Sources and methodology

Last checked 22 October 2026. The citation list in the repository is data/sources.md. This page is the same list, plus how the calculator applies it.

Income tax

Resident brackets for both years are the ATO table “Tax rates – Australian resident”, updated 13 August 2026. The 2026–27 15% rate, and the 14% rate from 2027–28 which this site does not calculate, are in the Treasury Laws Amendment (More Cost of Living Relief) Act 2025. Foreign resident rates for 2026–27 are the 2025–26 rates. That Act amended resident rates only, and the ATO foreign-resident page checked on this date still stops at 2025–26. Working holiday maker rates are the ATO working holiday maker table and Schedule 15 for payments from 1 July 2026.

Taxable income cents are dropped. Bracket tax is the published base plus the rate on the dollars above the threshold, rounded to the cent. A $60,000 resident in 2026–27 is $8,520 of income tax before offsets and Medicare, which is the Moneysmart worked example.

Low income tax offset

ATO “Low income tax offset”, updated 8 June 2026. Maximum $700, tapering to nil at $66,667. Residents only. It cannot reduce tax below zero. It is not in the withholding formulas, so take-home and the payslip estimate differ for incomes in the taper.

Medicare levy

2% with the low-income reduction in the Medicare Levy Act 1986 as compiled on 1 July 2026: single threshold $28,011, phase-in limit $35,013, family threshold $47,238 plus $4,338 per dependent child. The Act applies those amounts to 2025–26 assessments and later years. The ATO reduction pages checked on this date publish the same 2025–26 dollars.

For a family, the levy is the lesser of the individual levy and 10% of the amount of family income over the family threshold, multiplied by this person’s share of family income. That meets the full 2% levy at the ATO’s published upper threshold of $59,047 with no children. The image of the formula in section 8 did not extract as text from the legislation file, so this algebraic form is checked against that published upper threshold rather than against a transcribed equation.

A half exemption is half of that levy. Seniors and pensioners tax offset thresholds are not applied. A proposed $1,000 standard work deduction was not law on the last-checked date and is not applied.

Medicare levy surcharge

ATO “Medicare levy surcharge income, thresholds and rates”. 2025–26 singles: $101,000, $118,000, $158,000. 2026–27 singles: $105,000, $123,000, $164,000. Families: $202,000 / $210,000, plus $1,500 for each dependent child after the first. Rates 0%, 1%, 1.25% and 1.5%. The rate is chosen on income for surcharge purposes. The surcharge itself is that rate times taxable income plus reportable fringe benefits. Hospital cover for the whole year sets it to zero. The low-income exception for a person with a spouse whose own income is under the Medicare levy threshold is not applied.

HELP and other study loans

ATO “Study and training loan repayment thresholds and rates”, updated 30 June 2026. 2025–26 minimum $67,000. 2026–27 minimum $69,528. The 17% band uses the published dollar base ($8,700 and $9,028), not an unrounded continuation of the 15% band. Tests use the ATO’s Christina and Barry examples for 2026–27. Christina’s taxable income is $60,470. The ATO page adds a line that says $60,720; the components as listed sum to the repayment income of $86,380 only if $60,470 is used.

PAYG withholding

Weekly, fortnightly and monthly amounts use y = ax − b from NAT 1004. 2026–27 coefficients are the schedule published June 2026 for payments from 1 July 2026, including the three worked examples (Medicare levy adjustment, tax offsets). 2025–26 coefficients are the Taxation Administration (Withholding Schedules) Instrument 2025 (F2025L00647). That instrument says the formulas were last updated on 1 July 2024, so its Medicare shade still uses $26,000 even though the assessment threshold for 2025–26 is $28,011.

The study-loan component is NAT 3539. For 2025–26 the calculator uses the marginal schedule for 24 September 2025 to 30 June 2026, not the schedule that applied from 1 July to 23 September 2025. Working holiday maker withholding is an even-pay estimate from the annual Schedule 15 rates, not a year-to-date tax table. No-TFN withholding ignores cents and uses 47% (residents) or 45% (foreign residents).

Super

12% in both years. 2025–26 maximum contribution base is $62,500 a quarter ($7,500 of super). This site annualises that to $250,000 when pay is even across the year. 2026–27 maximum contribution base is $270,830 for the year. Payday Super starts 1 July 2026. Concessional caps used for the warning are $30,000 (2025–26) and $32,500 (2026–27). The 2026–27 cap is the figure the ATO uses to derive the $270,830 base.

GST

10%. GST inside an inclusive price is one-eleventh, rounded half up to the cent on the line total.

Awards

data/awards.json was fetched on 22 October 2026 from the Fair Work Commission Modern Awards Pay Database API, api.fwc.gov.au, licence CC BY 4.0. It has 12 awards and 142 adult classifications, operative from 1 July 2026. If that file is missing, the award check does not invent rates. Tests use fixtures/awards.sample.json, which is labelled as a fixture.

Hospitality (MA000009) evening and night allowances are added in the checker because the API does not return them: $2.95 an hour from 7pm to midnight and $4.42 an hour from midnight to 7am, on top of the ordinary or casual rate, and not on top of a weekend or public holiday penalty. Manufacturing (MA000010) and Building and Construction (MA000020) came back as weekday rates only, and the checker says so.

