Tax Withheld Calculator

Work out the tax withheld from one pay for 2026-27, the amount the ATO Statement of formulas for calculating amounts to be withheld produces for a weekly, fortnightly or monthly pay, with or without the tax-free threshold and with or without a study loan. The ATO tax withheld calculator is the authority on the figure and this page gives the same answer on the same scales. What it adds is the working behind each dollar, the same income shown on all three pay cycles, and a year of that withholding set against the tax the year actually owes at assessment.

Your details

Gross pay for one pay

Before tax, for one pay on the cycle below.

Pay cycle

I claim the tax-free threshold from this employerI have a HELP, HECS or other study loan

Medicare levy exemption

Claimed on a Medicare levy variation declaration, for example by a blind pensioner or a Gold Card holder. It changes withholding only where the threshold is claimed.

Tax withheld a fortnight

$598

Weekly earnings the formula reads, x: 1,500.99
Scale 2, y = ax - b: 0.3200 x 1,500.99 - 181.7319
Rounded to the dollar: 298.58 to $299 a week
Weekly amount x 2: $598
Pay after withholding, a fortnight: $2,402.00
Withheld over 26 pays: $15,548
Tax at assessment on $78,000: $15,480
Its share of each pay: $595.38
Over-withheld, back at tax time: $68
Paid weekly, $1,500.00: $299 withheld, $15,548 a year
Paid fortnightly, $3,000.00: $598 withheld, $15,548 a year
Paid monthly, $6,500.00: $1,296 withheld, $15,552 a year

Scale 2 of the ATO Schedule 1 formulas for payments from 1 July 2026, the same formulas the ATO tax withheld calculator applies. At tax time the year is taxed as a whole, with the low income tax offset, and the difference is refunded or owed when you lodge.

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 tax is withheld from $3,000 a fortnight?

$3,000 / 2, cents dropped, + 99c  = 1,500.99
scale 2 row, y = ax - b           = 0.3200 x 1,500.99 - 181.7319
y                                 = 298.58
rounded to the dollar             = $299 a week
x 2                               = $598 a fortnight
x 26 pays                         = $15,548 a year
tax at assessment on $78,000      = $15,480.00
difference                        = $68 over-withheld, back at tax time

$598 a fortnight on scale 2, leaving $2,402.00. The fortnight is halved to a weekly figure of 1,500.99, run through the scale 2 row 0.3200 x 1,500.99 - 181.7319, rounded to $299 and doubled. Over 26 pays that is $15,548, against $15,480.00 of income tax and Medicare levy on $78,000 for 2026-27, so $68 over-withheld, back at tax time.

What changes without the tax-free threshold?

scale 1 row, y = ax - b           = 0.3200 x 1,500.99 - 71.6508
y                                 = 408.67
rounded, x 2                      = $818 a fortnight
x 26 pays                         = $21,268 a year
tax at assessment, only job       = $15,480.00
difference                        = $5,788 over-withheld, back at tax time

Scale 1 withholds $818 a fortnight from the same pay, $220 more than scale 2, because it builds in no tax-free threshold and withholds from the first dollar. If this is your only job the extra $5,788 comes back when you lodge. Scale 1 is meant for a second job, where the threshold is already used by the main one.

Does the pay cycle change the tax withheld on $78,000?

weekly $1,500.00                  = $299 x 52 = $15,548
fortnightly $3,000.00             = $598 x 26 = $15,548
monthly $6,500.00                 = $1,296 x 12 = $15,552

Only by rounding. All three cycles convert to the same weekly figure and the same $299 weekly amount. A fortnight doubles it exactly, but a month multiplies it by 13 and divides by 3, $1,295.67, then rounds to $1,296, so a year of monthly pays withholds $4 more here. The tax owed at assessment is the same on every cycle.

Why is less tax owed than withheld on $46,800?

$900 a week, scale 2              = $106 withheld
x 52 pays                         = $5,512
income tax before the offset      = $4,560.00
low income tax offset             = - $298.00
Medicare levy                     = $936.00
tax at assessment                 = $5,198.00
difference                        = $314 over-withheld, back at tax time

A year of $900 weeks withholds $5,512, and assessment on $46,800 comes to $5,198.00. The low income tax offset at this income is $298.00, which is most of the $314 gap. It is applied to the year when you lodge, so it arrives as part of the refund rather than in each pay.

What does a HELP debt add to each pay?

Schedule 8 row, threshold claimed = 0.1500 x 1,500.99 - 200.5615
rounded, x 2                      = $50 a fortnight
x 26 pays                         = $1,300
repayment on $78,000              = $1,270.80

$50 a fortnight on top of the $598 of tax. The Schedule 8 component is worked out on the same weekly figure, rounded on its own and added, and with the threshold claimed it starts at $1,337 a week. Over a year it collects $1,300 against a compulsory repayment of $1,270.80 on $78,000.

