Take-Home Pay Calculator

How this is worked out

Three deductions and one thing that is not a deduction at all.

Income tax. The resident rates applied marginally, with the first $18,200 tax free. The second bracket fell from 16% to 15% on 1 July 2026 under the legislated cost-of-living tax cuts.

Medicare levy. 2% of taxable income — but it phases in rather than switching on. Below the low-income threshold you pay nothing; between there and the upper threshold the levy is 10% of the amount above the lower figure; above it, the flat 2% applies to your whole taxable income. The two formulas meet exactly at the upper threshold, which is the design rather than a coincidence. Modelling it as a flat 2% overstates tax for low earners considerably.

Study and training loans. HECS-HELP now uses marginal rates on income above the minimum threshold. Under the old system the whole rate applied to your whole income, so crossing a threshold by one dollar could cost hundreds — a genuine cliff edge. That is fixed, but a great deal of published advice still describes the old behaviour.

Superannuation is not a deduction. The superannuation guarantee is paid by your employer on top of your wage. It never reduces your take-home pay, and it is shown on this page in its own panel for exactly that reason.

A worked example

"$112,000 including super" is a $100,000 job

Australian salaries are quoted both ways and the difference is the whole superannuation guarantee — 12% for 2026-27. A package advertised at $112,000 including super is a wage of $100,000 plus $12,000 of employer contributions. Your tax, and everything that lands in your account, is based on the $100,000.

To unpack a package figure, divide by 1.12 rather than subtracting 12%. Subtracting gives $98,560, which is $1,440 short — the same division-versus-subtraction error that catches people with GST.

The calculator has a checkbox for this. Tick it when the number you were quoted includes super and it will show you the wage underneath.

Claim the tax-free threshold from one employer only

The first $18,200 you earn is tax free, and the tax-free threshold is claimed on your Tax File Number declaration. If you have two jobs and tick the box on both, both employers withhold as though you earn under $18,200 with them — and neither knows about the other. You are under-withheld all year and you get a bill at tax time.

The correct approach is to claim it from the higher-paying job and not from the second. The second employer withholds at a higher rate, which feels wrong on the payslip and is right at the end of the year.

This is the single most common cause of an unexpected ATO bill for people with more than one job, and it is entirely avoidable.

The HECS cliff edge is gone, and most advice has not caught up

Under the old system, your HECS repayment rate applied to your entire income, not just the part above the threshold. Crossing a threshold by a single dollar could increase your repayment by hundreds. It made a small pay rise a genuine pay cut, and it was widely and correctly complained about.

The reformed system is marginal: repayments apply only to income above $69,528, at rising rates. Earning one more dollar now costs cents rather than hundreds.

Two things about HECS still catch people. Repayments are collected through PAYG withholding but are only credited to your loan when your return is assessed, so the balance you see during the year lags what you have actually paid. And indexation is applied annually — for 2026 at 2.8% — before that year’s repayments are credited.

Salary sacrifice, and where it stops being worth it

Sacrificing salary into super moves money from your marginal tax rate to the 15% contributions tax. On a 30% marginal rate that is a 15 percentage point saving on every dollar sacrificed; on 37% it is 22 points.

The limit is the concessional contributions cap, which includes your employer’s superannuation guarantee. Exceeding it is expensive — the excess is taxed at your marginal rate with an interest charge on top — so the amount you can usefully sacrifice is the cap less what your employer already contributes.

The other cost is access. Money in super is preserved until age 60. For a 30-year-old that is a long commitment in exchange for a tax saving now, and it is a genuine trade rather than free money.

Assumptions and sources

Resident tax rates

2026-27 rates including the second bracket reduction from 16% to 15% on 1 July 2026. Cross-checked against two independent published tables; both agree. checked 2026-08

Medicare levy and low-income thresholds

2% of taxable income with a single low-income threshold and a 10% phase-in to the upper threshold. checked 2026-08

Study and training loan thresholds

Marginal repayment rates from a minimum threshold of $69,528, indexed at 2.8% from June 2026. checked 2026-08

Superannuation guarantee

12% of ordinary time earnings for 2026-27, paid by the employer in addition to wages. checked 2026-08