What is Extraordinary Public Transport?

Thanks to a binding ruling from Inland Revenue and FBT reform, employers can now offer public transport benefits via Extraordinary.


The Extraordinary Public Transport solution supports employees to fund their public transport
commuting costs using pre-tax income. This is made possible through a salary sacrifice arrangement.

An employee agrees to reduce their gross salary by their public transport amount, and in return receives that amount, before tax, loaded to an Extraordinary card each pay period to use on public transport.

To find out more about how Extraordinary Public Transport works from an employee perspective, check out our Employee Public Transport page here.

How the tax saving works

Under a salary sacrifice, the employee’s gross salary is reduced before tax is calculated. This means PAYE, ACC earners levy, and KiwiSaver contributions are all calculated on the lower gross salary amount.

A low cost benefit for employers to facilitate

When an employee enters a salary sacrifice, the employer no longer pays KiwiSaver on the sacrificed amount. This saving directly offsets the Extraordinary platform fee of $4.17 per employee per month ($50 annualised).

The maths is the same regardless of the employee’s salary:

• KiwiSaver saving = sacrifice amount × 3.5% (employer contribution rate)
• Platform fee annualized = $50 per participating employee per year (excl. GST)
• Net employer position = KiwiSaver saving - $50

Which public transport providers are included

The extraordinary card can be used with all public transport providers in New zealand:

• Direct purchasing with public transport providers
• ‘Tapping on’ directly with the public transport provided (Auckland Transport and Metlink services in Wellington only)
• Topping up AT HOP (Auckland Transport and some regional services like Mahu City
  Express, Island Direct, SeaLink)
• Topping up Snapper Card (Wellington and some regional services like East by West
  Ferries, Capital Connection)
• Topping up Metrocard (Canterbury / Christchurch)
• Topping up Bee Card (Waikato, Bay of Plenty, Hawke’s Bay, Manawatu-Whanganui,
  Nelson, Tasman, Marlborough, and West Coast)