Guide · records read 30 Aug 2026
How take-home pay is calculated
The gap between the number on the offer and the number in the account, in the order the money leaves — starting with the part that was never yours to take home.
What you need before you start
Five answers, and the first two are the whole calculator. The rest adjust the figure; those two decide what the figure is of.
- What's the package?
- The number written on the offer or the contract. Not what you think lands — the figure as stated.
- Does that include super?
- The wording on the offer. “Plus super” and “including super” are the two forms, and an offer that says neither is worth asking about before you accept it.
- How often are you paid?
- Weekly, fortnightly or monthly — whichever the payslip runs on.
- Do you have a HECS-HELP debt?
- Whether a loan is outstanding at all. The balance does not change the repayment — the income does.
- What's your residency status?
- Citizen or permanent resident, or the temporary visa and the passport. Most temporary holders on a non-agreement passport pay no levy.
The package is not the salary
The super guarantee is 12% for 2026-27, and where it sits relative to the headline number changes the salary completely.
A $120,000 package, read both ways:
| Read as | Salary | Super | Cost to the employer |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plus super | $120,000 | $14,400 | $134,400 |
| Includes super | $107,143 | $12,857 | $120,000 |
Same headline number, $12,857 of salary between them. Every figure below is worked out on the salary, not on the package, which is why this question comes second and not last.
ATO — key super rates and thresholds au.super.2026-27 · read 23 Aug 2026
Income tax comes off the salary, band by band
Tax is charged on a sliding scale, and only the part of the salary inside each band is charged at that band’s rate. These are the rates the calculator computes with.
| Taxable income | Rate on the part above |
|---|---|
| Up to $18,200 | 0% |
| $18,200 to $45,000 | 15% |
| $45,000 to $135,000 | 30% |
| $135,000 to $190,000 | 37% |
| $190,000 and above | 45% |
There is also a low income tax offset, worth up to $700, which reduces the tax rather than the income and disappears entirely at $66,668. It is applied here, and it does not appear on a payslip as a line of its own.
ATO — individual income tax rates au.income-tax.2026-27 · read 23 Aug 2026
The Medicare levy, if it applies to you
The Medicare levy is 2% of taxable income, and it is charged because you are entitled to Medicare rather than because you use it. Most temporary visa holders on a passport with no reciprocal agreement are not entitled, and pay no levy.
That is a whole mechanism of its own, and it has its own guide.
A study loan is tested on income, not on the balance
A HECS-HELP repayment is not a fixed instalment. It is a percentage of repayment income, taken through the payroll system, and the balance outstanding does not change it — nothing is repaid below $69,528.
Since July 2025 it is marginal: the rate applies to the income above each threshold rather than to the whole of it, so crossing a threshold no longer costs more than the raise that crossed it.
One thing worth knowing, because it is the opposite of what people expect: repayment income adds back reportable employer super contributions. The guarantee is not reportable, so ordinary super does not raise it — but salary sacrificing into super does not lower it either.
ATO — study and training support loans au.hecs.2026-27 · read 23 Aug 2026
What actually lands, and how often
The annual figure divided by the number of pay periods. The cycle changes the size of each deposit and nothing else — the year’s tax, levy and repayment are the same whichever one you are on.
On the $120,000 package read as plus super, that is $3,503 a fortnight, from $120,000 of salary.
What this does not compute
The calculator does the current period’s mechanics and stops.
- No projection. What the super is worth in thirty years sits under a different regulatory regime from a calculator like this one. This computes what is contributed now and what lands now.
- The maximum contribution base — $270,830 a year, above which the guarantee is not compulsory — is published and is not applied here. On a salary above it the super shown is higher than an employer must pay.
- Salary packaging, novated leases and bonuses change taxable income, and taxable income is what all of the above is charged on.
- Other income — a second job, investments, a partner’s income for surcharge purposes — is not here.