Methodology & sources

This page lists the exact source for every rate used on the site, the financial year it applies to, and any deliberate limit on the calculation. Use it to check whether a tool fits your situation before you act on a number.

Income tax & take-home pay

• Source: Australian Taxation Office, resident tax rates, Medicare levy, LITO, HELP/HECS, Super Guarantee.
• Financial years: 2024-25, 2025-26, and 2026-27.
• Verified against ato.gov.au on 2026-05-24, re-verified at the 1 July 2026 rollover (2026-07-03): resident brackets ($51,638 + 45c over $190,000, unchanged 2024-25 & 2025-26), LITO ($700/$325 tapers), Super Guarantee (11.5% → 12% from 1 July 2025; 12% is the final legislated rate).
• FY 2026-27 applies the second-phase Stage 3 cut, 16¢ → 15¢ on the $18,201–$45,000 bracket, enacted by the Treasury Laws Amendment (More Cost of Living Relief) Act 2025 (Act No. 28 of 2025, Royal Assent 3 July 2025, effective 1 July 2026). Cumulative-base figures: $4,020 at $45,000; $31,020 at $135,000; $51,370 at $190,000.
• Forward disclosure (announced 2026-27 Federal Budget 12 May 2026, not yet legislated, NOT applied in this calculator): a third-tranche Stage 3 cut from 15¢ → 14¢ on the same bracket from 1 July 2027; a $250 Working Australians Tax Offset (WATO) from the 2027-28 income year; a flat $1,000 instant work-related deduction from the 2026-27 income year; restriction of negative gearing for established residential property to property income only from 1 July 2027 (new builds and pre-Budget-night holdings exempt). The $1,000 deduction is exposed as an opt-in advanced toggle on the income-tax calculator so users can see its effect; everything else is FAQ-only until Royal Assent.
• Medicare levy uses the single low-income thresholds set by the Treasury Laws Amendment (More Cost of Living Relief) Act 2025 ($27,222 lower, $34,027 upper), which apply for 2024-25, 2025-26 and 2026-27. A rise to $28,011 announced in the 2026-27 Federal Budget is still before Parliament (the ATO pages display it with a not-yet-law alert, checked 2026-07-03), so it is not applied. Family thresholds modelled at $45,907 + $4,216/dependent; SAPTO is not. Medicare Levy Surcharge tiers are year-keyed per ATO QC49961 (verified 2026-07-03): 2024-25 singles $97,000 / $113,000 / $151,000 (family $194,000 / $226,000 / $302,000); 2025-26 singles $101,000 / $118,000 / $158,000 (family $202,000 / $236,000 / $316,000); 2026-27 singles $105,000 / $123,000 / $164,000 (family $210,000 / $246,000 / $328,000).
• HELP/HECS: 2024-25 applies the flat rate to total repayment income; 2025-26 and 2026-27 implement the marginal system ($0 below $67,000; 15c then 17c brackets; 10% of total above $179,285). The 2026-27 thresholds are indexed to average weekly earnings; as at the 3 July 2026 review the ATO had not published them, so the 2026-27 selection uses the 2025-26 bands (we re-check the ATO study-loans page and update the day they land). Repayment income is approximated by taxable income.
• Income percentile chip (added 4 July 2026): compares your taxable income against the ATO Taxation statistics 2023-24, Individuals Table 16A percentile distribution. The population is taxable individuals, meaning people who paid net tax, so low-income lodgers below the effective tax-free point are not in the distribution and the wording says "Australians who paid income tax". 2023-24 is the latest year the ATO has published (dataset updated 25 June 2026); the boundaries are two full financial years behind the calculator's default year, which is inherent to how the ATO publishes this data.
• Deductions panel (added 4 July 2026, all rates verified against ato.gov.au that day): work-related expenses as an itemised dollar figure; car kilometres via the cents-per-km method at 88c for 2024-25 and 2025-26 (ATO QC 107246) and 91c for 2026-27 (Income Tax Assessment (Cents per Kilometre Deduction Rate for Car Expenses) Determination 2026: 89c base plus a 2c one-off uplift), capped at 5,000 work km per car; working-from-home hours at the 70c fixed rate for 2024-25 and 2025-26 (ATO fixed rate method, PCG 2024/2; cents on the claim disregarded, not rounded; the 2026-27 rate is not yet published so 70c carries forward); gifts of $2 or more to DGR-endorsed organisations (ATO QC 72185); and an other-deductions field. Deductions reduce taxable income and flow through to the HECS and MLS income tests. Take-home is reported on a cash basis: the deduction dollars stay in the year's cash income and the tax saving is what lifts the net figure. Limits: one car only (the 5,000 km cap is per car), the logbook and actual-cost methods are not modelled (the standalone car-expense and WFH calculators cover those), and deductions clamp at taxable income zero, mirroring the rule that gift deductions can't create a tax loss.

