Why Are Some Employee Fields Locked In The Portal, And What Is The Onboarding Wizard For NZ Employees?

When an employee has permission to edit a section of their details through the employee portal, those same fields become read-only in the admin view. A blue notice reading Owned by employee portal: appears at the top of the affected section to explain why. This prevents conflicting edits ÔÇö the employee owns those fields until the permission is turned off.

Which Sections Can Be Portal-Owned?

Each of the following sections can be independently owned by the employee, depending on the toggles set on the employee's Online Portal tab:

• Personal details ÔÇö contact information and address
• Tax settings ÔÇö IRD number, NZ tax code, student loan
• Bank accounts ÔÇö the accounts where pay is deposited

To reclaim admin editing access for any of these sections, open the employee record, go to the Online Portal tab, and turn off the matching toggle (Allow employee to edit their tax settings, Allow employee to edit their bank accounts, etc.). Save the change, then the fields will become editable in the admin view again.

The Onboarding Wizard for New NZ Employees

When you invite a new employee to self-onboard, they receive an email containing a secure link to the employee portal. Clicking that link starts the Employee Onboarding wizard ÔÇö a step-by-step guide that takes them through the sections they have been given permission to fill in. For NZ employees, the wizard includes:

1. Welcome ÔÇö an introduction explaining the sections they will complete.
2. Employee details ÔÇö personal and contact information (if enabled).
3. Tax settings ÔÇö the employee enters their IRD number and selects their NZ tax code from their IR330 tax code declaration. They can also tick I have a student loan or I have not provided a tax code declaration (which applies the ND code). Tax settings are only included in the wizard before onboarding is marked complete.
4. Bank accounts ÔÇö the accounts where they want their pay deposited (if enabled).
5. Pays ÔÇö access to payslips (if enabled).
6. Review and Complete ÔÇö the employee clicks Mark Onboarding as Complete to notify the employer that setup is done.

Note: the Super step that appears for Australian employees is not shown to NZ employees ÔÇö KiwiSaver settings are managed at the payroll-admin level, not by the employee through the portal.

NZ Tax Codes Available in the Portal

The following tax codes appear in the NZ tax code dropdown on the Tax settings screen:

• M ÔÇö Main income, standard tax rate
• ME ÔÇö Main income, eligible for Independent Earner Tax Credit (IETC)
• SB ÔÇö Secondary income, total annual income up to $14,000
• S ÔÇö Secondary income, total annual income $14,001 to $48,000
• SH ÔÇö Secondary income, total annual income $48,001 to $70,000
• ST ÔÇö Secondary income, total annual income $70,001 to $180,000
• SA ÔÇö Secondary income, total annual income over $180,000
• CAE ÔÇö Casual agricultural employee
• EDW ÔÇö Election day worker
• NSW ÔÇö Recognised seasonal worker, non-resident Pacific countries
• STC ÔÇö Special tax code, tailored rate issued by Inland Revenue
• ND ÔÇö No declaration provided
• WT ÔÇö Withholding tax

Setting Up Self-Onboarding

To invite an employee to self-onboard, open the Employees section and choose Add New Employee. Select Have Employee Onboard Themselves, enter the employee's first name, last name, and email address, then choose which sections they can edit during onboarding (Personal Details, Tax Settings, Bank Accounts) and what optional access they will have after onboarding is complete. Send the onboarding email, and the employee will receive the link to start the wizard.