Australia Take-Home Pay Calculator

Two things make Australian pay harder to compare than it looks: superannuation can be quoted inside or outside the salary figure, and HECS-HELP repayments are charged on your whole income once you cross a threshold. Both are handled above, using published 2026–27 rates.

"Plus super" versus "package including super"

The superannuation guarantee is 12% from 1 July 2025, paid by your employer into your fund. Job ads quote it both ways, and the difference is not small. A role advertised at $90,000 plus super pays you $90,000 of salary and $10,800 into super — total value $100,800. A role at $90,000 package including super pays you about $80,357 of salary and $9,643 of super. Same headline number, roughly $6,560 less in your hand each year and $1,157 less into your fund. Toggle the switch above to see it directly; the calculator divides a package figure by 1.12 to recover the real base salary before taxing it.

Income tax and the tax-free threshold

The first $18,200 you earn is untaxed. Above it: 15% to $45,000, 30% to $135,000, 37% to $190,000, and 45% beyond. The lowest band fell from 16% to 15% on 1 July 2026, worth up to $268 a year. Only the income inside each band is taxed at that band's rate, which is why someone on $100,000 has a 30% marginal rate but pays about 21% of salary in income tax, or 23% once the Medicare levy is added. The band-by-band table above breaks it out.

The tax-free threshold can only be claimed from one employer. If you have a second job and claim it twice, you will be under-withheld and face a bill at tax time — a very common cause of unexpected ATO debts.

The Medicare levy shades in

The levy is 2% of taxable income, but it does not switch on abruptly. Below $28,011 you pay nothing. Between $28,011 and $35,014 it phases in at 10 cents per dollar over the lower threshold, reaching the full 2% only at the top. This calculator models the shading rather than assuming a flat 2%, which matters for part-time and casual income.

Separately, the Medicare levy surcharge of 1% to 1.5% applies to higher earners without private hospital cover. It is not included above, because it depends on your insurance status.

HECS-HELP: the cliff that used to exist

This one changed shape, and if you learned the old rule it is worth unlearning.

Until 2024–25, once your repayment income crossed a threshold the rate applied to your entire income, not just the amount above it. That produced a genuine cliff: a dollar of extra pay could cost hundreds, and a small rise could leave you worse off.

From 2025–26 repayments are marginal, like income tax. For 2026–27 nothing is owed below $69,528, then 15 cents on each dollar above it to $129,717, and 17 cents above that. Crossing the threshold on $75,000 now costs about $821 — 15% of the $5,472 above it, not 15% of the whole salary. Under the old rule the same income paid roughly $1,875.

There is one flat band left at the top: above about $186,050 the repayment becomes a straight 10% of total income. That is not a new cliff — the marginal schedule and the 10% line meet exactly at that boundary, so the two join without a step, and above it the 10% figure is simply the lower of the two.

Salary sacrifice

Extra pre-tax contributions to super reduce your taxable income, so they cut income tax, the Medicare levy and your HECS-HELP repayment income. Concessional contributions are taxed at 15% inside the fund, so if your marginal rate is 30% or more the arbitrage is real. The annual concessional cap covers your employer's guarantee contributions as well as anything you sacrifice, so the room is smaller than the cap suggests.

Enter your own figure above, then flip the super toggle. For most job comparisons, that toggle changes the answer more than the tax does.