Making a withdrawal
You can access your KiwiSaver savings when you turn 65, which is the current age for NZ Super. You can take out all your savings or just some of them, and keep the rest invested to keep growing. In some situations, you may also be able to withdraw money earlier.
When can I make an early withdrawal?
In some cases, you can withdraw all or some of your KiwiSaver savings before retirement age. These include:
- Buying your first home or land for your first home
- Are in significant financial hardship or have a serious illness
- Emigrating to countries permanently (does not include Australia)
- Withdrawal to pay tax liability or after transferring foreign superannuation
Other situations where your KiwiSaver savings can be withdrawn early include:
- By court order
- When transferring eligible savings from overseas schemes
- In the event of your death
Conditions apply to all of these situations, so not everyone will be eligible for an early withdrawal.
Retirement withdrawal
You’ve made it to retirement! When you turn 65, you become eligible to withdraw your KiwiSaver savings for your retirement.
But before you move on to your next adventure in life, check out how to make withdrawals from your Booster KiwiSaver Scheme. You can also choose to keep your savings in your KiwiSaver account and continue to grow your money or take it out periodically as you need it.
If you have received government contributions when you were ineligible to, such as during a time New Zealand wasn’t your main residence, Inland Revenue will take back these contributions from your KiwiSaver account. This will reduce the amount you have available for a retirement withdrawal.
You can choose to withdraw:
- Your entire savings as a lump sum
- Part of your KiwiSaver savings
But you don't have to withdraw your KiwiSaver money if you don't want to. If you don’t need your savings right away, you can leave some or all of them in your KiwiSaver account so they can continue to grow.
What’s best for you will depend on your overall financial situation and your lifestyle – so we recommend you talk to your financial adviser before making any decision.
To apply for retirement withdrawal, return the completed Booster KiwiSaver Scheme Retirement Withdrawal Form either to us or your financial adviser.
Please note that full retirement withdrawals can take up to 10 business days once all completed paperwork has been received. Partial retirement withdrawals can take up to 5 business days.
You can withdraw all or some of your KiwiSaver savings when you reach the qualification age for New Zealand superannuation, currently 65.
If you've transferred funds from an Australian-complying superannuation scheme to a KiwiSaver scheme, you can withdraw these transferred funds when you meet both the following conditions. You must:
- Reach the age of 60
- Satisfy the definition of 'retirement' in Australian legislation
Financial hardship withdrawal
If you are experiencing significant financial hardship and have no other sources of financial support available, you may be able to withdraw some of your KiwiSaver savings. At least one of the following situations must apply to you:
- I can’t afford my minimum living expenses such as food, power, water
- I can’t afford to pay my mortgage, rent or board
- I need to modify my house due to my or one of my financial dependents’ disability
- I need to pay for funeral costs for a financial dependent who has passed away
- I need to pay for essential medical treatment for me or one of my financial dependents, due to an illness or injury
- I need to pay for end-of-life care for myself or one of my financial dependents
See the full definition of 'financial hardship' in the KiwiSaver Act here.
You may be able to withdraw an amount equal to:
- Your own contributions
- Your employer contributions
- Any investment returns
This amount will not include any government contributions.
You can only withdraw money:
- That is enough to ease your hardship
- If you can show that you have looked into and used up all other reasonable options
MoneyTalks is a free service and support group to help you through financial hardship. MoneyTalks connects people and whānau with local foodbanks, helps find their way through Work and Income processes and entitlements, and gives helpful advice to manage money.
You can get in touch with MoneyTalks if you need help with day-to-day money matters, like budgeting, Kiwisaver hardship applications and debt management. Sharing information and linking you with local community groups may give you new options, and the power to make choices.
To contact MoneyTalks, call 0800 345 123, text 4029, email help@moneytalks.co.nz or chat online via www.moneytalks.co.nz.
Need to make a financial hardship withdrawal of your KiwiSaver savings?
The supervisor of the Booster KiwiSaver Scheme is Public Trust. They make the decisions on all financial hardship applications. You can check your eligibility and apply through the link below.
To consider your application for significant financial hardship, Booster may collect personal information from you (including via Public Trust) which we manage in accordance with our privacy statement. By clicking ‘Apply now’, you acknowledge you have read and understood Booster's Privacy Statement.
