Australia Salary Calculator Guide (2026–27)

What are the ATO tax brackets for 2026–27?

The ATO income tax brackets for 2026–27 cover the financial year from 1 July 2026 to 30 June 2027, and they apply to Australian residents for tax purposes. The first $18,200 of taxable income is tax-free — that is the tax-free threshold. Above that, five marginal rates apply, one per slice of income. The second bracket fell from 16% to 15% on 1 July 2026 under legislated cost-of-living tax cuts, and it is legislated to fall again to 14% on 1 July 2027. These rates do not include the 2% Medicare levy, which is charged separately.

Worked example — how the brackets stack on an A$80,000 Australian salary. The first $18,200 is tax-free, so $0. The next $26,800 (from $18,201 to $45,000) is taxed at 15%, which is $4,020. The remaining $35,000 (from $45,001 to $80,000) is taxed at 30%, which is $10,500. Total income tax is $4,020 + $10,500 = $14,520. Your marginal tax rate is 30% — that is the rate on your next dollar — but your effective tax rate is $14,520 ÷ $80,000 = 18.15%. Confusing the two is the most common mistake in Australian salary maths: nobody pays their marginal rate on their whole salary.

Two warnings before you use these figures. First, the rates above are for Australian residents only — foreign residents pay different rates, covered near the end of this guide. Second, many older pages still quote the 16% second-bracket rate: that was the 2025–26 rate, and it changed to 15% on 1 July 2026. If a calculator still shows 16% for 2026–27, its figures are out of date. Always check the current rates on the ATO website at ato.gov.au before you rely on a number.

How do you calculate take-home pay in Australia?

Work from the gross salary in five steps. First, take the gross salary for the year. Second, work out the income tax bracket by bracket, using the 2026–27 tax rates. Third, add the Medicare levy at 2% of your taxable income. Fourth, subtract the low income tax offset if your income is under $66,667. Fifth, divide the result by 12 for your monthly salary or by 26 for fortnightly pay — most Australian employers pay fortnightly, so the fortnightly figure is the one to check against your bank account.

Worked example — one Australian resident employee on A$80,000 a year in 2026–27, single, no student debt, no private health insurance surcharge. Income tax is $14,520, worked out bracket by bracket above. The Medicare levy is 2% × $80,000 = $1,600. The low income tax offset is $0, because the offset is nil once income passes $66,667. Total deductions are $14,520 + $1,600 = $16,120, so take-home pay is $80,000 − $16,120 = $63,880 a year.

Note the last line: the $9,600 of superannuation is not deducted from the $80,000 — it is paid by the employer on top of it, straight into the employee's super fund. The total cost to the employer is $89,600, while the employee takes home $63,880. Run the same figures through the free Australia salary calculator to check any other salary in seconds.

How much is $60,000 a year per month after tax in Australia?

A $60,000 Australian salary gives a take-home pay of $50,380 a year in 2026–27, which is $4,198.33 a month. This is the salary level people ask about most — “how much is 60k net per month” — and it is a good example because it is the first salary where the low income tax offset still pays something, so all five pieces of the calculation show up.

Worked example — an Australian resident on A$60,000 a year in 2026–27. Income tax is $4,020 + 30% × ($60,000 − $45,000) = $4,020 + $4,500 = $8,520. The Medicare levy is 2% × $60,000 = $1,200. The low income tax offset is $325 − 1.5% × ($60,000 − $45,000) = $325 − $225 = $100, because the offset shrinks as income rises and reaches nil at $66,667. Total deductions are $8,520 + $1,200 − $100 = $9,620, so net pay is $60,000 − $9,620 = $50,380 a year — $4,198.33 a month, $1,937.69 a fortnight and $968.85 a week. Superannuation on top is 12% × $60,000 = $7,200.

The same method answers the wider question behind it — “how much will I make per month” on any salary. Divide your annual take-home pay by 12 for the monthly figure, and by 26 for the fortnightly figure that matches most Australian pay cycles. The comparison table near the end of this guide gives the monthly and fortnightly take-home pay for six common salaries, from $50,000 to $150,000.

What is the Medicare levy and who pays it?

The Medicare levy is a 2% charge on taxable income that helps fund Australia's public health system, Medicare. Most Australian residents pay the full 2% — it is charged on top of income tax, so on an $80,000 salary it adds $1,600 a year. Low-income earners pay less or nothing: a single person pays no levy at or below $28,011 of taxable income in 2026–27, and between $28,011 and $35,013 the levy phases in at 10% of the income above the threshold. Above $35,013 the full 2% applies.

Worked example — a single person on A$30,000. The levy is 10% × ($30,000 − $28,011) = 10% × $1,989 = $198.90 for the year, not the $600 that a flat 2% would give. That shade-in is why low-income payslips show a small levy rather than none at all.

Do not confuse the levy with the Medicare levy surcharge. The surcharge is a separate 1% to 1.5% charge that applies only to higher earners without appropriate private hospital cover — from $105,000 for singles in 2026–27. Holding eligible hospital cover avoids it entirely. Foreign residents do not pay the Medicare levy at all.

Is superannuation taken out of your salary?

No. Superannuation is not deducted from your take-home pay. Under the superannuation guarantee, your employer must pay at least 12% of your ordinary time earnings into your super fund, on top of your salary — it reached 12% on 1 July 2025 and stays there. On an $80,000 salary that is $9,600 a year going into super, while your take-home pay stays $63,880. The 12% is a floor, not a ceiling: some employers, especially in the public sector, pay more.

