Back Pay Calculator
Back pay is the gap between the award rate you were owed and the rate you were paid, for every hour of the underpaid period. Choose your award and classification, enter the hours you worked by day type and the hourly rate on your payslip, and the calculator works out the shortfall line by line, the 12% super guarantee owed on top of it, and the tax your employer withholds under the ATO's Schedule 5. It also covers the most common case, a 1 July pay rise that reached the payroll late, where every hour was paid at the old rate.
Your details
Total over the whole underpaid period, not a week.
For ordinary hours, from your payslip.
The second is the usual case when a pay rise reached the payroll late.
Back pay owed, before tax
$415.28
- Ordinary hours, Monday to Friday, 152 hrs at $27.81 owed, $26.00 paid
- $275.12
- Saturday hours, 16 hrs at $34.76 owed, $26.00 paid
- $140.16
- Owed at the rates above
- $4,783.28
- Actually paid
- $4,368.00
- Back pay owed, before tax
- $415.28
- Super guarantee on $415.28 of qualifying earnings at 12%
- $49.83
- Tax withheld, Schedule 5 Method B(i)
- $132.00
- Back pay in your account
- $283.28
- Method A instead, which the ATO also accepts
- $104.00
Owed rates are the ones in force from 1 July 2026. Tax is worked out by Method B(i): each of the 4 weekly pays is re-run through the 2026-27 tax table with its share of the back pay added, which assumes the hours were spread evenly.
Worked examples, with the arithmetic.
The same sums the tool runs, on real figures. Every number below is computed by the tested engine from the published rates, so the prose and the tool can never disagree.
How much back pay is owed when the July minimum wage rise is paid 8 weeks late?
$26.44 - $24.95 = $1.49 an hour 304 hrs x $1.49 = $452.96 super guarantee at 12% = $54.36 tax withheld, Method B(i) = $144.00 back pay in your account = $308.96
A full-time award-free employee on the National Minimum Wage, 38 hours a week, still paid the old $24.95 for 8 weekly pays after the $26.44 rate applied, is owed $452.96. The super guarantee on it is $54.36, paid to the fund on top. Re-running each week through the tax table with $56.62 added withholds $144.00 in total, leaving $308.96 to be paid.
What is a casual Retail Employee Level 1 owed when paid a flat $30.00 an hour, weekends included?
40 hrs x ($34.76 - $30.00) = $190.40 16 hrs x ($41.72 - $30.00) = $187.52 8 hrs x ($48.67 - $30.00) = $149.36 back pay owed = $527.28 super guarantee at 12% = $63.27
Over 4 weeks of 40 weekday, 16 Saturday and 8 Sunday hours, the shortfall is $527.28. The weekday casual rate of $34.76 includes the casual loading, and the Saturday $41.72 and Sunday $48.67 figures are the casual rates the award prints in its Schedule B.2.1 table. Casual loading and weekend penalties are qualifying earnings, so the guarantee applies to the whole amount.
How is tax taken out of back pay?
$800 over 8 weekly pays = $100 a week table on $1,700 less $1,600 = $363.00 - $331.00 = $32.00 8 x $32.00 = $256.00 plus the current pay of $1,700 = $363.00 withheld this pay = $619.00
This is the ATO's own Schedule 5 example of a back payment after a pay rise, without its study loan part. Each earlier pay is re-run with its share of the back pay added and the extra tax is totalled: $256.00 on $800.00, plus $363.00 on the current pay. Method B(i) has no 47% limit, because each week is taxed as the pay it should have been.
Is this accurate, and how does it work?
The method is published rather than described. Nothing here is a black box, and the limits are listed as plainly as the workings.
- 1Find the rate you were owed. Ordinary and casual hourly rates come from the award files this site extracts from the Fair Work Commission's award text, the same figures as on Award Pay Rates, in force from 1 July 2026. Saturday, Sunday and public holiday rates are the dollar figures printed in the penalty tables of the three awards whose penalty schedules are extracted: Retail Award Pay Rates, Fast Food Award Pay Rates and Hospitality Award Pay Rates. Overtime is priced for full-time and part-time employees under those three awards, casino gaming aside, from the percentages in their overtime tables. Under every other award the calculator counts ordinary hours only and says so, rather than assume a percentage. An award or agreement it does not list can be entered by hand.
- 2Take off what you were actually paid. Each line is the hours times the owed rate, less the hours times the rate you were paid. If weekend, holiday and overtime hours were paid at the same flat rate as weekdays, choose that and the whole penalty is owed. If the award percentages were applied to the wrong base, as happens when a pay rise is processed late, choose the second option and only the gap on each hour is owed. A line paid at or above its owed rate counts as nil and is not set against another line.