General information only, not legal, tax or financial advice. If this conflicts with the modern award, the award prevails. Not endorsed by the Fair Work Commission or the Fair Work Ombudsman. Always check the Pay and Conditions Tool.

Child Care Subsidy

Percentages and income thresholds from 6 July 2026 are on the Services Australia income page and in Family Assistance Guide 3.5.1. The standard rate is 90% at or under $88,520 and 0% from $538,520, falling one point for each full $5,000 in between. The higher rate for a second or younger child aged 5 or under is 95% up to $146,437 and ends at $370,727. The guide does not publish a cent-by-cent formula inside a band. This site drops one point only when a full $5,000 or $3,000 block has been passed, because that is what makes $538,520 the first dollar at 0%.

Hourly rate caps from 6 July 2026: centre-based and outside school hours $15.19, or $13.30 at school age, family day care $14.08, in-home care $41.31. The 3 Day Guarantee from 5 January 2026 is 72 hours a fortnight. More than 48 hours of recognised participation, an exemption, or an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander child is 100 hours. Withholding is 5%. Volunteering and job-search participation is capped at 16 hours. The form asks you to enter the hours that count. It does not apply that 16-hour cap itself.

Family Tax Benefit

Fortnightly maximums from 1 July 2026: Part A $235.48 under 13 and $306.46 for a child 13 to 19 in study. Base rate $75.60. Part B $200.34 if the youngest is under 5, otherwise $139.86. The annual figure is the fortnightly rate divided by 14, rounded to the cent, times 365, plus the supplement when it is payable. Part A supplement $970.90 a child if family income is at or under $80,000. Part B supplement up to $478.15. Part A thresholds $69,131 and $123,078. Part B primary limit $124,327 and secondary free area $7,154.

Not applied: the maintenance income test, Energy Supplement, shared care, and the newborn supplement. The published Part B cut-outs of $35,661 and $27,777 are rounded. The formula reaches nil a few dollars earlier because the supplement sits inside the income test.

Novated lease

Minimum residuals are ATO ID 2002/1004: 65.63%, 56.25%, 46.88%, 37.5% and 28.13% of the cost. The ATO leasing example is 46.88% of $40,000, which is $18,752. The statutory car method is 20% of the base value. Where that is not exempt, post-tax employee contributions up to the taxable value reduce FBT, and any uncovered amount is grossed up by the type 1 factor 2.0802 and taxed at 47%. The EV exemption uses the 2026–27 fuel-efficient luxury car tax threshold of $91,661. A plug-in hybrid is exempt here only when the arrangement started before 1 April 2025 and the car is under that threshold.

The interest rate, fees and GST treatment are not ATO figures. Finance is a balloon loan on the GST-inclusive cost you type. A car first held in an earlier year uses that year’s luxury car tax threshold, which is not modelled.

Work from home and car expenses

The fixed-rate method on the ATO page is 70 cents an hour for 2024–25 and 2025–26. That page, checked 22 October 2026, does not print a 2026–27 line. This site uses 70 cents and labels it as the latest published rate, not a confirmed 2026–27 rate. Cents per kilometre for 2026–27 is 91 cents, capped at 5,000 kilometres. The 2024–25 and 2025–26 rate was 88 cents. The tax saved is a resident assessment for 2026–27: income tax, less the low income tax offset, plus the standard Medicare levy.

Capital gains tax

Individuals only. The 50% discount applies when the asset was owned for at least 12 months, excluding both the acquisition day and the CGT event day. A capital loss does not reduce other income. Other capital losses, the main residence exemption, indexation, and companies or trusts are not calculated. Extra tax uses the 2026–27 resident brackets.

Paid Parental Leave

For a birth or adoption from 1 July 2026 the family total is 130 days at $200.94 a day. A couple reserves 20 days, so one parent is capped at 110. Super from 1 July 2025 is estimated at 12% of the gross payment. The ATO also adds an interest component, which is not estimated. The income test on the Services Australia page publishes 2024–25 and 2025–26 only. A 2026–27 income test was not on that page at the last check. A person passes the individual limit or the family limit. Someone with no partner is also tested against the family limit.

Super co-contribution and LISTO

2026–27 co-contribution: 50% match, maximum $500, tapering from $49,293 to $64,293. A payment above nil and below $20 is $20. Otherwise it rounds up to the next 5 cents. The 10% eligible-income test, age under 71, the transfer balance cap and the non-concessional cap are checkboxes. The transfer balance cap dollar amount is not stored. LISTO for 2026–27 stays at 15% of concessional contributions, capped at $500, for adjusted taxable income up to $37,000. The increase to a $45,000 income limit and an $810 cap starts 1 July 2027 and is not applied.

Redundancy

NES weeks follow the Fair Work scale, including 12 weeks from 10 years of service. The tax-free genuine redundancy limit for 2026–27 is $13,598 plus $6,801 for each completed year. The excess is an excluded employment termination payment: the ETP cap is $270,000 and the whole-of-income cap is not applied. Schedule 11 withholding is 32% under preservation age, 17% at or over it, and 47% above the cap, rounded to the nearest dollar. The ATO example is $45,000 at 32%, which is $14,400. Most employers with fewer than 15 employees are exempt from NES redundancy. That exemption is explained and not switched on.

What is left out