PAYG Withholding and What Sits Beside It
Australian employers withhold income tax under PAYG across four bands above a tax-free threshold, and separately pay superannuation on top of your salary. The two work in opposite directions: PAYG reduces what reaches your account, while super is an employer contribution that never appears in take-home pay but is genuinely part of your compensation.
This calculator applies the PAYG bands and shows the superannuation guarantee alongside them, so both sides of the package are visible.
How to Calculate Take-Home Pay
Two choices drive the result: the income figure and the tax year.
- Enter your gross annual income before tax.
- Choose the tax year. The calculator covers 2024-25 through 2026-27. The first two share the same income bands and differ only in the superannuation guarantee rate; 2026-27 is where the bands themselves change.
- Read the tax and the bracket breakdown, which shows how much falls into each band.
- Read the superannuation figure separately. It is paid by your employer on top of your salary rather than deducted from it.
- Check whether your salary was quoted as a package including super or as a base plus super, because the difference is the whole superannuation amount.
Salary Plus Super Versus a Package
A role advertised at $100,000 plus super pays $100,000 with superannuation on top. The same role advertised as a $100,000 package includes the super within that figure, so the actual salary is closer to $89,300 at a 12% rate. That is a difference of more than ten thousand dollars for the same headline number.
The convention varies by employer and by sector, and the wording is often ambiguous. Checking which one an offer means is worth doing before comparing it against another, because it is the single largest source of confusion in Australian salary comparisons.
PAYG Bands and the Super Guarantee
Income tax bands used for both years, with the superannuation guarantee rate that applies to each.
| Taxable income | Tax rate | Super guarantee |
|---|---|---|
| Up to $18,200 | 0% | 2024-25: 11.5% |
| $18,201 β $45,000 | 15% | 2025-26 and 2026-27: 12% |
| $45,001 β $135,000 | 30% | β |
| $135,001 β $190,000 | 37% | β |
| Above $190,000 | 45% | β |
The superannuation guarantee reached 12% on 1 July 2025 after a decade of scheduled increases, and is not scheduled to rise further. The income bands are unchanged between the two years, so a comparison between them isolates the super change.
What Is Not Included
The Medicare levy, normally 2% of taxable income, is not included in these figures, nor is the Medicare levy surcharge that applies to higher earners without private hospital cover. HELP and HECS repayments, which are deducted above an income threshold, are also excluded, as are salary sacrifice arrangements and the low income tax offset.
These are estimates rather than a payroll calculation or tax advice. Rates and thresholds change between years, residency status alters the tax-free threshold entirely, and anyone with investment or business income has a position this cannot represent. The ATOβs own calculators or a registered tax agent are the right source where the figure matters.
Australiaβs tax year runs from 1 July to 30 June rather than matching the calendar, which is why the years are written as 2025-26 and 2026-27. That matters when comparing a figure against an overseas salary or against a calendar-year statement, since a mid-year change in rates falls in different places under the two conventions.