- 3Add super on the qualifying part. The super guarantee is 12% of qualifying earnings. The ATO lists casual loading and shift penalties, public holiday penalties included, as qualifying earnings, and overtime as not, where ordinary hours are clearly identified. It also says super is worked out on qualifying earnings paid from 1 July 2026 even if the work was done before that date, so back pay paid now carries the guarantee at 12%, paid into your fund rather than to you. Payday Super explains the rules that started that day.
- 4Work out the tax withheld under Schedule 5. Back pay for this financial year is withheld under Method B(i): each underpaid pay is re-run through the tax table with its share of the back pay added, and the extra tax is totalled. There is no 47% limit, because each pay is taxed as the pay it should have been. Back pay for an earlier financial year is withheld under Method B(ii), which spreads it over the year's pays and is limited to 47% of the payment. Method A, the method a bonus usually gets on the Tax on Bonus Calculator, is accepted for any back payment, and the calculator shows it alongside.
- 5Check the 12-month line for tax time. Back pay earned more than 12 months before it is paid is reported as Lump sum E, with the years it relates to. The old $1,200 threshold for Lump sum E no longer applies from 1 July 2025. It is still taxed in the year you receive it, but the ATO considers it for a tax offset and a Medicare levy exemption where it is at least 10% of your threshold test income, broadly your taxable income for the year without it, and works out both when you lodge. The Tax Return Calculator shows the year's position without them.
Which rates the calculator has.
Ordinary and casual hourly rates are in for every adult classification of the 22 awards this site publishes, and the National Minimum Wage. Weekend and public holiday rates are in only where the award’s penalty table has been extracted and checked, which is the 3 below. Overtime is in for full-time and part-time employees under the same awards.
| Award | Classifications | Weekend and holiday rates | Overtime rates | Schedule tables |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fast Food Award | 4 | 4 permanent, 4 casual | 4 permanent | A.1.1, A.2.1 |
| Hospitality Award | 15 | 15 permanent, 15 casual | 7 permanent | B.2.1, B.2.3, B.6.1, B.6.3 |
| Retail Award | 8 | 8 permanent, 8 casual | 8 permanent | B.1.1, B.2.1 |
Ordinary hours only: Aged Care Award; Children's Services Award; Cleaning Services Award; Clerks Award; Clubs Award; Fitness Award; Gardening and Landscaping Award; Hair and Beauty Award; Health Services Award; Legal Services Award; Manufacturing Award; Nurses Award; Pharmacy Award; Restaurant Award; Road Transport Award; SCHADS Award; Security Award; Teachers Award; Warehouse Award; Award and agreement free: National Minimum Wage.
Getting the money back.
The Fair Work Ombudsman sets out the steps in My pay doesn’t seem right: gather your payslips, rosters and bank statements, check the award rate, talk to your employer, then send a follow-up email that records what was agreed. Most underpayments end there. If they do not, Fair Work explains the small claims process, which covers underpayments up to $100,000 and must be started within 6 years of the date of the contravention. The figure from this calculator is a starting point to take into that conversation, with your own records behind it.
Back pay at tax time.
Back pay is income in the year it is paid, not the year it was earned, and earlier tax returns are not amended. Any part earned more than 12 months before it is paid appears on your income statement as Lump sum E with the years it relates to. The ATO’s page on lump sum payments in arrears explains the tax offset and Medicare levy exemption it may bring where the arrears are at least 10% of your threshold test income. The ATO works both out when you lodge and publishes no calculator for them, so neither is estimated here.
What this does not cover.
- Weekend, public holiday and overtime rates are extracted for the Retail, Fast Food and Hospitality awards only. Under any other award only ordinary hours are counted, unless you choose Not listed and enter the rates from your pay guide.
- Owed rates are those in force from 1 July 2026. For hours worked before then, choose Not listed and enter the rates that applied at the time.
- Evening and night penalties, allowances, shiftwork tables, and junior and apprentice rates are not modelled. Junior rates are on Junior Pay Rates.
- Tax assumes the hours were spread evenly across the pays and that your employer withheld by the ATO tax table each time. It runs on the 2026-27 tables only, scales 1 and 2.
- Super is 12% on qualifying earnings, with no maximum contribution base cap. Interest, the super guarantee charge and any penalty are not included.
- It is an estimate to take to your employer, not a finding of what is owed. A disputed amount is settled by agreement, the Fair Work Ombudsman or a court.
Where these figures come from.
- ATO, Schedule 5, which method a back payment takes, the source gave its own last updated date as 2026-06-17. Retrieved 2026-10-02.
- ATO, Schedule 5, working out the withholding amount on back payments, commissions and bonuses, the source gave its own last updated date as 2026-06-17. Retrieved 2026-09-19.
- ATO, Schedule 5, back payment reporting and Lump sum E, the source gave its own last updated date as 2026-06-17. Retrieved 2026-10-02.
- ATO, Lump sum payment in arrears, the source gave its own last updated date as 2026-06-08. Retrieved 2026-10-02.
