Australia Pay Calculator (Take-Home Salary, PAYG & Super)

About the Australia Pay Calculator (Take-Home Salary, PAYG & Super)

Enter a salary, a monthly or fortnightly amount or an hourly rate, and see each pay from gross to net the way an Australian employer works it out: the tax withheld from the ATO’s current tax tables (they include the 2% Medicare levy), the extra amount withheld for a HELP or other study loan, any salary sacrifice, and the 12% super guarantee your employer pays on top into your fund.

Under the pay breakdown, the calculator works out the tax on the whole year’s income — resident tax rates, the low income tax offset, the Medicare levy with its low-income reduction and the compulsory HELP repayment — and compares it with what was withheld, so you can see whether you are likely to get money back or owe a little at tax time. Nothing you type leaves your browser.

How tax is withheld from your pay

Employers withhold tax using the ATO’s weekly tax table: your weekly earnings in whole dollars give the amount, with one column for payees who claim the tax-free threshold and one for those who do not. Fortnightly pay is halved, looked up and doubled; monthly pay is multiplied by 3 and divided by 13, looked up, then multiplied by 13 and divided by 3 and rounded to the dollar (Schedule 1). The tables include the 2% Medicare levy (with its low-income phase-in), so the amount on your payslip is one figure. The low income tax offset is not built into them, so on lower pay it comes back as part of a refund when your return is assessed.

A payee with a HELP, VET Student Loan, Student Start-up Loan or Australian Apprenticeship Support Loan has an extra amount withheld (Schedule 8). This calculator works it out with Schedule 8’s method — 15% or 17% of weekly earnings above the repayment threshold, or 10% of all of them at high pay — from the current repayment thresholds.

Tax for the year

On your tax return the resident tax rates apply to your taxable income: nothing up to $18,200, 15% from $18,201 to $45,000, 30% to $135,000, 37% to $190,000 and 45% above. The 15% rate is legislated to fall to 14% from 1 July 2027 (Australian Government).

The low income tax offset is $700 up to $37,500, less 5 cents per dollar above that to $45,000 ($325), then less 1.5 cents per dollar until it runs out at $66,667. The Medicare levy is 2% of taxable income; for a single person it is nil up to $28,011 ($44,268 for seniors and pensioners) and phases in at 10 cents per dollar above that. Families have higher thresholds (family income). The thresholds for an income year are often set after it has begun, so the calculator uses the latest ones until then.

Study and training loans (HELP)

The compulsory repayment for the year is 15% of your repayment income above $69,528, plus 17% of the part above $129,717, and never more than 10% of your whole repayment income (ATO thresholds). Repayment income adds reportable fringe benefits, net investment losses, reportable super contributions (salary sacrifice counts) and exempt foreign employment income to your taxable income. What your employer withholds during the year is credited when your return is assessed. The Australia HECS-HELP Repayment Calculator shows how long a balance takes to repay.

Super on top of your pay

Your employer must pay at least 12% of your qualifying earnings — pay for ordinary hours, plus any salary you sacrifice — into your super fund (ATO, qualifying earnings). Under Payday Super the contribution is paid for each payday and must reach your fund within 7 business days (ATO). The super guarantee stops for the year once your qualifying earnings reach the maximum contribution base of $270,830.

Employer super and salary sacrifice are concessional contributions: they are taxed at 15% in the fund and count towards the $32,500 concessional cap (Moneysmart). Above $250,000 of income plus concessional contributions, Division 293 tax adds 15%. The Australia Superannuation Calculator checks your caps.

Announced changes

The federal Budget announced a $1,000 instant tax deduction for work-related expenses, which employees could claim on their tax return without receipts instead of listing smaller expenses, and, from 1 July 2027, a $250 Working Australians Tax Offset on income from work (Budget explainer). Both would change the tax on your return rather than the tax tables, and the calculator does not include them: its tax for the year assumes no deductions or offsets other than the low income tax offset.

Limitations

• For Australian residents for tax purposes. Foreign residents and working holiday makers have other rates and tables.
• Tax offsets you claim through your employer, Medicare levy exemptions or reductions on a variation declaration, and the Medicare levy surcharge are not included.
• Bonuses, back pay, leave paid out when you leave a job and other lump sums use other ATO schedules.
• The tax for the year assumes this pay is your only income, for the whole year, with no deductions; family Medicare levy reductions are not worked out.
• The HELP amount withheld is worked out with Schedule 8’s method from the current thresholds and can differ from your payslip by a dollar or two.

Privacy

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