What does a Medicare levy exemption change?

scale 2, no exemption             = $598 a fortnight
scale 6, half exemption           = $568 a fortnight
scale 5, full exemption           = $538 a fortnight
scale 5 over a year               = $13,988
assessed with no levy             = $13,920.00

A full exemption, claimed on a Medicare levy variation declaration, moves the pay to scale 5, which carries no levy: $538 a fortnight instead of $598. A half exemption uses scale 6, which carries half of it: $568. With a full exemption for the whole year no levy is assessed, and the $13,988 withheld sits against $13,920.00 of income tax.

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.

1Convert the pay to weekly earnings. The schedule works in weeks. A weekly pay keeps its whole dollars and adds 99 cents. A fortnight is halved first. A month is multiplied by 3 and divided by 13, after a cent is added to an amount ending in 33 cents, and then the cents are dropped and 99 cents added. That figure is x, and every later step runs on it.
2Pick the scale the declarations set. Scale 1 where the tax-free threshold is not claimed, scale 2 where it is, and scales 5 and 6 where a full or half exemption from the Medicare levy is claimed on a Medicare levy variation declaration. The ATO accepts that declaration only from a payer you also claim the threshold from, so a pay without the threshold stays on scale 1. Scales 1, 2 and 6 carry the Medicare levy and scale 5 carries none.
3Apply y = ax - b and round once. Each scale is a set of straight lines, one for each band of weekly earnings, and the page shows which line your pay lands on. Rounding is to the nearest dollar with 50 cents going up, done directly rather than to the cent first. A fortnightly amount is the rounded weekly amount doubled. A monthly amount is it multiplied by 13, divided by 3 and rounded again.
4Add the study loan component on its own. With a HELP, VET Student Loan, Financial Supplement, Student Start-up Loan or Australian Apprenticeship Support Loan debt declared, Schedule 8 runs the same x through its own coefficients, rounds separately and is added to the tax. The HECS Repayment Calculator works out the compulsory repayment the year owes, which is what that component is collecting towards, and STSL Component explains the line it becomes on a payslip.
5Set a year of it against the assessment. The pay is multiplied by 52, 26 or 12 and taxed as a year on the resident rates, with the Medicare levy, the Low Income Tax Offset and any compulsory study loan repayment, which is the assessment the Income Tax Calculator runs on a salary. Withholding is a per-pay estimate of that annual figure, so the two rarely land on the same dollar and the difference is the refund or the bill.
6Show the same income on every cycle. The annual equivalent is cut into weekly, fortnightly and monthly pays and each is withheld on its own, so the rounding differences between cycles are visible rather than described. The Weekly Pay Calculator and Fortnightly Pay Calculator answer the other question, what an annual salary leaves in your account each pay, by dividing the annual position back. The Wage Calculator starts from any pay, an hour to a year, and shows that annual position on every cycle. The ATO prints the same amounts as three tables, gathered on ATO Tax Tables.

What this does not cover.

It uses scales 1, 2, 5 and 6 only. Foreign residents on scale 3, payees with no tax file number on scale 4, working holiday makers and seasonal worker programme employees have their own scales and are not modelled.
The Medicare levy reduction for a low family income, which is also claimed on a Medicare levy variation declaration, is not modelled. With a half exemption the tax-time figure charges half the levy, and a low family income can reduce it further.
It withholds on the pay you enter. Tax offsets claimed on a withholding declaration, salary sacrifice, allowances with their own treatment, and any extra amount you have already agreed with your payer are outside it. From 1 October 2026 an allowance that was an award transport payment is no longer one of those: tax is withheld from it with the pay, as Award Transport Payments 2026 explains. A bonus is withheld under a different schedule, which the Tax on Bonus Calculator applies, and a redundancy payment under another again, which the Redundancy Calculator applies. Other termination payments, such as a golden handshake or payment in lieu of notice, are withheld under Schedule 11, which the ETP Tax Calculator applies. Unused long service leave paid when a job ends goes through Schedule 7, which the Long Service Leave Calculator applies.
It assumes 52 weekly, 26 fortnightly or 12 monthly pays. The ATO publishes small extra amounts a payee can ask for in a 53 or 27 pay year, and they are not applied here. Fortnights in a Year shows whether your year is one and the amount for your pay.
The tax-time figure treats the pay as your only income for a full year. Part-year work, a second job, other income, deductions and the Medicare levy surcharge all move it, and two jobs are worked through on the Second Job Tax Calculator.
It runs on the 2026-27 schedules only, which apply to payments made from 1 July 2026. The earlier coefficients are not loaded, so there is no year switch on this page.

Where these figures come from.

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 1, scales 5 and 6 for a Medicare levy exemption, the source gave its own last updated date as 2026-06-17. Retrieved 2026-09-19.
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.
ATO, Medical exemption from the Medicare levy, the source gave its own last updated date as 2026-06-22. Retrieved 2026-09-19.
ATO, Multiple jobs or change of job, the source gave its own last updated date as 2026-06-05. 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 reduction for low-income earners, the source gave its own last updated date as 2026-06-30. Retrieved 2026-09-02. Not yet published for 2026-27: this is the prior year’s figure carried forward and labelled as such, never estimated. It is corrected as soon as the ATO publishes.
ATO, Study and training loan repayment thresholds and rates, the source gave its own last updated date as 2026-06-30. Retrieved 2026-09-11.