HECS / HELP repayment

• Source: ATO, study and training support loans rates and repayment thresholds.
• 2024-25: the relevant flat rate is applied to total repayment income (19-row ladder, nil below $54,435). 2025-26: the new marginal system, nil below $67,000; 15c/$ to $125,000; $8,700 + 17c/$ to $179,285; 10% of total repayment income above $179,285. Verified against ato.gov.au on 2026-05-23.
• Repayment income is approximated by taxable income. The optional payoff estimate excludes the 1 June annual indexation (from 1 June 2025: the lower of CPI or the Wage Price Index) and assumes income and rates are held constant, it is a rough guide, not a projection.

GST

• Source: ATO: GST. Flat 10% since 1 July 2000.
• Limit: assumes a standard taxable supply; GST-free and input-taxed supplies are out of scope.

Stamp (transfer) duty: all 8 states and territories

Scope: owner-occupier buying an established residential dwelling, with optional first-home-buyer treatment. Each scale was extracted and verified from the official revenue office on 2026-05-23.

NSW

Source: Revenue NSW, standard scale from 1 July 2026 (CPI-indexed each July; 2026-27 scale verified 2026-07-03). FHBAS: full exemption at $800,000 or below; the $800,000 to $1,000,000 concession uses the exact statutory formula (Duties Act 1997 s.78A(2): duty on value, less duty-on-$800,000 × ($1,000,000−value) ÷ $200,000). Premium duty above the premium threshold ($3,870,000 for 2026-27) and the foreign-purchaser surcharge are not modelled.

VIC

Source: SRO Victoria. PPR concessional rate (Duties Act 2000 s.57J, verified) for owner-occupier dutiable value $130,001 to $550,000; general rate otherwise. First home buyer: full exemption at $600,000 or below; $600,001 to $750,000 concession per the exact statutory formula (s.57JA(3): duty × (value−$600,000) ÷ $150,000).

QLD

Source: Queensland Revenue Office. Home concession rate applied; established-home first-home concession (deduction table, contracts on or after 9 June 2024) phases out from nil at about $700,000 to no concession at $800,000. A separate full transfer-duty exemption for first-home buyers of newly built homes, with no price cap, applies to contracts signed on or after 1 May 2025 (Treasurer's announcement, implemented via amendment to the Duties Act 2001). The calculator covers the established-home concession. A dedicated FAQ entry on the stamp-duty page describes the new-build full exemption for buyers building or buying off-the-plan. The QLD Budget 2026-27 (23 June 2026) announced changes to home concessions for transactions from 1 August 2026; the QRO publishes detail only after Royal Assent, so nothing is applied yet. Flagged for re-verification in August 2026.

WA

Source: RevenueWA. General rate; First Home Owner Rate from 21 March 2025 (nil at $500,000 or below; metro/Peel cap $700,000; regional cap $750,000). FHOR threshold increases announced in 2026 (Finance Legislation Amendment (Housing Affordability) Bill 2026) remain before Parliament and are not applied (re-verified 2026-07-03).

SA

Source: RevenueSA conveyance scale. South Australia's first-home relief is for new builds only. There is no concession for an established home.

TAS

Source: State Revenue Office Tasmania. First-home buyers of established homes receive a 100% exemption where dutiable value is $750,000 or below.

ACT

Source: ACT Revenue Office, eligible owner-occupier scale from 1 July 2025, confirmed still current for 2026-27 at the 2026-07-03 review. The Home Buyer Concession Scheme is income-tested and not modelled here. Eligible buyers should use the ACT eligibility checker.

NT

Source: NT Territory Revenue Office. Conveyance formula applies below $525,000, then 4.95% / 5.75% / 5.95% tiers above. NT has no established-home first-home duty concession (its incentives are grants). The formula should be spot-checked against TRO information sheet I-SD-002 before being relied on.

