PAYG Withholding Calculator
See how much tax comes out of a weekly, fortnightly or monthly pay in 2026-27.
Short answer
Your employer works out the tax to take from each pay using the ATO's 2026-27 withholding rates. It depends on how much you earn, how often you're paid, whether you claim the tax-free threshold, and whether you have a HELP or study loan.
ATO worked examples
Enter a gross pay amount to estimate the withholding.
How it's calculated
Schedule 1 uses y = ax − b. x is the whole dollars of the weekly earnings plus 99 cents. a and b are the coefficients for that band. The result is rounded to the nearest dollar, and a result ending in 50 cents rounds up. Rounding is done on the full result, not after a preliminary rounding to the nearest cent.
A fortnightly pay is divided by 2. A monthly pay is multiplied by 3 and divided by 13, and if the monthly amount ends in 33 cents, one cent is added first. Cents in the weekly equivalent are ignored, then 99 cents are added. The rounded weekly withholding is multiplied by 2 for a fortnight. For a month it is multiplied by 13, divided by 3, and rounded to the nearest dollar again.
Scale 2 applies when the tax-free threshold is claimed. Scale 1 applies when it is not. Both scales already include the Medicare levy shading in the coefficients. A HELP, VSL, Financial Supplement, Student Start-up Loan or Australian Apprenticeship Support Loan adds the Schedule 8 component, which is rounded on its own and then added.
On the activity statement, gross salary and wages go at W1 and the amount withheld from those payments goes at W2. W5 is W2 plus W3 and W4. W5 is copied to label 4. This calculator estimates one pay. The BAS reports the total for the month or quarter.
The estimate is for a resident payee who has quoted a TFN. It does not apply tax offsets, a Medicare levy adjustment for a spouse or dependants, foreign-resident rates, the no-TFN rate, working holiday maker rates, or the extra withholding for a year with 53 weekly pays or 27 fortnightly pays. Above $3,400 a week, or $6,800 a fortnight, the formula can differ slightly from the published tax table. The ATO accepts either method.
| Weekly earnings (x) | a | b |
|---|---|---|
| Less than $362 | – | – |
| Less than $538 | 0.1500 | 54.3462 |
| Less than $673 | 0.2500 | 108.2135 |
| Less than $721 | 0.1700 | 54.3473 |
| Less than $865 | 0.1790 | 60.8377 |
| Less than $1,282 | 0.3227 | 185.1935 |
| Less than $2,596 | 0.3200 | 181.7319 |
| Less than $3,653 | 0.3900 | 363.4627 |
| $3,653 & over | 0.4700 | 655.7704 |
| Weekly earnings (x) | a | b |
|---|---|---|
| Less than $188 | 0.1500 | 0.1500 |
| Less than $371 | 0.2084 | 11.0185 |
| Less than $515 | 0.1790 | 0.1066 |
| Less than $932 | 0.3227 | 74.1674 |
| Less than $2,246 | 0.3200 | 71.6508 |
| Less than $3,303 | 0.3900 | 228.8816 |
| $3,303 & over | 0.4700 | 493.1893 |
| Weekly earnings (x) | a | b |
|---|---|---|
| Less than $1,337 | – | – |
| Less than $2,494 | 0.1500 | 200.5615 |
| Less than $3,577 | 0.1700 | 250.4527 |
| $3,577 & over | 0.1000 | 0.0000 |
| Weekly earnings (x) | a | b |
|---|---|---|
| Less than $987 | – | – |
| Less than $2,144 | 0.1500 | 148.0615 |
| Less than $2,727 | 0.1700 | 190.9527 |
| $2,727 & over | 0.1000 | 0.0000 |
Checked 11 November 2026 against the ATO:
- Schedule 1 coefficients for weekly payments
- Schedule 1, using the formula and rounding
- Schedule 1, fortnightly and monthly weekly equivalents
- Schedule 1 worked examples
- Schedule 1 sample withholding amounts
- Schedule 8, study and training support loans
- Weekly tax table from 1 July 2026
- BAS labels W1, W2, W5 and 4
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