Get Your Team to Work for Less with Tax-Free Public Transport

Public transport is one of the easiest ways to support return-to-office goals – and now, you can offer it tax-free. Extraordinary is New Zealand’s only IRD-approved platform that lets employees pay for commuting from their pre-tax income, saving them money while reducing your FBT burden.
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Transport Allowance

Boosts take-home pay

Potential pre-tax savings of $768+ per year


FBT exempt

Operational simplicity and tax savings

Real-time analytics

Automatic compliance


Only works with public transport

Supports AT HOP, Snapper, Metrocard, Bee Card

Scales across teams

Of any size, instantly

Tax-free transport, made simple

Thanks to a binding ruling from Inland Revenue and FBT reform, employers can now offer public transport benefits via Extraordinary.

That means employees can now use pre-tax income to pay for travel, saving them $768+ annually on commuting costs. While employers enhance their benefit offering without increasing salary costs. It’s the first solution of its kind in New Zealand. And it’s available now.

Read the IRD's product ruling here.

Two flexible ways to support your team

This IRD-approved solution allows employers to fund public transport fares for employees in either of the following ways:

  • Pre-tax (salary reduction): An employee agrees to a temporary reduction in salary in exchange for employer-subsidised public transport top-ups.
Calculate how much your employees could save using our pre-tax public transport saving calculator.
  • As part of total remuneration: An employer directly subsidises public transport fares as part of the employee’s compensation package, without reducing salary.

Designed for compliance & control

We worked with IRD and tax experts to build a pre-tax solution that’s compliant by default. Funds are automatically restricted to approved public transport top-ups (AT HOP, Snapper, Metrocard, Bee Card), so there’s no FBT – and no risk.

With the Extraordinary Platform, you stay in control: set allowances, track usage, and automate reporting. Employees can view their balance anytime via the app or web.

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How the Public Transport solution works

Whether you use pre-tax salary reduction or direct subsidy, setup is simple:

1.
1.

Employee opts in

Choose contribution amount and frequency.
2.
2.

Funds are added to Extraordinary account

The organisation configures their payroll platform to work with Extraordinary. Pre-tax funds are then added to an employees Extraordinary account during the payroll cycle, and locked to approved transport top-ups.
3.
3.

Employees spend on public transport

Employees top up their transport cards. Works with AT HOP, Snapper, Metrocard, and Bee Card (for pre-tax allocations, employees must tap on with their transport card, not Extraordinary).
4.
4.

Track and optimise

Real-time dashboards show usage, spend, and impact.

What our customers are saying

Testimonials
“By setting that wellbeing budget aside, people are actually using it for themselves, and we’re only paying for what they spend. Nothing goes to waste.”
Nicola Taylor, Founder
Taxi & Tax Traders
Testimonials
“This approach has been really popular and has provided them with the flexibility to choose benefits that are meaningful to them.”
Regina Thayalakal, Head of Performance & Reward
ASB
Testimonials
“We can now offer better benefits to our employees at a fraction of the cost of existing programmes and the team absolutely love it.”
Kim Hickman, Head of People & Performance
ACROW Group

Frequently asked questions

What public transport cards are supported?

Currently, four cards are supported under the approved ruling: AT HOP (Auckland), Snapper (Wellington), Metrocard (Canterbury), Bee Card (regional NZ).


Is this available nationwide?

Yes. The Extraordinary Card works anywhere these cards are accepted. The “Public Transport” category in the Extraordinary platform ensures contributions are only redeemable for transit-related top-ups.

What if an employee leaves the company?

You control contribution limits and can stop top-ups at any time via the Extraordinary platform. Funds are employer-allocated and non-transferable for personal use.

Can we offer this to all employees or just some?

Yes. You can make the benefit available to all staff or just certain groups (e.g. office-based, regular commuters, or those returning on-site). In salary reduction scenarios, employees opt in voluntarily by agreeing to a temporary reduction in salary in exchange for employer-funded public transport contributions, as confirmed in the IRD Product Ruling.

How does the pre-tax salary sacrifice work?

Employees opt in to redirect part of their salary before tax to fund commuting costs. This lowers their taxable income, increasing take-home pay. Employers allocate the sacrificed amount to public transport, resulting in a valuable, tax-efficient benefit for both parties.

Ready to offer public transport benefits the right way?

We'll walk you through setup, savings, and how to offer this FBT-exempt benefit at no extra cost.

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