Superannuation forecaster

• Sources: ATO, concessional contributions cap; SGAA 1992; Moneysmart published assumption set; ASFA Retirement Standard (March 2025 quarter).
• Financial years: 2024-25, 2025-26, and 2026-27.
• Verified 2026-07-03: concessional cap $30,000 (2024-25 and 2025-26), $32,500 (2026-27) per the ATO contributions caps page (the cap rises in $2,500 steps as average wages rise). An earlier version of this page listed the 2024-25 cap as $27,500; that figure applied from 2021-22 to 2023-24 and was corrected at this review. Also Super Guarantee 12% from 1 July 2025 (final legislated rate); in-fund earnings tax 15%; Division 293 threshold $250,000 with 15% surcharge on the lesser of excess Div 293 income or low-tax contributions.
• Method: annual time-step compounding. Each year the balance earns the chosen nominal return less 15% earnings tax, then receives employer SG + salary sacrifice (each net of 15% contributions tax, with Division 293 stacking on when applicable) + any after-tax contribution. Salary grows by the configured wage-growth rate.
• Today's-dollars view divides the nominal balance by (1 + CPI)^years.
• Limits: no insurance premiums, no admin fees, no transition-to-retirement mechanics, no Total Super Balance bring-forward modelling for non-concessional contributions. Carry-forward unused concessional cap is not auto-applied, model it by manually raising the planned contribution in a year where you've banked headroom.

Capital Gains Tax

• Sources: ATO: CGT discount; ATO: Capital Gains Tax overview; Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 Division 115.
• Verified 2026-05-24: 50% discount for individuals and trusts on assets held ≥ 12 months (acquisition day + CGT-event day excluded); 33⅓% for complying super funds; 0% for companies. Foreign and temporary residents lose the discount entirely after 8 May 2012 for accruals from that date.
• FY 2026-27 brackets applied to the marginal-rate step are the post-Stage 3 second-phase scale (15¢ on $18,201–$45,000; cumulative bases $4,020 / $31,020 / $51,370), same Act citation as the income-tax calculator.
• Forward disclosure (announced 2026-27 Federal Budget 12 May 2026, not yet legislated, NOT applied in this calculator): from 1 July 2027 the 50% individual discount is scheduled to be replaced by a CPI-indexed cost base plus a 30% minimum tax on the real gain. Investors in newly built properties may elect either the existing 50% discount or the new arrangements. Small-business CGT concessions (Div 152) are preserved. The calculator will be updated to a dual-mode (legacy + CPI real-gain) calculation once the bill passes both houses.
• Loss order applied per ITAA 1997 s.102-5: capital losses are netted against the gross gain before the 50% discount runs. The calculator follows this order, applying losses first roughly halves the tax that would otherwise result from discounting first.
• The net gain is added to other taxable income and taxed at the individual's marginal rate (Medicare levy included where applicable).
• Limits: pre-21 September 1999 indexation method not offered (frozen at 1999 CPI; rarely beats the discount); main-residence partial exemption not modelled; small-business CGT concessions (Div 152) out of scope; the 60% affordable-housing discount and the 10% extra for affordable rental housing are not offered.

Investment property / negative gearing

• Sources: ATO: Rental properties guide 2025; ATO: Capital works deductions (Div 43); Treasury Laws Amendment (Housing Tax Integrity) Act 2017.
• Verified 2026-05-23: Division 43 capital works at 2.5% per year for 40 years on construction cost (residential buildings post-15 September 1987; commercial 4% post-20 July 1982). Division 40 plant & equipment blocked for individuals on previously-used assets in residential rentals where contracts were exchanged on or after 9 May 2017 (Housing Tax Integrity Act 2017 s.40-27).
• Cashflow method: 10-year annual projection. Rent grows at the configured annual rate. Costs compound separately. Interest is recalculated each year: interest-only stays flat; P&I amortises against the running loan balance using a standard fixed-rate schedule.
• Net rental position = rent − interest − cash costs − Div 43 (and, where allowed, Div 40 prime-cost on the new-plant block). When negative, the loss reduces other taxable income and the tax saving is at the configured marginal rate.
• Forward disclosure (announced 2026-27 Federal Budget 12 May 2026, not yet legislated, NOT applied in this calculator): from 1 July 2027 negative-gearing losses on established residential property purchased after Budget night (12 May 2026) will be ring-fenced, they may only offset other property income, with any surplus loss carried forward, and cannot reduce salary or wages. Investors who buy newly built property continue to receive full negative-gearing treatment, and all properties held under contracts dated on or before Budget night are grandfathered indefinitely. The calculator will be split into two modes (legacy / restricted) once the bill passes both houses.
• Limits: no quantity-surveyor schedule input. Div 40 (when allowable) uses a single user-entered plant-block amount on prime-cost only; land tax is entered as a flat annual figure, not modelled per state scale; CGT cost-base reduction from Div 43 claims is disclosed but not calculated forward; main-residence-to-investment 6-year absence rule is referenced in the FAQ but not modelled.