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

Common questions.

Is this the same as the ATO tax withheld calculator?

It applies the same published formulas, so on these scales it gives the same figures. The ATO tool is the authority and it is built for payers, covering payee types this page does not: working holiday makers, foreign residents, payees with no tax file number and several payment types with their own schedules. Every amount the ATO publishes as sample data for those four scales, 576 of them across 144 pay figures, is asserted in this site's test suite. What this page adds is the working behind the figure, the same income on all three pay cycles, and the comparison with the tax the year owes at assessment. The ATO also prints scales 1 and 2 as lookup tables, and the Weekly Tax Table, Fortnightly Tax Table and Monthly Tax Table reproduce every row of them from this calculator's own formulas.

How is the tax withheld from my pay calculated?

Your pay is converted to a weekly figure, run through one straight-line formula and rounded to the dollar, then scaled back to your cycle. A $3,000 fortnight on the threshold scale becomes $1,500 plus 99 cents, goes through that band's coefficients and gives $598 for the fortnight. Nothing in it is a percentage of your pay: the bands are built so that a year of the same pay collects close to a year of tax.

Why was too much tax withheld from my pay?

Usually because withholding reads one pay as though every pay in the year were the same size. Work part of a year, have a quiet fortnight after a busy one, or hold a second job that ended, and the schedule has collected against income you did not earn. Offsets are the other half: the Low Income Tax Offset is applied to the year when you lodge, not to a payslip. A zone or overseas forces offset can be claimed through payroll instead, and the Zone Tax Offset Calculator shows what it takes off each pay. The excess is not lost. It comes back as part of your refund once the return is assessed, and the refund on the whole year, from your income statement, is worked out on the Tax Return Calculator. Before the year ends, the YTD Income Calculator projects it from the year-to-date figures on a payslip.

Does being paid weekly, fortnightly or monthly change the tax withheld?

Only by a few dollars a year, and only because of rounding. All three cycles are converted to the same weekly figure and rounded to the dollar once. A fortnight is that amount doubled. A month is it multiplied by 13 and divided by 3, then rounded again, which is the only place a difference can appear. On $78,000 a year the weekly and fortnightly cycles both withhold $15,548 and the monthly cycle $15,552. The tax assessed on the year is identical either way. The Monthly Pay Calculator turns the monthly withholding into take-home pay.

Can I use this as a weekly or fortnightly tax calculator?

Yes. Pick the pay cycle, enter the gross for that one pay and it returns the tax your employer withholds from it: $299 from a $1,500 week and $598 from a $3,000 fortnight, both with the tax-free threshold claimed. If you start from an hourly rate and want the take-home rather than the tax, the Weekly Pay Calculator and Fortnightly Pay Calculator apply the same schedule to the hours you work.

What is withheld if I do not claim the tax-free threshold?

Scale 1, which withholds from the first dollar rather than from $363 a week. It exists for the case where another payer is already using your threshold, so on a single job it collects far more than the year owes and the difference comes back when you lodge. With two payers the position is the other way around, and the Second Job Tax Calculator works out the bill or refund from both jobs together.

Does the tax withheld include the Medicare levy?

Yes, on the ordinary scales. The ATO states that scales 1, 2, 4 and 6 incorporate the Medicare levy, so it sits inside the single withholding figure on your payslip rather than on a line of its own. Scale 2 also builds in the low-income shading: no levy is carried below $538 a week, it shades in at 10 cents in the dollar to $673 a week, and the full 2% applies above that. What the levy comes to for a whole year, and who pays less or none, is on the Medicare Levy Calculator.

What do the Medicare levy exemption scales withhold?

Scale 5 for a full exemption, which carries no levy, and scale 6 for a half exemption, which carries half of it. Both are claimed on a Medicare levy variation declaration and both need the tax-free threshold claimed from that payer. The medical grounds are narrow: a blind pensioner, or entitlement to full free medical treatment for all conditions under Defence Force arrangements or a Veterans' Affairs Gold Card, with a full exemption where you have no dependants or every dependant is exempt or pays the levy, and a half exemption where at least one dependant is neither.

Can I ask my employer to withhold extra tax?

Yes, and it is the usual fix for a shortfall you can see coming. An upward variation is a written agreement with your payer, or a withholding declaration lodged through ATO online services, and Schedule 14 says the extra is simply added to the normal amount. The ATO's own example is a $563 week with the threshold claimed: the table gives $33, an agreed $50 takes it to $83. A downward variation is different and needs an application the ATO approves. Services Australia lets you raise the rate on Parental Leave Pay too, which it withholds from at 15% unless you ask otherwise, and the Parental Leave Pay Calculator sets that beside an employer's Schedule 1 amount.