ETS fees and charges | NZ Government

Update – 8 April 2026

Review of forestry in the Emissions Trading Scheme cost recovery settings

In January and February 2026, we asked for feedback on proposals to update cost recovery settings for forestry in the ETS. The proposals included:

a reduced annual charge
a reduced hourly rate to underpin service fees
changes to the average hours used to calculate service fees
8 proposed new service fees.

We expect the changes from this consultation to be in effect by 1 July 2026.

Fees for applying to register post-1989 forest land

You'll be charged for services when applying to register post-1989 forest land in the ETS. The size of the fee depends on the area of land you are applying to register.

Post-1989 forest land entering the ETS can be registered as "standard forestry" or "permanent forestry".

Find out about the different ETS rules for standard and permanent forestry, once the land is registered

Registering with post-1989 forest land in the ETS

If your application is approved, we will record a notice of status of forest land on the land titles in your application. You will be charged an additional fee for this service. This fee is $330.00 excluding GST, or $379.50 including GST. If a notice of status of forest land doesn’t need to be added, for example if you’re registering land as standard forestry and the land title already contains another area of standard forestry, this fee won’t apply.

Find out more about notices of status of forest land

Area of land in application (hectares)	Cost (excl GST)	Cost (incl GST)
Less than 10 ha	$488.89	$562.22
From 10 ha and less than 50 ha	$1,815.00	$2,087.25
From 50 ha and less than 100 ha	$1,980.00	$2,277.00
From 100 ha and less than 500 ha	$2,640.00	$3,036.00
500 ha and more	$4,125.00	$4,743.75

Fees for applying to add more land into the ETS

You will be charged a fee when applying to add 1 or more carbon accounting areas into the ETS. This applies when you:

already have post-1989 forest land registered as standard forestry and apply to add more land as standard forestry, or
already have post-1989 forest land registered as permanent forestry and apply to add more land as permanent forestry.

The size of the fee depends on the area you are applying to add.

Find out more about applying to add more post-1989 forest land into the ETS

Find out more about notices of status of forest land

Area of land in application	Cost (excl GST)	Cost (incl GST)
Less than 10 ha	$88.89	$102.22
From 10 ha and less than 50 ha	$1,815.00	$2,087.25
From 50 ha and less than 100 ha	$1,980.00	$2,277.00
From 100 ha and less than 500 ha	$2,640.00	$3,036.00
500 ha and more	$4,125.00	$4,743.75

Fees for emissions returns

You will be charged a fee when submitting some emissions returns in the ETS. Your emissions return is not submitted until the fee is paid.

You can apply for an extension to the due date for an emissions return. You will be charged a fee for this application.

Service	Cost (excl GST)	Cost (incl GST)
Submitting an emissions return for post-1989 forest land: at the end of each mandatory emissions return period when removing part of a carbon accounting area from the ETS during mandatory emissions return periods (provisional emissions returns).	$165.00	$189.75
Requesting an extension for submitting an emissions return	$165.00	$189.75

Service

Cost (excl GST)

Cost (incl GST)

Submitting an emissions return for post-1989 forest land:

at the end of each mandatory emissions return period
when removing part of a carbon accounting area from the ETS
during mandatory emissions return periods (provisional emissions returns).

$165.00

$189.75

Requesting an extension for submitting an emissions return

$165.00

$189.75

Note: Emissions returns when transferring ETS participation are covered in the next section.

Find out more about emissions returns and when to submit them

Fees when transferring ETS participation to another party

When the responsibility for participating in the ETS transfers to another party, you must tell us and submit an emissions return.

This can happen, for example, when selling or inheriting land, or when a registered forestry right or lease changes or expires. There is a fee payable for notifying us and another for processing the emissions return.

These fees are usually charged to the person, people, or organisation transferring the responsibility for ETS participation to someone else. There's an exception for inherited land – in this case, the party inheriting the land pays the fee for the emissions return.

Service	Cost (excl GST)	Cost (incl GST)
Notifying us that responsibility for ETS participation has transferred to another party	$990.00	$1,138.50
Submitting emissions return when land transfers to another party	$165.00	$189.75

Find out what you need to do when forest ownership or land agreements change

Fees for measuring your forest to get participant-specific tables (Field Measurement Approach)

If you have 100 or more hectares of post-1989 forest land registered in the ETS, you need carbon tables created for you based on your forest. These are called “participant-specific tables”. There are a number of services in the process to get participant-specific tables that have fees attached to them.

You can also apply for waivers or time extensions if you are unable to complete certain tasks due to circumstances beyond your control. There are fees associated with these services.

Service	Cost (excl GST)	Cost (incl GST)
Classifying areas of your post-1989 forest land as exotic or indigenous	$165.00	$189.75
Changing the classification of areas of your post-1989 forest land (exotic or indigenous)	$2,722.50	$3,130.88
Requesting a set of sample plots	$412.50	$474.38
Asking us to create participant-specific tables based on your forest measurements	$1,980.00	$2,277.00
Requesting a temporary waiver from collecting your forest measurements	$412.50	$474.38
Requesting a permanent waiver from establishing or collecting forest measurements from a sample plot	$412.50	$474.38
Asking for more time to collect your forest measurements	$165.00	$189.75

Measuring your forest to get participant-specific tables

Find out about requesting waivers and time extensions

Fees for offsetting the deforestation or removal of forest land

When you deforest pre-1990 forest land or remove post-1989 forest land from the ETS, you need to pay (surrender) New Zealand Units. You can apply to plant another forest to offset the emissions instead.