- ATO, What payments are qualifying earnings, the source gave its own last updated date as 2026-09-02. Retrieved 2026-10-02.
- ATO, Super guarantee rate, the source gave its own last updated date as 2026-04-17. Retrieved 2026-09-02.
- Fair Work Ombudsman, About the small claims court, the source gave its own last updated date as 2026-06-04. Retrieved 2026-10-02.
- ATO, Schedule 1, coefficients for withholding from weekly payments, the source gave its own last updated date as 2026-06-17. Retrieved 2026-09-17.
- ATO, Schedule 8, study and training support loans components, the source gave its own last updated date as 2026-06-17. Retrieved 2026-09-17.
- Fair Work Ombudsman, Award and agreement free wages and conditions, the source gave its own last updated date as 2026-08-07. Retrieved 2026-09-11.
- ATO, Schedule 5, about this schedule: what a back payment is, the source gave its own last updated date as 2026-06-17. Retrieved 2026-10-02.
- ATO, Schedule 5, withholding amounts examples, the source gave its own last updated date as 2026-06-17. Retrieved 2026-10-02.
- Fair Work Ombudsman, My pay doesn’t seem right, the source gave its own last updated date as 2026-08-03. Retrieved 2026-10-02.
Every rate this site uses is listed on the Methodology page.
Common questions.
How do I calculate back pay?
Work out what each hour should have been paid under your award, take off what was paid for it, and add up the gaps. Weekday, Saturday, Sunday, public holiday and overtime hours each have their own rate, so they are counted separately. Then add super at 12% on the qualifying part, which leaves out overtime. Penalty Rates and the Overtime Calculator show where the higher rates come from.
How much back pay am I owed after a late pay rise?
The new hourly rate less the old one, times every hour worked between the date the rise applied and the pay it finally arrived in, with weekend and overtime hours scaled the same way. The National Minimum Wage rose from $24.95 to $26.44 an hour from the first full pay period on or after 1 July 2026, so a full-time award-free employee left on the old rate for 8 weeks of 38 hours is owed $452.96 before tax, plus $54.36 of super. Minimum Wage Increase 2026 sets out that rise.
Is back pay taxed at a higher rate?
No. Back pay is salary and wages, taxed at your marginal rate with the rest of your income for the year it is paid. What can look high is the withholding: under Schedule 5 your employer re-runs each underpaid pay with its share added, or spreads an earlier year's back pay over the year, and either can take more out than a normal pay does. Anything withheld beyond the tax you owe comes back when you lodge.
What happened to the $1,200 back pay threshold?
It was the threshold for reporting back pay as Lump sum E, the label for amounts earned more than 12 months before they are paid. The ATO's Schedule 5 says it no longer applies from 1 July 2025: any back pay that qualifies as Lump sum E is reported at that label, whatever the amount. It is a reporting rule and never changed how much tax is withheld.
Do I get super on back pay?
Yes, on the part that is qualifying earnings: ordinary hours, casual loading, and weekend and public holiday penalties. Overtime is not qualifying earnings where ordinary hours are clearly identified, so it carries none. The guarantee is 12% on back pay paid now, into your super fund and on top of the back pay itself. For an employee under 18 the ATO counts only pay for a week in which they work more than 30 hours.
How far back can I claim unpaid wages?
6 years. Fair Work states that a small claims application must be made within 6 years of the date of the contravention, and that the small claims process covers underpayments up to $100,000. The Fair Work Ombudsman's own steps start with checking your pay, then raising it with your employer and putting it in writing, before any claim. Both pages are linked below the calculator.
Can my employer pay back pay in instalments?
It can ask. The Fair Work Ombudsman says that if an agreed underpayment is a large amount, your employer could ask to pay it in instalments, and that the two of you should agree the terms and write them down. Check each payment arrives as agreed.
Related pages.
- Award Pay RatesModern award minimum pay rates by industry, how classification levels and pay points work, and how casual loading and penalty rates change what you earn.
- Penalty RatesWhat penalty rates are, and the Saturday, Sunday and public holiday pay rates three awards publish, as percentages and hourly dollars, casual rates included.
- Overtime CalculatorWork out a week mixing ordinary hours, time and a half and double time, and see what the overtime portion is worth.
- Super Guarantee CalculatorWork out the superannuation your employer must pay on top of your wage at the 12% guarantee rate for 2026-27.
- Tax on Bonus CalculatorHow much tax comes out of a bonus in 2026-27: what payroll withholds on a weekly, fortnightly or monthly pay, what it adds at tax time, and what you keep.
- Tax Return CalculatorEstimate your 2025-26 tax refund or bill from your myGov income statement, with income tax, the offset, Medicare levy, surcharge and HELP shown line by line.
Every calculator on this site is listed on the Wage Calculator page.