What this income tax calculator does
Type in an Australian salary and this calculator shows what is left after the deductions the Australian tax system takes from an employee: income tax, the Medicare levy and, if you have one, a HELP or HECS repayment. It applies the Low Income Tax Offset automatically, the way the ATO does, and it shows your employer's superannuation guarantee both as an amount on top of your salary and as part of a total package, because Australian jobs are quoted both ways. It covers the 2026/27 financial year, which runs from 1 July 2026 to 30 June 2027, and the 2025/26 year before it.
The figures are an estimate for a resident paid a steady salary all year, worked out on the annual assessment basis. That is the basis your tax return uses, so the numbers here are the ones to plan with. A single payslip can differ by small amounts, because employers withhold with per pay formulas and rounding. The sections below explain each part, the rates behind it, and the cases this calculator does not cover.
How Australian income tax works
Australia taxes residents in slices, and the first slice is free. The steps are:
- Start with your salary. Any salary sacrifice to super comes off first, because sacrificed amounts are not part of your taxable income. In 2026/27 the standard deduction of up to $1,000 comes off as well, on the basis that you claim no covered work related expenses of your own.
- That gives you taxable income, and the slice rates apply to it. The opening slice, the first $18,200, carries a rate of zero.
- The Low Income Tax Offset is taken off the tax bill. It can reduce income tax to zero, but no further.
- The Medicare levy and any HELP repayment are worked out separately and added. Neither is touched by the offset.
Because tax is charged in slices, a pay rise never makes you worse off overall. Only the dollars inside a higher bracket pay the higher rate. The calculator's breakdown table shows the tax on each slice for your own figures, which is the quickest way to see this working.
The 2026/27 tax cut
On 1 July 2026 the first tax rate fell from 16% to 15%. Anyone earning above $45,000 saves the full value of the cut, $268 a year, because the saving is 1% of the whole $18,201 to $45,000 slice. Below $45,000 the saving is smaller, and below $18,200 there is nothing to save. Switch the financial year in the calculator between 2025/26 and 2026/27 on the same salary and the gap is wider than $268, because 2026/27 also brings the standard deduction described further down this page. A further cut, to 14% from 1 July 2027, is already law; it will belong to the 2027/28 settings when that year opens.
These rates are the revised Stage 3 settings that began on 1 July 2024, when the old 19% and 32.5% rates became 16% and 30% and the higher thresholds moved out to $135,000 and $190,000.
Tax rates for residents
The table below is the resident scale the calculator uses. The rates exclude the Medicare levy, which is added on top.
| Taxable income | 2026/27 | 2025/26 |
|---|---|---|
| $0 to $18,200 | Nil | Nil |
| $18,201 to $45,000 | 15c for each $1 over $18,200 | 16c for each $1 over $18,200 |
| $45,001 to $135,000 | $4,020 plus 30c for each $1 over $45,000 | $4,288 plus 30c for each $1 over $45,000 |
| $135,001 to $190,000 | $31,020 plus 37c for each $1 over $135,000 | $31,288 plus 37c for each $1 over $135,000 |
| $190,001 and over | $51,370 plus 45c for each $1 over $190,000 | $51,638 plus 45c for each $1 over $190,000 |
The base figures in the table ($4,020, $31,020 and so on) are simply the tax on all the slices below that bracket added together. The calculator works slice by slice and lands on the same numbers.
The Medicare levy and its low income shade-in
The Medicare levy is 2% of your taxable income, charged on top of income tax to help fund the public health system. Low income earners get a reduction, and it shades in rather than switching on at a single point. For a single person with no dependants, using the latest published thresholds: there is no levy at or below $28,011 of taxable income; between $28,011 and $35,013 the levy is 10% of the amount above $28,011, which is always less than the full 2%; above $35,013 the full 2% applies.
The ATO's own worked example shows the shade-in clearly: a taxable income of $29,000 gives a levy of $98.90, because 10% of the $989 above the lower threshold is $98.90, far less than the $580 that a flat 2% would take. Try $29,000 in 2025/26 in the calculator and you will see the same $98.90.
One honesty note: the ATO has not published separate reduction thresholds for 2026/27, so for that year this calculator applies the latest published set, the 2025/26 thresholds, exactly as the ATO's Schedule 1 withholding formulas do. The only range affected is the shade-in zone itself; above $35,013 the levy is 2% under any threshold set.
The Low Income Tax Offset
The Low Income Tax Offset, usually shortened to LITO, takes up to $700 off your income tax. You get the full $700 at a taxable income of $37,500 or less. It then falls by 5 cents for each dollar over $37,500, reaching $325 at $45,000, and by 1.5 cents for each dollar over $45,000, running out completely at $66,667.