Service	Cost (excl GST)	Cost (incl GST)
Applying to plant forest to offset the deforestion of pre-1990 forest land	$5,775.00	$6,641.25
Submitting a pre-1990 offsetting notice (P90 release criteria notice)	$247.50	$284.63
Applying to add more offsetting land to an application to offset the deforestion of pre-1990 forest land	$5,775.00	$6,641.25
Applying to offset the removal of post-1989 forest land from the ETS	$7,425.00	$8,538.75

Find out about offsetting the deforestation of pre-1990 forest land

Applying to offset the removal of post-1989 forest land from the ETS

Fees for other services for forestry in the ETS

Service	Cost (excl GST)	Cost (incl GST)
Applying for an emissions ruling	$495.00 for the first 4 hours $165.00 per hour or part hour if more processing time is needed	$569.25 for the first 4 hours $189.75 per hour or part hour if more processing time is needed
Applying to remove 1 or more carbon accounting areas from the ETS (standard forestry only) for any reason	$495.00	$569.25
Applying to remove 1 or more parts of 1 or more carbon accounting areas from the ETS (standard forestry only) for any reason	$1,072.50	$1,233.38
Notifying us about areas of land affected by a natural event that permanently prevents re-establishing a forest on that land (standard forestry only)	$495.00 for 1 or more whole carbon accounting areas $1,072.50 for any other case	$569.25 for 1 or more whole carbon accounting areas $1,233.38 for any other case
Applying to reconfigure (split or merge) 1 or more carbon accounting areas	$6,600.00	$7,590.00
Applying to move post-1989 forest land registered as standard forestry to permanent forestry	$742.50	$853.88
Applying to pause carbon accounting because your post-1989 forest land has been temporarily damaged by a natural or accidental event (temporary adverse event suspension)	$4,207.50	$4,838.63
Removing all your post-1989 forest land from the ETS and deregistering	$577.50	$664.13
Applying for an exemption from liabilities for deforesting pre-1990 forest land (less than 50 hectares)	$1,650.00	$1,897.50
If we prepare or complete a notice you have failed to submit on time	$1,650.00	$1,897.50
Travel	Cost (excl GST)	Cost (incl GST)
If MPI staff have to travel to your land to confirm its status in the ETS	$165.00 per hour, plus any other travel-related costs, if applicable	$189.75 per hour, plus any other travel-related costs, if applicable

Note: Exceptions apply to all services. We may waive or refund fees in some circumstances.

Apply for an emissions ruling

Removing post-1989 forest land from the ETS

Find out more about your obligations if forest land in the ETS is permanently damaged

Making measurements in forest land (the field measurement approach, FMA)

Reconfiguring existing carbon accounting areas

Pausing accounting when your forest is temporarily damaged

Annual charge for post-1989 forest land

The annual charge is to help cover the administrative costs involved in running the ETS.

The annual charge for being registered in the ETS with post-1989 forest land is $14.90 (excluding GST) per hectare of post-1989 forest land you have in the ETS. This applies from 1 July 2024.

The annual charge is calculated for the financial year, based on the amount of land you have in the ETS on 1 July. If you are a participant on 1 July and add land during the year, you will be charged for the portion of the year that the land is in the scheme. We expect the invoices for this annual charge to be issued in August of each year.

Young native forests excluded from annual charge

If you have carbon accounting areas that only contain the indigenous forest type younger than 6 years old, these can be excluded from your annual charge. You need to notify us in Tupu-ake that these carbon accounting areas meet this criteria.

For this to apply, you must notify us before 1 July that the carbon accounting areas should be excluded for the following financial year.

If you register a new carbon accounting area in the ETS and it should be excluded from the annual charge for the current financial year, you need to notify us in Tupu-ake within 20 working days of the registration date.

When you won't be charged for ETS services

You won't be charged for:

notifying us about pre-1990 forest land deforestation
submitting an emissions return for deforesting pre-1990 forest land.

Fee waivers and refunds

In some circumstances, we may waive or refund fees for a service. These circumstances may include:

if you made an obvious mistake, for example, if you submitted multiple applications instead of one. We fully refund the fee paid in error.
if we incorrectly charged a fee or overcharged you. We refund the amount that was incorrectly charged or overcharged.
if you withdraw an application before we complete our initial assessment. We take the time we already spent processing the application into account when we calculate the refund.
when an application is not formally accepted, and you made a payment in anticipation of it being accepted. Your submitted information is only considered as an application once it is correct and complete. If you decide to withdraw the application, or we find that we cannot accept the application, you can apply for a refund. We take the time we already spent processing the application into account when we calculate the refund.

To discuss a situation not covered here, email ForestryETS@mpi.govt.nz

We carefully consider the circumstances of each application to waive or refund fees. These applications are processed consistently and fairly. In general, we provide a refund when the value of the refund exceeds the costs of processing that refund. Refunds based on an hourly rate are calculated to the nearest 15-minute interval.

How to request a fee waiver or refund

Fee waivers and refunds must be requested by the person who paid the fee. We cannot consider requests from anyone else.

Requests for fee waivers or refunds must be in writing. Email your request to ForestryETS@mpi.govt.nz

Once we have considered your application, we'll let you know our decision in writing. We will include the reason for our decision.

ETS compliance charges

If you don’t meet your ETS responsibilities, you may receive a penalty or an infringement notice.

Find out when penalties apply

Application wait times

Find out the median wait times for different kinds of applications in the ETS:

Application wait times and statistics for forestry in the ETS

Find out more

Operational policy: Fee waivers and refunds [PDF, 302 KB]