Australian Income Tax Calculator
Work out your 2026-27 Australian take-home pay after income tax, the Medicare levy and any HELP repayment, using the new 15% second bracket.
How to use this calculator
- 1Enter your annual taxable income before tax.
- 2Tick "includes super" if the figure you were quoted is a total package rather than a salary — Australian job ads use both.
- 3Tick the HELP box if you have a study loan, since the repayment is compulsory once income passes the threshold.
- 4Add any salary sacrifice to super to see the tax it saves.
How the calculation works
Tax = 0% to $18,200, 15% to $45,000, 30% to $135,000, 37% to $190,000, 45% above. Medicare levy = 2%, shaded in for low incomes. HELP = marginal above $69,528- tax-free threshold
- $18,200 — Australia has no separate deduction, the threshold is the first bracket at 0%
- Medicare levy
- 2% of taxable income, phased in between the low-income thresholds rather than applying from the first dollar
The 15% rate on the second bracket is new from 1 July 2026, down from 16%. Figures published before that date overstate the tax on every income above the tax-free threshold.
Once the Medicare levy shade-in ends, the full 2% applies to the whole of taxable income — not only the part above the threshold. That is unusual and makes the shade-in band worth showing explicitly.
Superannuation is paid by the employer on top of salary and is not deducted from take-home pay. Confusing a package figure with a salary figure overstates take-home by roughly 12%, which is why this offers to strip it out.
Worked example
$95,000 salary, no HELP debt
- 1.The first $18,200 is tax free.
- 2.The next $26,800, up to $45,000, is taxed at 15% = $4,020.
- 3.The remaining $50,000, from $45,000 to $95,000, is taxed at 30% = $15,000.
- 4.Income tax is $19,020, plus a 2% Medicare levy of $1,900, and the employer adds $11,400 of super on top.
Result: $20,920 of tax, with $11,400 of super on top of salary
The same salary quoted as a package
- 1.A $95,000 package including 12% super means the actual salary is $95,000 ÷ 1.12 = $84,821.
- 2.Tax is calculated on $84,821, not $95,000 — a materially smaller bill.
- 3.The remaining $10,179 is the employer super contribution, which never reaches your bank account.
- 4.This is why "is that including super?" is the first question to ask about an Australian salary.
Result: Roughly $10,000 less income than the headline suggests
What changed on 1 July 2026
The second tax bracket — income between $18,200 and $45,000 — dropped from 16% to 15% at the start of the 2026-27 financial year, as the second stage of the legislated tax cuts.
Because that bracket sits underneath every higher income, the saving reaches everyone who earns above the tax-free threshold, not just people in the bracket itself. The maximum benefit is capped at the width of the band: 1% of $26,800, or $268 a year, for anyone earning $45,000 or more.
It is a small change in absolute terms, but it means any figure published before July 2026 is now wrong. A calculator still applying 16% overstates the tax on essentially every Australian taxpayer.
Salary or package — the question that changes everything
Australian job advertisements quote pay in two incompatible ways, and confusing them is the single most common error in estimating Australian take-home pay.
A salary figure is what you are paid, with superannuation added on top by the employer at 12%. A package figure (often written as "total remuneration" or "including super") bundles that contribution into the headline number, so the actual salary is the package divided by 1.12.
The gap is large. A $95,000 package is a $84,821 salary — over $10,000 less than it appears. Since super goes into a fund you cannot access until preservation age, treating a package as though it were salary overstates both taxable income and take-home pay considerably.
The Medicare levy is not a flat 2%
The levy is usually described as a flat 2% of taxable income, and for most earners it is. At the bottom of the income scale it behaves differently, in a way worth understanding.
Below the low-income threshold no levy is payable at all. Between that threshold and a point 25% higher, the levy shades in at 10 cents per dollar of the excess. Above that, the full 2% applies — and it applies to the entire taxable income, not just the portion above the threshold, which makes it unlike an ordinary marginal rate.
A separate charge, the Medicare levy surcharge, applies to higher earners who do not hold private hospital cover. It runs from 1% to 1.5% on top of the ordinary levy and is not included here, because it depends on private health insurance status rather than income alone.
What this assumes, and where it stops
Assumptions
- Australian resident for tax purposes for the full year, using 2026-27 rates.
- Single for Medicare levy purposes — family and senior thresholds are higher.
- The low income tax offset is not applied, since it reduces tax at assessment rather than through PAYG withholding.
- HELP repayment income is approximated as taxable income plus any salary sacrifice.
Limitations
- The Medicare levy surcharge for higher earners without private hospital cover is excluded and can add 1–1.5%.
- The low income tax offset (LITO) is not applied, so tax at low incomes is shown slightly higher than the final assessed amount.
- Family and senior Medicare levy thresholds, which are higher, are not modelled.
- Deductions, offsets, foreign residency and working holiday maker rates are all excluded.
Common questions
What are the Australian tax brackets for 2026-27?
Nothing on the first $18,200, then 15% to $45,000, 30% to $135,000, 37% to $190,000 and 45% above that. The 15% rate is new — it fell from 16% on 1 July 2026 under the legislated tax cuts, which is worth up to $268 a year to anyone earning $45,000 or more. The Medicare levy of 2% applies on top for most earners.
Does my salary include superannuation?
It depends how it was quoted, and the difference is large. A salary figure has 12% super added on top by your employer. A package or "total remuneration" figure already includes it, so the real salary is the package divided by 1.12 — a $95,000 package is a $84,821 salary. Since super goes into a fund you cannot access until preservation age, mixing the two overstates take-home pay by roughly 12%.
How much is the Medicare levy?
2% of taxable income for most people. Below the low-income threshold you pay none, and between that threshold and a point 25% higher it shades in at 10 cents per dollar of the excess. Above that the full 2% applies to your whole taxable income, not just the part above the threshold. A separate Medicare levy surcharge of 1–1.5% applies to higher earners without private hospital cover.
How much will my HELP debt cost me this year?
Nothing below $69,528 of repayment income, then 15% of the amount above it, rising to 17% above $129,717. Crucially this is now marginal — since 1 July 2025 only the income above each threshold counts. Under the old system the rate applied to your whole income, so earning a dollar more could cost hundreds. Calculators still showing that behaviour are modelling a system that no longer exists.
Sources
- Individual income tax rates — Australian Taxation Office
- Medicare levy reduction for low-income earners — Australian Taxation Office
- Personal income tax — new tax cuts for every Australian taxpayer — Australian Taxation Office
Formula and content last reviewed on .
Results are estimates for information only, not professional advice.
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