Rule 51A:
Prompt payment times

Rule 51A requirement to pay domestic trade invoices within 10 business days takes effect from 1 January 2025. From 1 January to 31 December 2025, agencies are required to pay 90% of domestic trade invoices within the timeframes specified in Rule 51A.

Rule 51A requirement to be eInvoice capable and to pay domestic trade eInvoices within 5 business days takes effect from 1 January 2026. From 1 January 2026 agencies will be required to pay 95% of domestic trade eInvoices and other domestic trade invoices within the timeframes specified in Rule 51A.

The payment requirements apply from the day an invoice is entered into an accounts payable system. This may differ from the date specified on the invoice.

The invoice payment time requirements set out in Rule 51A will not apply if:

• the goods, services or works are unsatisfactory or incomplete
• the invoiced amount is in dispute 
• an invoice is incomplete or incorrectly rendered

The requirement only applies to invoices related only to domestic trade credit that are received or sent by an agency in the ordinary course of its business.

Invoice is a document or electronic message that signals a requirement to pay for goods or services that the business issuing the invoice has provided the agency. Invoices must contain the required information and be sent to the right address.

Domestic means that the requested payment is in $NZD, for goods or services supplied within New Zealand, by an entity that carries on business in New Zealand.

Electronic invoicing (eInvoicing) is the direct exchange of digital invoice information between a supplier’s and a buyer’s software or systems using the secure Peppol (Pan-European Public Procurement On Line) network and common standard. The New Zealand and Australian governments have committed to a joint approach to eInvoicing using Peppol, a global standardised framework that enables businesses to exchange procurement documents electronically.

Trade credit is where there is agreement for a delay between supply of goods or services and payment for those goods or services. In other words, the good or service must already have been provided (to the required standard and quantity).

Ordinary course of business means that, for the agency making payment, the invoice is usual or otherwise unremarkable (that is, invoices of that type would be processed regularly, using the standard accounts payable process). This excludes invoices that are so significant that extraordinary checks and approvals are required (for example, payments for significant infrastructure).

Requests for payment that are out of scope include:

• reimbursement of employee expenses
• rents, leases and utilities (office space, power, telecoms etc)
• credit card statements, finance payments, and insurance premiums
• payments made regularly as part of an ongoing contract, which don’t require an invoice, such as progress payments on a roading contract.

Requests for payment in these contexts are not considered invoices for the purposes of the Procurement Rule. Including them would skew payment time reporting and add unnecessary complexity.