Two things about LITO catch people out. First, it is non refundable: it can bring your income tax down to zero, but the leftover is not paid to you. Second, it only offsets income tax. It does nothing to the Medicare levy, which is calculated separately. Put together with the tax free threshold and the standard deduction, a resident pays no income tax at all until they earn about $23,867 in 2026/27, even though the headline threshold is $18,200. The ATO applies the offset automatically when you lodge your return, and this calculator applies it the same way. There is no box to tick.
HELP and HECS repayments
If you studied with a HELP or HECS loan, compulsory repayments are collected through the tax system once your income passes a yearly minimum. The repayment is worked out on your repayment income, which is your taxable income plus add backs such as reportable super contributions. That is why salary sacrificing to super does not reduce a HELP repayment: the sacrificed amount comes off your taxable income and is then added straight back for repayment purposes.
From 2025/26 the system is marginal, and this is a real improvement on what came before. Under the old system, crossing the minimum by one dollar charged a percentage of your whole repayment income. Now you repay 15 cents for each dollar above the minimum ($67,000 in 2025/26, $69,528 in 2026/27), 17 cents for each dollar in the next band (above $125,000 in 2025/26, above $129,717 in 2026/27), and 10% of your total repayment income once you are above the top threshold ($179,285 in 2025/26, $186,050 in 2026/27). The ATO's published examples land exactly where this calculator does: on repayment income of $86,380 in 2026/27 the repayment is $2,527.80, and on $137,064 it is $10,276.99.
Earning one dollar over the minimum in 2025/26 costs 15 cents of repayment. Before the change, that same dollar would have cost about $670, because 1% of the whole $67,001 was collected. If you are close to the threshold, the calculator's HELP toggle shows you the difference the marginal system makes.
Superannuation: on top, in a package, and salary sacrifice
Your employer must pay the superannuation guarantee, 12% of your ordinary time earnings since 1 July 2025, into your super fund. It is your employer's cost, not a deduction from your pay, but how a job quotes it changes what the salary figure means. A salary of $100,000 plus super means you are paid $100,000 and your employer adds $12,000 of super: a total package of $112,000. A package of $112,000 including super means the $112,000 has to cover both: your salary is $100,000 and the super is the same $12,000. Same package, same super, two ways of saying it. The calculator handles both, and in package mode it solves the salary for you.
The guarantee is capped. In 2025/26 the cap is a maximum contribution base of $62,500 of earnings per quarter, so the most an employer must pay is $7,500 a quarter, or $30,000 a year on evenly spread pay. From 1 July 2026, Payday Super moves contributions to each pay day and the base becomes an annual $270,830 per employer, so the maximum guarantee for 2026/27 is $32,499.60. On a salary of $300,000 the calculator applies the cap: $32,499.60 of super in 2026/27, not the $36,000 that an uncapped 12% would suggest.
Salary sacrifice is different again. You give up part of your salary and your employer pays it into super as a concessional contribution instead. The sacrificed amount is not taxed as salary, which is the saving, but three things stay put: your employer's guarantee is still worked out on your pay before the sacrifice, the sacrificed amount counts towards the concessional contributions cap ($30,000 in 2025/26 and $32,500 in 2026/27, guarantee included), and it is added back into your repayment income if you have a HELP debt. The worked pattern is in the calculator: on a $100,000 salary in 2025/26 with $10,000 sacrificed and a HELP debt, your taxable income falls to $90,000, your income tax falls to $17,788, but your HELP repayment stays at $4,950 because your repayment income is still $100,000.
The standard deduction from 2026/27
From the 2026/27 income year, a new standard deduction applies in your tax return. If you are an Australian resident earning salary or wages and you claim no work related expenses, the ATO automatically gives you a deduction of up to $1,000 for work related expenses, with no receipts and no need to have spent anything. It reduces your taxable income, and it is reduced dollar for dollar by any covered work expenses you do claim, so claiming $1,000 or more of expenses replaces it entirely. Claiming your real expenses is still the better move whenever they genuinely add up to more than $1,000.
This calculator includes the standard deduction in its 2026/27 figures, on the standard basis that you claim no covered work related expenses of your own. On a $100,000 salary in 2026/27 it cuts taxable income to $99,000, income tax to $20,220 and the Medicare levy to $1,980, giving take home pay of $77,800. It also lowers HELP repayment income by the same $1,000, because repayment income starts from your taxable income and the deduction is not added back: on a $70,000 salary with a HELP debt, it is the difference between a repayment of $70.80 and no repayment at all. If you do claim covered work expenses, your standard deduction is smaller by the amount claimed, so your figures land between the ones here and the no deduction position. The deduction is applied by the ATO at assessment time rather than through payroll, so it never appears in a payslip either way. It does not apply at all in 2025/26. The ATO page linked in the panel above sets out the full rules.
