To switch your KiwiSaver to a halal fund in New Zealand, you apply directly to the AE KiwiSaver Plan run by AE KiwiSaver Limited, part of Always-Ethical in Takapuna, and the new provider arranges the transfer of your whole balance from your old scheme. The AE application form says the previous provider has a maximum of 10 days to move your savings; Inland Revenue says the whole process takes about two weeks. Employer contributions, the government contribution and the first home withdrawal all continue unchanged, because they belong to KiwiSaver membership, not to any one provider. AE is the only Shariah-screened KiwiSaver scheme in the country, so this is a one-destination switch. The retirement hub sets out the alternatives if you decide not to make it.
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Before you switch: confirm the destination is what you think it is
The AE KiwiSaver Plan has one fund, which invests through AE Investor, a unit trust managed by the same group under what the Product Disclosure Statement calls a Strict Ethical Mandate. The PDS, fetched from always-ethical.com on 21 September 2026, names Trustees Executors Limited as supervisor and Apex Investment Administration (NZ) Limited as custodian, both independent of the manager and both licensed by the Financial Markets Authority. The screening thresholds are stated in the PDS: interest-bearing debt under 30%, interest-bearing investments under 30%, prohibited activities under 5% of a business and purified, and all dividends purified for non-permissible income.
Two features of the fund shape the decision. Its risk indicator is 7, the highest on the scale, because it runs an absolute-return style with no target asset allocation, and the PDS suggests a minimum five-year horizon. Its fees are high: a 1.39% management fee plus an estimated 1.77% in administration expenses, 3.16% of net asset value a year, plus a $32.40 annual member fee. The 30-year effect of that is modelled in The 30-Year Math on NZ's Only Halal KiwiSaver Fees, and the overall review is Halal KiwiSaver in New Zealand (2026). Read both, and the Always-Ethical profile, before you start the form. This page assumes you have decided and want the mechanics.
Step 1: Join the AE KiwiSaver Plan
You can join if you live or normally live in New Zealand and are a citizen or permanent resident, according to the PDS. There is no minimum investment. The PDS lists three ways in: the join now button on always-ethical.com, the paper application form at the back of the PDS with supporting documents, or by email or phone on 0800 4 262624. The form asks for your IRD number, your PIR, your contribution details and your next of kin, and includes an identity section that offers either electronic verification with your consent or certified copies.
- Download the current PDS, the Other Material Information document and the SIPO from the AE plan documents page, and check the latest quarterly Fund Update, which the page lists for June 2026.
- Decide on electronic identity verification, which uses your signed New Zealand passport or driver licence, or certified copies; the certifier must be a lawyer, JP, chartered accountant, police officer, doctor, teacher or similar, not a relative or someone at your address, and copies must be presented within three months of certification.
- Provide proof of address issued within the last 12 months, such as a bank statement, rates bill, tenancy agreement, utility bill or a government agency letter.
- Enter your IRD number and your prescribed investor rate; the form requires both, and leaving the PIR blank defaults you to 28%.
- Sign the declaration, which includes authority for AE to arrange the transfer from your existing scheme on acceptance of the application.
AE says it will contact you if anything is missing, and otherwise send a welcome email setting out your details as recorded. Once processed, you get registration details for an online member portal where you can check the balance, and an annual statement by email.
Step 2: The transfer, and what your old provider must do
You do nothing with your old provider. Inland Revenue's page on changing provider is explicit: you apply to the new scheme, the new provider arranges the transfer, and you can belong to only one scheme at a time. AE's form says the transfer may take up to 10 days, described as the maximum period your previous provider has to transfer your savings. IRD's own estimate for the whole process is about two weeks.
Expect a letter from Inland Revenue confirming you have changed schemes. AE warns on its form that this letter only records the change of enrolment and does not mean the money has arrived, so check the AE portal rather than treating the IRD letter as confirmation. IRD also notes that your old provider may charge a transfer fee, which you must check with them; AE itself charges no establishment, contribution, termination or withdrawal fees. Contributions deducted from your pay in the gap continue to flow to IRD and are forwarded to whichever scheme IRD has on record, so a payslip deduction during transfer week is not lost.
