) within three months of the date printed on the decision letter; levy reviews cannot be extended.
No. The Act asks for the code that most accurately describes your main activity (s 170(1)), not the cheapest one. Sometimes the right code costs more — and if that is what the check finds, we say so.
Start with what the guidebook says the code covers (every code has a page on this site). If you are still unsure, drop in your invoice and we check it against ACC’s guidebook and the court decisions — the check is free; nothing to save, nothing to pay; if there is, NZ$9.90 shows which code.
No. Employers send form ACC4618 to business@acc.co.nz; the self-employed update it in MyACC for Business or call 0800 222 776. Neither costs anything.
Drop in your ACC invoice and answer a few questions, and we check it against ACC’s guidebook and the court decisions: whether your code is right, and what a different one would save each year. The check is free; nothing to save, nothing to pay; if there is, NZ$9.90 shows which code and gives you a ready-written English letter.