Worked example: $100,000 in 2026/27
Take a salary of $100,000, super on top, no HELP debt and no salary sacrifice. The standard deduction takes $1,000 off first, leaving taxable income of $99,000. The slices give tax before offsets of $20,220: nothing on the first $18,200, $4,020 on the slice to $45,000, and $16,200 on the $54,000 slice taxed at 30%. LITO is zero at this income, so income tax stays $20,220. The Medicare levy is 2% of $99,000, which is $1,980. Total deductions are $22,200, an effective rate of 22.20% of salary, and take home pay is $77,800 a year: $2,992.31 a fortnight, $6,483.33 a month or $1,496.15 a week. Your employer pays $12,000 of super on top, so the package costs $112,000.
At $60,000 the deduction and the offset are both in play. The standard deduction cuts taxable income to $59,000, so tax before offsets is $8,220. ASIC's Moneysmart calculator publishes $8,520 for this salary, because it leaves the standard deduction and offsets out. LITO then takes off $115 here, leaving income tax of $8,105, the Medicare levy adds $1,180, and take home pay is $50,715. At $80,000 with a HELP debt in 2025/26, the repayment is $1,950 (15% of the $13,000 above the $67,000 minimum), income tax is $14,788 and the levy is $1,600, leaving $61,662. Each of these is worth checking against the calculator with your own settings.
The Medicare Levy Surcharge (not calculated here)
The Medicare Levy Surcharge is a separate charge of 1%, 1.25% or 1.5% that applies if you earn above a threshold and do not hold appropriate private hospital cover. For singles in 2026/27 the tiers start at $105,000, $123,000 and $164,000; in 2025/26 they started at $101,000, $118,000 and $158,000. The ATO's example: a single person on $117,000 in 2026/27 without hospital cover pays a surcharge of $1,170. This calculator does not include the surcharge, because it turns on your hospital cover and, for families, on combined family income and the number of dependent children. If it applies to you, subtract it from the take home figure here to get your true position.
What this calculator does not cover
- The Medicare Levy Surcharge, covered in words above but not calculated, because it depends on private hospital cover and family income.
- Foreign resident and working holiday maker rates. They use a different scale with no tax free threshold and no LITO, and they serve a different question.
- Medicare levy reductions for families, dependants and seniors (SAPTO), and levy exemptions. The calculator uses the single person model and says so.
- Other tax offsets, deductions and income types: rental and investment income and losses, capital gains, Division 293 tax, and HELP debt balances and indexation.
- Pay day withholding in detail. Employers withhold using per pay ATO formulas with rounding, so a single payslip will differ slightly from the annual figures here.
Questions people ask
How much can I earn in Australia before I pay income tax?
The tax free threshold is $18,200 a year for a full year resident. In practice you pay no income tax until about $23,867 in 2026/27, because the standard deduction takes up to $1,000 off your taxable income and the Low Income Tax Offset of up to $700 then wipes out the small tax bills just above the threshold. The Medicare levy starts later still: a single person pays nothing up to $28,011 of taxable income, and the levy then shades in gradually.
Does a pay rise push all of my pay into a higher tax bracket?
No, tax works slice by slice. Only the dollars of taxable income that fall inside a higher bracket pay that bracket rate; every dollar below the bracket keeps its lower rate. A rise that crosses a threshold makes the extra pay a little less valuable, but it never makes your total take home pay fall.
Why is the tax in my payslip different from this estimate?
Your employer withholds tax each pay day using the ATO withholding formulas for that pay period, with rounding to whole dollars, and some pay cycles have 27 fortnights in a year instead of 26. This calculator works on the annual assessment basis, the same basis as the ATO figures in your tax return, so small differences against any one payslip are normal.
How do HELP repayments work now?
Since 2025/26 HELP repayments are marginal. You repay 15 cents for each dollar of repayment income above the minimum ($67,000 in 2025/26 and $69,528 in 2026/27), then 17 cents in the next band, and 10% of your total repayment income once you are past the top threshold. There is no cliff: earning one dollar over the minimum costs 15 cents, not a percentage of everything you earn.
What does it mean when a job is advertised as a package including super?
The package is your salary plus your employer's superannuation guarantee paid as one combined figure. With super at 12%, a package of $112,000 is a salary of $100,000 plus $12,000 of super. Choose the package option in this calculator and it solves the salary for you, applying the maximum super contribution base where it binds.
A note on accuracy
This calculator is an estimator for planning and payslip checking, not tax advice. Your real assessment depends on your full return: other income, deductions, offsets and your circumstances through the year. The rates, thresholds and formulas here were checked against the ATO pages listed in the "About this calculation" panel on 31 October 2026, and the calculator reproduces the ATO's own published worked examples for the Medicare levy shade-in and for HELP repayments. You can cross check any salary on the ATO site or with ASIC's Moneysmart calculator, which uses the same annual basis (Moneysmart leaves offsets and HELP out, so its tax figure is the before offsets one).