Novated lease

See how a car lease packaged into your pay changes what you take home. This is an estimate.

How this works in 3 steps

  1. 1. Type the car The price, how many years, and the kind of car.
  2. 2. Type your pay What you earn a year, before tax.
  3. 3. Read the result How much less you take home. An amount can still be owing at the end.

Example: Sam earns $90,000 and leases a $45,000 car for 3 years. Part of the cost comes out before tax.

1 The car and your pay

FBT

More options

The interest rate and the fees are what you type. They are not tax office rates.

3 Estimate, not a quote

You'll take home about $486 less fortnightly.

  • Less in your pay$486
  • You keep a year$58,053
  • Left to pay at the end$21,096
  • You keep
  • Lease
See the detailed breakdown

Compared with the same pay and no lease, what you take home falls from $70,680.00 to $58,053.13 a year.

Taken out before tax, a year$5,333.75
Paid from after-tax pay, a year$9,000.00
FBT that may be passed on$0.00
Amount still owing at the end$21,096.00
What you would keep if you borrowed the whole cost$50,006.37
Cash cost of that loan, running costs and fees$20,673.63

Not FBT-exempt. Petrol and diesel cars use the statutory 20% method. The usual method values the car at 20% of $45,000 for a full year, which is $9,000.00. The residual is the ATO minimum, 46.88% of the cost.

Buying with a loan uses the same interest rate and the same term, with nothing left at the end, and every repayment comes from after-tax pay. The lease still leaves a residual to pay or refinance. The packaged finance here is $10,333.75 a year before running costs and fees.

The interest rate (7%) and the fees ($0.00 a year) are what you typed. GST is not taken out of the price. This is an estimate, not a quote. An electric car first held in an earlier year uses that year’s luxury car tax threshold. This page uses the 2026–27 fuel-efficient threshold of $91,661.

Questions

Is the interest rate an ATO rate?

No. You type the interest rate and any fees. The 7% and $0 shown at first are placeholders so the page is not empty. The residual percentages are the ATO minimums. The finance maths is a standard loan with a balloon, on the GST-inclusive cost you enter.

When is an electric car exempt from FBT?

A battery electric car is treated as exempt when its cost is at or under the 2026–27 fuel-efficient luxury car tax threshold of $91,661. A plug-in hybrid is exempt here only if you say the arrangement started before 1 April 2025 and the car is under that threshold. A car first held in an earlier year uses that year’s threshold, which this page does not store.

What if the residual is below the ATO minimum?

The page keeps the figure you type and says it is under the minimum from ATO ID 2002/1004. A residual below that minimum can mean the arrangement is not a bona fide lease, which changes the FBT treatment. This estimate does not recalculate that different treatment.

How is the loan comparison worked out?

It uses the same interest rate, the same term and the same running costs, with no residual, and every dollar is paid from after-tax income. The lease comparison still has a residual owing at the end. Take-home pay uses the 2026–27 resident tax scales.

Sources

Rates last checked 22 October 2026. How the numbers are worked out.