On 1 April 2026, every import consignment entering New Zealand started paying its way at the border under a new system. The old Import Entry Transaction Fee (IETF) and the Biosecurity System Entry Levy — the pair of charges importers had grumbled about for years — were retired, replaced by a new family of consignment-based charges: the Goods Management Levies.
If you set up your landed-cost spreadsheet before April, it's now wrong. Here's what changed, what the new charges look like, and the one strategic shift every small importer should make in response.
What was replaced
Under the old system, a formal import entry triggered the IETF plus the biosecurity levy — effectively a bundled charge for Customs processing and biosecurity screening on entries. The new system rebuilds this around consignments: charges attach to shipments moving across the border, structured differently depending on value and mode.
The new levies, in plain English
Low-value goods levy — consignments at or below NZ$1,000. Charged per consignment: approximately NZ$2.21 for air and NZ$2.09 for sea, plus 15% GST. Postal items are charged on a weight basis instead. The detail that surprises people: this levy applies to all importers regardless of GST registration. Every parcel now carries a small border charge — which is precisely why the era of "split it into small parcels and slide under the radar" is over.
High-value goods levy — consignments over NZ$1,000. Charged per entry, with separate air and sea rates, and comprising both a Customs portion and an MPI portion, plus GST. For commercial importers this replaces the old IETF-plus-biosecurity-levy pairing on your import entries. Payment is due by the 20th of the month following the charge — a familiar rhythm for anyone already paying NZ suppliers on the 20th. Check customs.govt.nz for the current rates when you build your costings.
The supporting cast. The reform also introduced an empty container levy, a transhipment levy, a commercial vessel levy and a mail import levy. Most of these are absorbed into the charges your freight forwarder and carrier pass through, but expect to see them itemised on invoices where they apply.
What it means in dollars
Let's be honest about scale: for a genuine commercial shipment, the levies are a rounding error. On a NZ$15,000 consignment, a per-entry charge measured in tens of dollars barely moves your unit economics.
The change bites at the small end. If you're drop-shipping, testing products with a stream of small parcels, or running frequent small replenishment orders, a per-consignment charge — small as it is — now multiplies across every single shipment. Twenty parcels a month at roughly NZ$2 each plus GST is real money over a year, and it's pure cost: no input to your product, no offsetting saving.
The strategic response: consolidate
The new system's logic is simple — every consignment pays. So the winning response is equally simple: fewer, larger consignments.
- Combine multiple SKUs from one supplier into single shipments rather than ordering piecemeal.
- If you buy from several suppliers in the same region of China, ask your freight forwarder about consolidating them into one LCL consignment.
- Rethink high-frequency small replenishment. The 90-day order cycle we recommend anyway — with proper reorder points and buffer stock — naturally produces fewer, larger shipments.
- If you've been threshold-gaming under NZ$1,000, stop. You're now paying a levy per parcel and GST at checkout, with none of the input-credit clarity of proper commercial entries.
Consolidation was already good practice for freight economics — per-unit sea freight falls dramatically as volume rises. The levies simply add one more reason.
Housekeeping for existing importers
Three quick actions if you were importing before April 2026:
- Update your landed-cost template. Delete the IETF line, add the Goods Management Levies with current rates from customs.govt.nz.
- Check your broker's disbursements. Your customs broker passes these charges through — make sure their invoices reflect the new structure and you're not being billed against stale fee schedules.
- Diarise the payment rhythm. High-value levy charges fall due on the 20th of the following month. Fold it into your creditors run.
Key takeaways
- From 1 April 2026, the IETF and Biosecurity System Entry Levy were replaced by consignment-based Goods Management Levies.
- Low-value consignments (≤NZ$1,000): roughly NZ$2.21 air / NZ$2.09 sea per consignment plus GST, applying to all importers; postal items are weight-based.
- High-value consignments (>NZ$1,000): per-entry levy with Customs and MPI portions plus GST, payable by the 20th of the following month.
- Every consignment now pays, so consolidate: fewer, larger shipments beat streams of small parcels.
Related: GST on Imports: The $1,000 Threshold Explained for 2026, NZ Customs Clearance Step by Step: TSW, Entries and Client Codes
