How Many Fortnights in a Year?

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.

26 fortnights x 14 days       = 364 days
365 - 364                     = 1 day over
365 / 14                      = 26.07 fortnights
366 / 14, a leap year         = 26.14 fortnights

first payday                  = Wednesday 1 July 2026
+ 26 x 14 days                = Wednesday 30 June 2027
paydays in the year           = 27

27 x $2,500                   = $67,500
26 x $2,500                   = $65,000
tax added by the 27th pay     = $837.50
withheld from the 27th pay    = $438.00
shortfall                     = $399.50
ATO extra, $12 x 27 pays      = $324

26 fortnights / 12 months     = 2.17
52 weeks / 12 months          = 4.33
$2,500 a fortnight x 26 / 12  = $5,416.67 a month

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.

1. 1Find every payday on your cycle. From the payday you enter, the calculator steps forward and back in 14-day jumps, or 7-day jumps for weekly pay, and keeps every payday from the first day of the year to the last, both counted. The income year runs from 1 July to 30 June and the calendar year from 1 January to 31 December.
2. 2Compare the count with the ATO's 26 and 52. The ATO tax tables, and Schedule 5 for bonuses, split a year into 52 weekly or 26 fortnightly pays. A year with one payday more than that is a 27-pay or 53-pay year. A year can never hold fewer, because 26 fortnights is a day shorter than the shortest year.
3. 3Look ahead. The same count runs for each later income year on your cycle until three long years are found. A fortnightly cycle gets 27 paydays every 11 or 12 years and a weekly one gets 53 every 5 to 7.
4. 4Put a figure on the extra pay. With a pay entered, the calculator multiplies it by the year's paydays. In a long income year it also shows the extra amount the ATO lets you ask your employer to withhold from each pay, read from the bands the ATO prints for 53 and 27 pay years: $12, $27 or $48 a fortnight, $3, $7 or $12 a week, depending on the pay.

Fortnights, weeks and paydays in a year.

The ATO tax tables work on 26 fortnightly and 52 weekly pays. The calendar runs a day or two longer, which is where the extra payday comes from.

Every fortnightly cycle and its 27-pay years.

A fortnightly pay cycle is fixed by its first payday of the income year, one of the 14 days from 1 to 14 July. Find your first payday on or after 1 July 2026 and read its row. Counted by the same engine as the calculator, 2026-27 to 2045-46.

Every weekly payday and its 53-pay years.

A weekly cycle is fixed by its weekday. The weekday that falls on 1 July gets 53 paydays that year, and so does the one on 2 July when the year holds 29 February. 2026-27 to 2045-46.

What this does not cover.

• Paydays are counted on the cycle's own dates. An employer that pays a day early when a payday falls on a weekend or public holiday, such as New Year's Day, can move a pay into the year before and change the count.
• Monthly pay always has 12 paydays a year, so only weekly and fortnightly cycles are counted.
• It does not say whether a salaried job pays 27 full fortnights in a long year. That is your contract and your employer's payroll.
• The tax shortfall example assumes one job, the tax-free threshold claimed, no study loan and the 2026-27 resident rates, and the extra withholding bands are the ATO's for 2026-27. The Tax Withheld Calculator shows the withholding on any one pay.

Where these figures come from.

• ATO, Schedule 1, extra withholding in a year with 53 weekly or 27 fortnightly pays, the source gave its own last updated date as 2026-06-17. Retrieved 2026-09-27.
• 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 1, coefficients for withholding from weekly payments, the source gave its own last updated date as 2026-06-17. Retrieved 2026-09-17.
• ATO, Tax rates for Australian residents, the source gave its own last updated date as 2026-08-13. Retrieved 2026-09-02.
• ATO, Low income tax offset, the source gave its own last updated date as 2026-06-08. Retrieved 2026-09-02.
• ATO, Medicare levy, the source gave its own last updated date as 2026-08-13. Retrieved 2026-09-02.

Every rate this site uses is listed on the Methodology page.

Common questions.

Related pages.

• Fortnightly Pay CalculatorWork out fortnightly take-home pay from an annual salary, with income tax, the Medicare levy and super shown separately.
• Fortnightly Tax TableThe ATO fortnightly tax table for 2026-27: tax withheld from every pay of $2 to $6,800, with and without the tax-free threshold, checked row by row.
• Weekly Pay CalculatorWork out weekly take-home pay from an annual salary, with income tax and the Medicare levy shown as separate weekly amounts.
• Monthly Pay CalculatorWork out monthly take-home pay from an hourly rate, a monthly gross or a salary, with tax withheld on the ATO 2026-27 monthly schedule and super shown.
• Tax Withheld CalculatorWork out the PAYG tax withheld from a weekly, fortnightly or monthly pay on the ATO 2026-27 formulas, with the working and the tax owed when you lodge.
• YTD Income CalculatorProject your annual income from the year-to-date gross on a payslip, and see the tax on it against what has been withheld so far.

Every calculator on this site is listed on the Wage Calculator page.