Australian Income Tax & Salary Calculator 2026–27

Your salary and your take-home pay are rarely the same number. Between income tax, the Medicare levy, HECS/HELP repayments and super contributions, a meaningful chunk of your gross salary never reaches your bank account. This calculator estimates your net (after-tax) pay for 2026–27 using current ATO rates, broken down weekly, fortnightly, monthly and annually.

It’s a planning tool, not a tax return. Your actual take-home pay depends on your employer’s payroll setup, any additional offsets or deductions you’re entitled to, and your full personal circumstances, for anything beyond a general estimate, check with a registered tax agent.

Inputs:

• Annual salary (gross)
• Financial year
• Superannuation guarantee rate
• Whether you have a HECS/HELP debt
• Whether you’re an Australian resident for tax purposes (non-resident rates differ significantly)

Outputs:

• Gross income
• Superannuation contribution
• Income tax payable
• Medicare levy
• HELP/HECS repayment (if applicable)
• Low Income Tax Offset (LITO), if you qualify
• Net (take-home) income, shown weekly, fortnightly, monthly and annually

Gross income is your total salary before anything is deducted, the number in your employment contract.

Net income (take-home pay) is what actually lands in your account after income tax, the Medicare levy and any HECS/HELP repayment are withheld. Superannuation is typically paid by your employer on top of your salary (unless your package is structured as “total remuneration,” in which case super is drawn from the gross figure), either way, it doesn’t form part of your take-home pay. It’s also the number lenders use when assessing what you can borrow, see our Borrowing Power Calculator to see how your take-home pay translates into borrowing capacity.

Salary vs wages: salary is usually a fixed annual amount regardless of hours worked, while wages are calculated per hour and can vary week to week. Both are treated identically for income tax purposes, the ATO taxes total income received, not how it’s structured.

These are the current individual income tax rates for Australian residents, per the ATO:

These figures exclude the Medicare levy.

Most Australian residents pay a Medicare levy of 2% of their taxable income on top of the tax shown above. If your income is low enough, you may pay a reduced levy or none at all, for 2026–27, singles with taxable income up to $28,011 pay no Medicare levy, with a phase-in range up to $35,013, per the ATO. Higher thresholds apply for families and seniors/pensioners.

You don’t need to apply, the ATO applies it automatically when you lodge.

If you have a HECS-HELP or other study/training loan debt, compulsory repayments are withheld once your income passes the repayment threshold. From 2026–27, the ATO moved to a new marginal repayment system, you’re only charged the applicable rate on the income above each threshold, rather than a flat percentage of your entire income. The current thresholds and rates, per the ATO, are:

This is a meaningful improvement over the old system, where crossing a threshold could push your entire income into a higher repayment rate.

Employers must currently pay superannuation at 12% of your ordinary time earnings, per the ATO, up from 11.5% the previous year. This is generally paid on top of your salary rather than deducted from your take-home pay, unless your employment contract is structured on a “total package” basis.

Here’s a full gross-to-net breakdown for an Australian resident earning $95,000 a year, no HECS/HELP debt.

1. Gross salary: $95,000
2. Income tax: falls in the $45,001–$135,000 bracket → $4,288 + 30% × ($95,000 − $45,000) = $4,288 + $15,000 = $19,288
3. LITO: income exceeds $66,667, so the offset is $0
4. Medicare levy: 2% × $95,000 = $1,900
5. Total tax withheld: $19,288 + $1,900 = $21,188
6. Net (take-home) income: $95,000 − $21,188 = $73,812

Broken down: $1,419/week, $2,839/fortnight, $6,151/month, $73,812/year.

Same salary, with a HECS/HELP debt:

Repayment income of $95,000 sits in the $67,001–$125,000 bracket: 15% × ($95,000 − $67,000) = 15% × $28,000 = $4,200 compulsory repayment.

Net income after tax, Medicare levy and HECS: $73,812 − $4,200 = $69,612 ($1,339/week, $2,677/fortnight, $5,801/month).