Step 3: Choose the right PIR, because the wrong one costs money both ways
The AE KiwiSaver Plan is a portfolio investment entity, so its income is taxed at your prescribed investor rate rather than your marginal rate. IRD's guide for individual PIE investors sets three rates, 10.5%, 17.5% and 28%, chosen by looking at either of your last two tax years. You qualify for 10.5% if in either year your taxable income was $15,600 or less and your taxable income plus PIE income was $53,500 or less. You qualify for 17.5% if in either year taxable income was $53,500 or less and the combined figure was $78,100 or less. Otherwise your rate is 28%, which is also the default if you give the fund no rate at all.
| Taxable income in either of last two years | Taxable plus PIE income | Your PIR |
|---|---|---|
| $15,600 or less | $53,500 or less | 10.5% |
| $53,500 or less | $78,100 or less | 17.5% |
| Any other combination | Any other combination | 28% |
| No rate supplied | Not applicable | 28% default |
Getting it wrong is not fatal but it is not free. IRD now runs an end-of-year PIE calculation on your income tax assessment. If you used a rate that was too high, the overpaid tax becomes a PIE credit set against any tax you owe, with the balance refunded. If you used a rate that was too low, the shortfall is a PIE debt added to your bill, and IRD's examples show that even a year in which the fund lost money can produce a debt if you claimed the loss at too high a rate. Because KiwiSaver is a locked-in fund, its PIE income is not counted for Working for Families or student loan repayments, which removes one worry that applies to other PIE investments. Use IRD's online PIR calculator, which for the year ending 31 March 2027 looks at your income for the years ended 31 March 2025 and 31 March 2026.
What continues after the switch: employer, government and withdrawals
Nothing about your contribution rights changes with the provider. Your employee contribution stays at the rate you chose from 3%, 4%, 6%, 8% or 10%; from 1 April 2026 anyone on 3% moved to 3.5% automatically along with the employer match, and both default rates rise to 4% on 1 April 2028, as both IRD's KiwiSaver changes page and the AE PDS set out. A temporary rate reduction back to 3% is available for three to 12 months if you apply. Employer contributions now extend to members aged 16 and 17.
The government contribution also follows you. Since 1 July 2025 it is 25 cents for each dollar you contribute, to a maximum of $260.72 a year, which needs $1,042.86 of your own contributions between 1 July and 30 June; members with taxable income over $180,000 no longer receive it. Your new provider claims it after 30 June and IRD says to expect it by late July or August. Whether to accept government and employer money at all, given its source, is a separate question handled in KiwiSaver's Halal Questions Answered. First home withdrawal, significant financial hardship, permanent emigration, serious illness and death benefits all remain available under the KiwiSaver Act 2006, and AE publishes its own withdrawal forms for each.
Step 4: Deal with the balance that grew in the old fund
Your transferred balance arrives as cash and is invested under the Strict Ethical Mandate from the day AE receives it, so the units you hold from then on are screened. The money that came across, however, grew in a default or conventional fund that held interest-bearing bonds, bank shares and whatever else Is KiwiSaver Halal? What Your Default Fund Actually Holds describes. The common scholarly position is that your own contributions and employer contributions are lawful capital, and that the portion of growth attributable to impermissible income should be estimated and given away without expecting reward.
In practice you cannot purify locked money by withdrawing it, so the method most people use is to calculate the impermissible fraction now, record it, and donate the equivalent from outside KiwiSaver, either in one go or over a few years. The estimate can be rough: your old fund's annual reports show its asset allocation, and the interest-bearing share of returns is a defensible proxy. The full method, including how AE's own fund handles purification through AE Investor as a disclosed expense, is in Purification: The Halal Investing Step NZ Muslims Skip Most. Note that the AE PDS says the KiwiSaver scheme itself cannot purify under KiwiSaver regulations, which is why it invests only through a fund that does.
