When Can You Withdraw Your KiwiSaver?

Your KiwiSaver savings are locked in until one of five things happens. You cannot withdraw because you want a car, a holiday, or to pay down a credit card, and you cannot borrow against the balance.

The mainstream route. From 65 your balance is yours: withdraw all of it, set up regular payments, or leave it invested. One catch catches people out — if you joined KiwiSaver after turning 60, you also need five years of membership before you can make a retirement withdrawal.

Once you are eligible, employer contributions and the annual government contribution stop. You can still contribute your own money, and many people do because a KiwiSaver fund is often cheaper than the alternatives.

The most-used withdrawal before 65. To qualify you need to have been a KiwiSaver member for at least three years, and the property must be one you intend to live in — not a rental.

• You must leave at least $1,000 in your account.
• The money is paid to your solicitor's trust account, not to you, and is applied to the deposit or settlement.
• Your provider will normally want the application at least 10 working days before the funds are needed. Late, incomplete applications are the number one cause of settlement panic.
• Previous home owners can sometimes qualify via a Kāinga Ora "previous home owner" determination, which must be obtained before the withdrawal.

Full criteria and the current forms are on the Kāinga Ora website, and your provider has its own application on top of that.

This is possible, but it is not a form you fill in and get paid. Your provider's independent supervisor assesses whether you are suffering significant financial hardship — typically being unable to meet minimum living expenses, mortgage arrears on your home, medical costs, or funeral costs for a dependant.

Expect to provide a budget, bank statements and evidence you have explored other options. Approvals are usually limited to the amount needed to relieve the hardship rather than your whole balance, and certain amounts (including the original $1,000 kickstart where it applies) cannot be withdrawn.

If you are permanently and totally unable to work because of illness or injury, or you have a life-shortening congenital condition, you can apply to withdraw your full balance. This requires medical evidence and is assessed by your provider. In the case of a terminal diagnosis, providers can generally act quickly.

If you emigrate permanently to a country other than Australia, you can apply to withdraw one year after you leave. Your own contributions, your employer's contributions and investment returns are paid out; the government contributions are returned to the Government.

Moving to Australia is treated differently: you cannot cash out, but you can transfer your balance to an Australian complying superannuation fund under the trans-Tasman portability arrangement.

Your KiwiSaver balance is part of your estate. It is distributed under your will, or under the intestacy rules if there is no will — it does not pass automatically to a partner. Providers can often release smaller balances to the estate without probate; larger balances generally require a grant of probate first, which is a good reason to keep a current will if you have a substantial balance.

Two practical points. First, the withdrawal amount depends on your balance on the day it is processed — if your fund is a growth fund, the value moves, so leave headroom in your budget. Second, your contribution rate drives how fast that balance grows, and the KiwiSaver calculator will project it at 3% through 10%.

The rules above are drawn from Inland Revenue's KiwiSaver guidance and the Kāinga Ora first-home criteria, checked at the review date shown at the foot of this page. Eligibility decisions are made by your provider and its supervisor, not by us — this guide is general information, not financial advice.