Frequently asked questions

Your take-home pay is your gross salary less income tax and the Medicare levy, with the Low Income Tax Offset reducing the tax for lower earners and any HELP/HECS repayment added. The first $18,200 you earn is tax-free.

No. The 12% superannuation guarantee is paid by your employer into your super fund on top of your wage — it is never taken out of your take-home pay. We show it as a separate figure, not a deduction.

A 2% levy on taxable income that helps fund Medicare. Lower incomes pay a reduced levy (a shade-in) or none. Higher earners without private hospital cover may also pay the Medicare Levy Surcharge — a separate charge.

It applies to higher earners who don’t hold an appropriate private hospital policy. In the calculator, keeping the private-cover toggle on means no surcharge; turning it off adds the surcharge once income passes the threshold.

Once your income passes the first threshold, a compulsory repayment is collected through the tax system. Since 2025–26 it’s marginal — worked out only on the income above each threshold — so a pay rise no longer lifts your whole repayment a step.

The Low Income Tax Offset reduces the income tax lower earners pay. It can’t create a refund and can’t reduce the Medicare levy — it only lowers your income tax, and the calculator applies it automatically.

The first $18,200 of income each year is tax-free for residents. Income above it is taxed on the marginal scale, band by band. You claim the threshold with one employer (the "tax-free threshold" question on your tax file number declaration); if you claim it with more than one job you may be under-taxed and face a bill at assessment.

Australia’s financial year runs from 1 July to 30 June, so "this year" for tax is FY 2026–27. A take-home figure only makes sense against a single year’s rates and thresholds, and the calculator models FY 2026–27 — the current year. Earlier years use different rates and aren’t covered in this version.

The Medicare levy low-income shade-in thresholds shown are the latest published (2025–26) figures, carried into 2026–27 until the new ones are legislated — the same approach the ATO’s own systems take early in a year. The 2% rate and the surcharge tiers are applied as published; the calculator notes where a prior-year threshold is used.

The calculator works out your annual assessment — the ground truth — and divides it back to a pay cycle. Your employer’s PAYG withholding tables round differently per pay, so a real payslip can differ by a few dollars.

The calculator models a resident individual for FY 2026–27, in standard employment with no salary sacrifice. Foreign-resident and working-holiday-maker scales, family thresholds and salary packaging aren’t modelled in this version.

Every rate and threshold is taken from a named primary source — the ATO for tax, Medicare and HELP, Fair Work for the minimum wage — and cited where it appears. The calculator can’t know your circumstances, so treat the result as an estimate and check the ATO for anything that matters.