Novated lease (FBT statutory method)

• Sources: ATO: Taxable value of a car fringe benefit; ATO: Electric cars exemption; ATO: FBT rates and thresholds; ATO: LCT thresholds.
• Verified 2026-05-24: FBT rate 47% (unchanged 31 March 2023 through 31 March 2027); statutory percentage 20% (flat since 1 April 2014); Type 2 gross-up factor 1.8868 (no input tax credit, the standard for novated leases); LCT fuel-efficient threshold for 2025-26 $91,387 (unchanged from 2024-25, the indexation factor was less than 1.0).
• Statutory formula: Taxable value = base value × 20% × days held / 365 − employee post-tax contribution. Base value drops by one-third after the car has been held for four full FBT years.
• Electric vehicle exemption: battery-electric vehicles first held and used on or after 1 July 2022 are FBT-exempt while priced at or below the LCT fuel-efficient threshold. The Reportable Fringe Benefit amount is still declared for HELP, MLS and Division 293 purposes. PHEVs lost the exemption for new leases entered on or after 1 April 2025; existing PHEV novations are grandfathered until the lease is broken or re-novated.
• Forward disclosure (announced 2026-27 Federal Budget 12 May 2026, not yet legislated, NOT applied in this calculator): a three-phase EV FBT wind-back. Until 31 March 2027, the full exemption stays for BEVs at or below the LCT fuel-efficient threshold. From 1 April 2027 to 31 March 2029, EVs priced at $75,000 or below keep the full exemption while EVs above $75,000 up to the LCT threshold receive a 25% FBT discount instead. From 1 April 2029, the full exemption ends and sub-LCT EVs receive only the 25% discount. Existing novated leases are grandfathered for the life of the agreement; refinancing, extending or materially altering a lease is likely to be treated as a new arrangement and lose protected status.
• Employee Contribution Method (ECM) is applied only when the cash cost of the lease (lease repayments + running costs) is at least the statutory taxable value. In that case the post-tax contribution equals the statutory value, FBT and RFBA fall to zero, and the residual sits in the pre-tax salary deduction. When the cash cost is below the statutory value, ECM is mathematically impossible and the calc falls through to the full-FBT path.
• Limits: only the statutory method is modelled (no operating-cost / logbook); residual value and lease-end payout are not part of the annual saving figure; running cost inputs are at the user's discretion (no preset insurance / fuel curves); GST input credits to the employer are not modelled, the annual saving is the employee-side after-tax delta only.

Work from home deduction (fixed-rate method)

• Source: ATO QC72159: Fixed rate method; PCG 2023/1 (continued by PCG 2024/2 for 2024-25 and 2025-26).
• Per-hour rates verified 2026-05-26: 70c for 2024-25 and 2025-26, 67c for 2022-23 and 2023-24, 52c for 2020-21 and 2021-22. The rate covers electricity/gas, internet, phone usage, stationery and computer consumables; these cannot be claimed separately if the fixed-rate method is used.
• The calculator follows ATO step 5: cents are disregarded on the fixed-rate slice (not rounded). The Keisha example (843 hrs × 70c = $590) and Wanda example (136 hrs × 70c = $95) on the ATO page both match the implementation exactly.
• Tax refund is estimated using the 2025-26 resident scale plus the 2% Medicare levy as the marginal rate on the deduction. The full return is not modelled here; for that, run the income-tax calculator with the deduction subtracted from gross.
• Depreciating assets: items costing $300 or less used for non-business income are an immediate deduction (ITAA 1997 s.40-80). Items over $300 must be depreciated over their effective life and the calculator leaves the annual decline-in-value figure as a user input rather than guessing useful-life assumptions.
• Limits: occupancy expenses (rent, mortgage interest, council rates) are out of scope. They only apply in narrow dedicated-home-office circumstances and carry CGT implications for owner-occupiers. The actual-cost method is acknowledged in the FAQ but not modelled; it requires bill-by-bill proportional apportionment that's beyond a quick form.
• Records non-negotiable per ATO: actual hours for the entire income year (not estimates), kept at the time the work was done, retained 5 years. The ATO Wanda example shows an 8-month period disallowed because estimates aren't records.

