Which self-employed people can take parental leave?

To be eligible for paid parental leave as a self-employed person you must:

• Be pregnant or assuming the care of a child (under the age of six) that you intend to adopt, and
• Have been self-employed for an average of at least 10 hours a week for either the six or 12 months before your due date, or the date you assume care of a child under the age of six you intend to adopt.

You must be taking parental leave from self-employment to care for the baby or child.

You must also meet the definition of self-employment by doing one or more of the following:

• Provide goods or services for hire or reward under a contract for services
• Carry on a business (including a profession, a trade, a manufacturer or an undertaking carried on for profit). This includes being in partnership with another person
• Work for a trust in a business owned by the trust.

Some people may be engaged in more than one type of self-employed work - for example, bee-keeping and gardening. Where you do different types of work at the same time (concurrently) during a six or 12 month period, this is treated as one period of self-employment. Enabling you to group different types of work into one period of self-employment may help you meet eligibility criteria around the number of hours worked.

Where you do different types of work one after the other (consecutively) during a six or 12 month period, this is also treated as one period of self-employment, as long as any breaks between this work are no greater than 30 days.

If you are eligible as both an employee and as a self-employed person (for example, a carer who works part-time for a residential care facility and also privately provides weekend respite care), you can apply separately as an employee and a self-employed person to maximise your payment level.  Your payment will not exceed the maximum amount ($391.28 before tax). If you apply as an employee and a self-employed person, you need to fill in both application forms, and send them in together to Inland Revenue.

Self-employed people can transfer all or part of their entitlement to their partner if their partner is also eligible as an employee or a self-employed person.
To check your entitlement to parental leave payments visit the Department of Labour’s online calculator at http://www.ers.dol.govt.nz/parentalleave/calculate/  or call the Department of Labour on 0800 20 90 20 during business hours.

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