Where you provide personal information about another person to support your application, you confirm you have shared Booster’s privacy statement with them, and they have agreed for you to provide their personal information to Booster and Public Trust and they have been told of the purpose for this collection. To start your application, click ‘Apply now’ which will take you to Public Trust’s online system where their privacy statement is located.
Serious illness or life-shortening congenital condition withdrawal
If you've got a serious illness or life-shortening congenital condition, you may be able to take out some or all of your Booster KiwiSaver Scheme savings but your state of health must meet the definition of 'serious illness' or ‘life-shortening congenital conditions’ in the KiwiSaver Act.
You may be able to withdraw an amount equal to:
- Your own contributions
- Your employer contributions
- Any investment returns
- Any government contributions
Need to make a Serious Illness or Life Shortening Congenital withdrawal of your KiwiSaver savings?
To consider your Serious Illness or Life Shortening Congenital application, Booster may collect personal information from you (including via Public Trust) which we manage in accordance with our privacy statement. By clicking ‘Apply now’, you acknowledge you have read and understood Booster's Privacy Statement.
Where you provide personal information about another person to support your application, you confirm you have shared Booster’s privacy statement with them, and they have agreed for you to provide their personal information to Booster and Public Trust and they have been told of the purpose for this collection. To start your application, click ‘Apply now’ which will take you to Public Trust’s online system where their privacy statement is located.
Please contact us or your financial adviser if you require the paper application form instead.
Permanent emigration withdrawal
Looking to make the move overseas? If you permanently move overseas, you may be able to withdraw your KiwiSaver savings, with some exceptions and exclusions.
Conditions for withdrawal
If you permanently migrate to Australia, you can’t withdraw your KiwiSaver savings, but you can transfer them to an Australian complying superannuation scheme.
You will need to send us or your financial adviser:
- A completed Booster application for Trans-Tasman withdrawal form
- A statutory declaration
- Proof that you have permanently emigrated
If you have received government contributions when you were ineligible to, such as during a time New Zealand wasn’t your main residence, Inland Revenue will take back these contributions from your KiwiSaver account. This will reduce the amount you have available for a first home withdrawal.
If you permanently migrate to a country other than Australia, after you’ve been living overseas for at least a year you can do one of two things. You can either choose to:
- Withdraw your savings
- Transfer them to an approved superannuation scheme
The amount you can withdraw or transfer won’t include any government contributions you may have received.
You will need to send us or your financial adviser:
- A completed Booster application for permanent emigration withdrawal form (mybooster)
- A statutory declaration
- Proof that you have permanently emigrated
If you have received government contributions when you were ineligible to, such as during a time New Zealand wasn’t your main residence, Inland Revenue will take back these contributions from your KiwiSaver account. This will reduce the amount you have available for a first home withdrawal.
Withdrawal to pay tax after transferring a foreign superannuation
Need to pay a bit of extra tax? There are some circumstances in which you may be able to use funds in your KiwiSaver savings to cover it.
You may be able to withdraw some of your KiwiSaver savings if you need to pay either:
- A tax liability resulting from transferring a foreign superannuation scheme into a KiwiSaver scheme
- A higher student loan repayment after you've transferred money from a foreign superannuation scheme – other than an Australian scheme – to a KiwiSaver scheme
You won't be able to withdraw more than the amount of:
- Tax you have to pay
- Your additional student loan repayment obligation
Note that you cannot withdraw:
- The kick-start contribution, if you had one
- Your government contributions
If the withdrawal to pay tax or higher student loan repayments is approved, it will be paid directly to Inland Revenue.
You should seek independent advice about:
- The tax treatment of any interests you hold in foreign superannuation schemes and any transfers of money from such schemes
- Whether your foreign superannuation scheme allows a withdrawal in these situations
If you want to apply for a withdrawal to pay tax or higher student loan repayments, there's a time limit. You must do it within 24 months from the end of the month in which Inland Revenue assesses your liability for tax or student loan repayments.
You will need to send us or your financial adviser a completed Booster Partial withdrawal for foreign superannuation tax liability form - you can download this form in mybooster.