Methodology
This page explains exactly how TaxTakeHome calculates a take-home figure. The calculator and every rendered page run the same engine, so what you read here is what the tool does.
The order of the calculation
For a given salary and financial year, the engine works through these steps in order.
- Income tax is worked out first, using that year's tax brackets for an Australian resident.
- The Low Income Tax Offset is then subtracted from the income tax only. It can reduce income tax to zero but never below zero, and it is never taken off the Medicare levy or a HELP repayment.
- The Medicare levy is charged at 2% of taxable income, with the low-income shade-in applied where it qualifies. The levy is not reduced by any offset.
- The Medicare levy surcharge applies only if you have no private hospital cover and your income is over the surcharge threshold.
- A HECS/HELP repayment is calculated on your repayment income. It is not reduced by any offset.
- Super guarantee of 12% is added on top of your salary. It is never deducted from your take-home pay.
Rounding
Final annual amounts are shown in whole dollars, matching the ATO calculator convention. Weekly, fortnightly, and monthly figures are the annual result divided by 52, 26, and 12. Actual PAYG withholding on a payslip can differ by a few dollars because the ATO withholding schedules round differently. It reconciles at tax return time.
A worked example
Take an $85,000 salary in 2026-27, an Australian resident with no HELP debt. Income tax is $16,020 and the Medicare levy is $1,700, so take-home is $67,280 a year ($5,607 a month, $2,588 a fortnight, $1,294 a week). With a HELP debt the repayment is $2,321 and take-home is $64,959. Super guarantee is $10,200 on top.
Where the numbers come from
Every rate lives in a dated, version-stamped dataset transcribed from official ATO published rates. Each dataset records its ATO source URL and the date it was verified, shown on each page as a freshness stamp. No rate is estimated, generated, or written by hand in prose. An automated build check rejects any page containing a dollar figure that does not come from the datasets. Datasets are re-verified against the ATO at least every 1 July, on every Federal Budget night, and whenever a change is legislated.