Switching versus opting out: when each is right
Opting out of KiwiSaver on religious grounds is possible only in the first weeks of a new job, and for an existing member the real alternatives are switching or stopping contributions through a savings suspension. Switching keeps the employer match and government contribution, costs 3.16% plus $32.40 a year in fees, and puts you in a single high-volatility fund. Suspending contributions forfeits the employer and government money but lets you invest the same dollars in whatever halal portfolio you choose on the investing hub, at far lower cost.
The numbers usually favour switching for a salaried member because the employer match alone exceeds the fee drag at most salary levels, a comparison worked through in Opting Out of KiwiSaver on Religious Grounds? Run These Numbers First. They favour suspension for the self-employed, who receive no employer match and whose only KiwiSaver-specific benefit is the $260.72 government contribution.
Our view: who should switch this month
If you are an employee in a default or conventional fund and you are not comfortable holding it, switch now rather than waiting for a cheaper halal option to appear; none is in the pipeline and every month in the old fund adds to the balance you will later need to purify. File the application with your PIR and IRD number filled in, choose electronic identity verification to avoid the certification errand, and diarise a check of the AE portal two weeks later. Then set up the purification estimate for the transferred balance while the old fund's last statement is still in front of you.
If you are self-employed or a high earner above the $180,000 government-contribution cut-off, the switch is still halal but the case for KiwiSaver at all is weaker, and a savings suspension with a self-directed halal portfolio deserves a serious look. If you are within a few years of a first home withdrawal, switch anyway: the withdrawal right travels with you, and a Shariah-screened balance is a cleaner deposit. For comparing the actual returns and fees charged, the quarterly fund updates on the Disclose Register at the Companies Office are the primary source and are listed on AE's documents page. Facts checked against always-ethical.com, ird.govt.nz, kiwisaver.govt.nz, disclose-register.companiesoffice.govt.nz on 21 September 2026.
Frequently asked questions
How long does it take to transfer KiwiSaver to AE?
AE's application form says the previous provider has a maximum of 10 days to transfer your savings once AE has accepted your application, and Inland Revenue's page on changing provider says the whole process takes about two weeks. You will get an IRD letter confirming the change of scheme, but AE advises checking its member portal to see when the money actually lands.
Does switching KiwiSaver cost anything?
AE charges no establishment, contribution, termination or withdrawal fees, so joining is free on its side. IRD notes that your old provider may charge a transfer fee, which you must check with them. Once in the fund, you pay an estimated 3.16% of your balance a year in management and administration charges plus a $32.40 annual member fee.
Do I lose employer contributions when I change KiwiSaver provider?
No. Employer contributions are a KiwiSaver membership entitlement and continue at the same rate with any provider. From 1 April 2026 the default employee and employer rate is 3.5%, rising to 4% on 1 April 2028, and employer contributions now extend to members aged 16 and 17. Deductions made during transfer week are forwarded by IRD to your new scheme.
What PIR should I give the AE KiwiSaver Plan?
Use 10.5% if in either of the last two tax years your taxable income was $15,600 or less and your taxable plus PIE income was $53,500 or less; 17.5% if taxable income was $53,500 or less and the combined figure $78,100 or less; otherwise 28%. If you supply no rate the fund uses 28%, and IRD squares up any over or under payment in your end-of-year assessment.
Can I still use the first home withdrawal after switching?
Yes. The first home withdrawal is a right under the KiwiSaver Act 2006 and applies whichever scheme holds your balance. AE publishes its own First Home Withdrawal form on its documents page. The same applies to significant financial hardship, permanent emigration and serious illness withdrawals.
Compare providers in your region
See side-by-side comparisons of Shariah-compliant products, or let our matcher recommend the best options for your situation.
Do I need to purify my old KiwiSaver balance?
Most scholars say yes for the portion of growth that came from impermissible sources such as interest, while your own and your employer's contributions are lawful capital. Because the money is locked, estimate the impermissible fraction from the old fund's asset allocation and donate the equivalent from outside KiwiSaver, without expecting reward, then keep a record.