The trap to watch is the wording of the offer. “$80,000 plus super” means $80,000 salary and $9,600 super on top — $89,600 in total. “$80,000 inclusive of super” or “total remuneration package $80,000” means the super comes out of the $80,000: the salary itself is $80,000 ÷ 1.12 = $71,428.57, and the super is $8,571.43. That is an $8,571.43 difference in the salary you actually live on, for the same headline number. Always ask which one an offer means before you accept it.

Superannuation is also where salary packaging comes in. Voluntary extra super contributions made before tax — concessional contributions — reduce your taxable income, so they reduce the tax in the calculation above. The trade-off is that the money is locked away until retirement, so it is a tax-planning choice, not free money.

How does PAYG withholding work on your payslip?

PAYG withholding is how the tax in the examples above actually leaves your pay. Your employer withholds an estimated amount of income tax from each pay cycle, using the ATO tax tables for your pay frequency — weekly, fortnightly or monthly. The amount withheld is an estimate, not the final tax bill: at the end of the financial year you lodge a tax return, the ATO works out the exact tax on your full-year income, and you get a refund or pay the difference.

The key form is the Tax File Number declaration you give your employer when you start. On it you claim the tax-free threshold — but only with one employer at a time. Claim it with two employers and both will withhold too little tax, leaving you with a bill at tax time. If you do not give your employer a tax file number, they must withhold tax at the top rate of 47%. Casual workers get a 25% casual loading on top of the base hourly rate, in place of paid leave, and the same PAYG withholding rules apply to the loaded rate.

Your payslip should show the gross pay for the period, the PAYG withholding, the superannuation your employer paid, and the year-to-date totals. If the withholding looks wrong, check two things first: whether the tax-free threshold was claimed, and whether the employer is using the current year's ATO tax tables. A mid-year pay rise also changes the withholding, because the tables annualise your pay — a one-off bonus can look over-taxed in that pay cycle and correct itself at tax time.

What about HECS-HELP and salary packaging?

Two more items can change your take-home pay, and neither appears in the basic five-step calculation. The first is a HECS-HELP student debt. Once your income passes the ATO's minimum repayment threshold for the year, your employer withholds extra each pay cycle as a HELP repayment — the rate rises with income. The threshold is indexed each year, so check the current figure on the ATO website rather than relying on last year's number. A HELP repayment is not a tax, but it comes off your pay the same way, so a salary calculator that ignores it will overstate your take-home pay.

The second is salary packaging, also called salary sacrifice. If you sacrifice part of your salary for something your employer provides — extra super contributions, a novated car lease, or other approved benefits — that part is not counted as taxable income, so your income tax and Medicare levy fall. The sacrificed amount never reaches your bank account, so packaging only helps if the benefit is worth more to you than the cash. Work out the after-tax effect with the five-step method above before you agree to a package.

How is take-home pay different for foreign residents?

Foreign residents working in Australia pay tax on a different scale, and the difference is large. There is no tax-free threshold: a foreign resident pays 30% on every dollar from $0 to $135,000, then 37% to $190,000 and 45% above that. There is no Medicare levy and no low income tax offset. On an $80,000 salary, a foreign resident pays 30% × $80,000 = $24,000 in tax and takes home $56,000 — $7,880 less than an Australian resident on the same salary, whose net pay is $63,880.

Working holiday makers on subclass 417 or 462 visas are a third case: they pay 15% on the first $45,000, then the resident rates above that. Your residency status for tax purposes is decided by the ATO's tests — how long you are in Australia, where your home and family are, and whether you intend to stay — not by your visa label alone. If you are unsure which scale applies to you, check the ATO residency tests before you use any salary calculator, because picking the wrong scale is the single biggest error in Australian salary maths.

Take-home pay at common Australian salaries

The table below gives the take-home pay for six common Australian salaries in 2026–27, for a single Australian resident with no HECS-HELP debt and no Medicare levy surcharge. Each row uses the same five steps: income tax from the 2026–27 tax rates, plus 2% Medicare levy, minus the low income tax offset where it applies. Use it to compare offers at a glance, and check any salary not listed here on the free Australia salary calculator.

Read the table two ways. First, as income rises the effective tax rate rises with it — from about 12.5% of gross pay at $50,000 to about 26.4% at $150,000 — because more of each extra dollar falls into the higher brackets. Second, the low income tax offset matters only at the bottom of the table: it is worth $250 at $50,000, $100 at $60,000 and nothing from $66,667 up. If your salary is not in the table, a salary calculator Australia tool will give the same figures for any amount — the method is identical at every salary.

Five common mistakes when calculating Australian salary

• Paying your marginal rate on your whole salary. A 30% marginal tax rate does not mean 30% of your pay goes in tax. Only the slice inside the 30% bracket is taxed at 30% — on $80,000 the real tax rate is 18.15% before the Medicare levy.
• Using the old 16% second-bracket rate. The rate on $18,201–$45,000 fell to 15% on 1 July 2026. Calculators and guides that still show 16% for 2026–27 overstate the tax by up to $268 a year.
• Treating superannuation as a deduction. The 12% superannuation guarantee is paid by your employer on top of your salary. It never comes off your take-home pay — unless your offer is salary inclusive of super, in which case the headline number already contains it.
• Forgetting the Medicare levy. The 2% levy adds $1,600 a year on an $80,000 salary. It is easy to miss because it is not part of the tax brackets, and the shade-in thresholds mean low earners pay a smaller amount rather than nothing.
• Claiming the tax-free threshold with two employers. Claim it once only. Two employers both applying the $18,200 tax-free threshold will withhold too little tax, and the shortfall arrives as a bill when you lodge your tax return.