On top of this, an employer would also pay superannuation guarantee of 12% × $95,000 = $11,400 into your super fund, not part of take-home pay, but part of your total remuneration.

This example is illustrative only. It assumes no other offsets, deductions or income, and no private health insurance surcharge considerations. Your actual position may differ, check with a tax professional or the ATO’s own calculators for a return-ready figure.

The tax-free threshold for Australian residents is $18,200. Earn under that in a financial year and, generally, you pay no income tax (though tax may still be withheld from your pay throughout the year and refunded when you lodge your return). Non-residents don’t get a tax-free threshold, different rates apply from the first dollar.

Taxable income is your assessable income (salary and wages, business income, investment income, capital gains, and certain other receipts) minus any allowable deductions. It’s this figure, not your gross salary, that determines which tax bracket you sit in.

You generally need to lodge a tax return if any of the following apply:

• You had tax withheld from income during the year
• You earned income from investments, including interest, dividends or capital gains
• You carried on a business, even part-time
• You had a foreign income or were a foreign resident with Australian-sourced income
• Your income was over the tax-free threshold

Even if you’re not required to lodge, it’s often worth doing so if tax was withheld, you may be owed a refund.

Most people take one of two paths:

1. Lodge yourself through myTax, the ATO’s free online lodgment service, using pre-filled data from your employer, bank and health fund where available.
2. Use a registered tax agent, who can typically claim deductions on your behalf, has an extended lodgment deadline (beyond the standard 31 October date), and can advise on more complex situations, multiple income streams, investment property, or capital gains.

Whichever path you take, keep receipts and records for at least five years, since the ATO can request evidence for any deduction claimed.

A few genuinely useful, low-risk habits:

• Organise your records early, receipts, logbooks, working-from-home records, rather than reconstructing them in a rush.
• Consider prepaying deductible expenses (like income protection insurance premiums) before 30 June if it suits your cash flow.
• Consider a personal super contribution if you have spare cash, concessional (pre-tax) contributions can be tax-deductible up to the annual cap, but check the current cap and your total super balance rules before contributing.
• Review any capital gains or losses realised during the year, timing a sale either side of 30 June can shift which financial year (and which tax bracket) the gain lands in. See our Capital Gains Tax Calculator for how CGT works.

According to the ATO’s own 2023–24 Taxation Statistics, Australians claimed $31.6 billion in work-related expense deductions that year across 10.7 million individual claims, an average of $2,956 per claimant. It’s a reminder that legitimate work-related deductions are common and worth getting right, not a target to chase for its own sake.

General information only, this isn’t personal tax advice. Everyone’s circumstances differ, and tax law changes. Confirm your specific position with a registered tax agent or the ATO before lodging.

What’s the difference between gross and net income? Gross income is your salary before any deductions. Net income is what you actually receive after income tax, the Medicare levy and any HECS/HELP repayment are withheld.

Do I automatically get the tax-free threshold? Australian residents generally do, up to $18,200. If you have more than one employer, you can only claim the tax-free threshold with one of them at a time, otherwise not enough tax is withheld across the year and you may owe money at tax time.

How is superannuation different from take-home pay? Super is paid by your employer (currently at 12% of your ordinary earnings) into a separate retirement account, it isn’t part of your take-home pay and generally can’t be accessed until retirement age, with limited exceptions.

Will my HECS/HELP repayment come out automatically? Yes, if you’ve told your employer about your debt (on your TFN declaration), they’ll withhold additional amounts through the year based on the current repayment thresholds. Your actual annual repayment is finalised when you lodge your return.

Do non-residents pay the same tax rates? No. Non-residents don’t receive the tax-free threshold and are taxed at different (generally higher) marginal rates from the first dollar earned, and they don’t pay the Medicare levy. If this applies to you, use a non-resident-specific calculation.

Is this calculator the same as lodging my tax return? No, it’s an estimate for planning purposes. Your actual tax position depends on your full income, deductions and offsets for the year, confirmed when you lodge through myTax or a registered agent.

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