Termination pay (NES + ATO Schedules 7 & 11)

• Sources: Fair Work: Redundancy pay (NES s.119); Fair Work: Notice of termination (NES s.117); ATO Schedule 7: Unused leave payments; ATO Schedule 11: Employment termination payments; ATO: ETP rates & thresholds.
• Verified 2026-05-24: NES redundancy scale 4 to 16 weeks (drops to 12 weeks at 10+ years); NES notice 1 to 4 weeks plus 1-week uplift for employees aged 45+ with 2+ years service; tax-free portion FY 2025-26 base $13,100 + $6,552 per completed year (FY 2024-25 $12,524 + $6,264; FY 2026-27 $13,598 + $6,801); ETP cap FY 2025-26 $260,000 (FY 2024-25 $245,000; FY 2026-27 $270,000); whole-of-income cap $180,000 (not indexed since 2012); preservation age 60 for anyone born 1 July 1964 onwards.
• Resignation / retirement: post-1993 unused leave is added to income and taxed at marginal rates (Schedule 7 column "Marginal rates / Include in salary/wages"). Gratuities are ETPs taxed under Schedule 11 column 2, the smaller of the ETP cap or the whole-of-income cap (reduced by other taxable income). 32% within cap (30% + 2% Medicare) below preservation age; 17% (15% + 2%) at or above preservation age; 47% above cap.
• Genuine redundancy: tax-free portion (s.83-170) applied to redundancy pay plus any gratuity first. The remainder is an ETP taxed under Schedule 11 column 1. ETP cap only, no whole-of-income cap. All unused leave taxed at flat 32% regardless of accrual date (Schedule 7 redundancy rows).
• Limits: pre-18 August 1993 leave components are not modelled (rare; long employees only). Long service leave accrued pre-16 August 1978 (only 5% counted as income) is not modelled. Invalidity and death-benefit ETPs use different concessional bases not covered here. Foreign / temporary resident ETP apportionment not modelled. Award and enterprise-agreement entitlements that exceed NES minimums are not modelled, enter any extra severance in the gratuity field. Industry-specific awards (Black Coal, Building & Construction, Manufacturing, etc.) may have different redundancy clauses; check your award.

Frequently asked

How is NSW stamp duty calculated?

A graduated scale on the dutiable value (greater of price paid or market value). The current bands: $1.25 / $100 up to $17,000; $1.50 / $100 to $37,000; $1.75 / $100 to $99,000; 3.5% to $372,000; 4.5% to $1,240,000; 5.5% above. First Home Buyers Assistance: full exemption to $800,000, taper to $1,000,000 using the s.78A(2) formula. Premium duty above $3,636,000.

How is HECS/HELP repayment calculated for 2025-26?

Marginal system: nil below $67,000 of repayment income; 15c/$ to $125,000; $8,700 + 17c/$ to $179,285; 10% of total above $179,285. Repayment income = taxable income + reportable fringe benefits + reportable employer super (salary sacrifice). Source: ATO QC16176.

What is the Medicare levy threshold for 2025-26?

Single low-income thresholds $27,222 (full exemption) / $34,027 (full 2% above), unchanged from 2024-25. These are the limits enacted in the Treasury Laws Amendment (More Cost of Living Relief) Act 2025. Family threshold $45,907 + $4,216/child. The $28,011 figure announced in the 2026-27 Budget has not been legislated.

Which states offer first-home-buyer stamp duty exemptions?

NSW (≤$800k full), VIC (≤$600k full), QLD (≤$700k full), TAS (≤$750k full) for established homes. WA applies a concessional First Home Owner Rate. SA: no established-home concession (new builds only). NT: no established-home duty concession (grants only). ACT uses an income-tested Home Buyer Concession Scheme not modelled here.

How does the Low Income Tax Offset (LITO) work?

Up to $700 below $37,500 taxable income; phases out 5c/$ to $45,000, then 1.5c/$ to $66,667. Non-refundable, can reduce tax to zero but cannot generate a refund on its own. Source: ITAA 1936 s.159N.

Why doesn't this calculator use the $28,011 Medicare levy threshold?

It was announced in the 2026-27 Federal Budget (back-dated to 2025-26) and is still not law. As at 3 July 2026 the ATO threshold pages display $28,011 with a not-yet-law warning and myTax 2026 uses it provisionally, but the legislated single threshold remains $27,222 (Treasury Laws Amendment (More Cost of Living Relief) Act 2025). CheckTax ships enacted figures only; we will switch to $28,011 as soon as the amending Act receives Royal Assent.

What is the Super Guarantee rate for 2025-26?

12%, from 1 July 2025, the legislated maximum (SGAA 1992). No further increases scheduled. Applies to ordinary time earnings.

When does HECS indexation apply and what was the 1 June 2026 rate?

Once per year on 1 June, applied to the debt balance held on that date. From 1 June 2025, indexation is the lower of CPI or WPI (Universities Accord Act 2024). The 1 June 2026 rate was 2.8%, the lowest since 2021 (1 June 2025 was 3.2%). Voluntary repayments before 1 June reduce the balance that gets indexed.

How we verify

Rates are read directly from the government page and cross-checked with worked examples before going live. We treat any figure recalled from memory or taken from a third-party calculator as unverified until confirmed against the primary source.