UNDERSTAND YOUR PAYSLIP
Three numbers. Three different jobs.
Your package is the total offer. Your gross salary is the cash pay before deductions. Your take-home pay is what remains for your bank account. Comparing two job offers is much easier once you know which number each employer is quoting.
“Plus super” and “including super” are different
An $89,600 package including 12% employer super contains $80,000 of gross cash salary and $9,600 of employer super under this example. An $89,600 salary plus 12% super contains $89,600 of cash salary before tax. Entering the same number under the wrong option can therefore make your spending budget look larger than it is.
The standard setting estimates the 2026–27 minimum employer contribution, using 12% and the $270,830 annual qualifying-earnings limit. We assume the salary entered is qualifying earnings for one eligible adult employee. If your contract specifies another contribution, enter its annual amount under payroll settings. The displayed super is an annual average allocated across the chosen period, not a prediction of the timing or after-tax balance in your fund.
A fortnight is not half a month
There are 26 two-week periods in a 52-week year, and 12 calendar months. A $2,000 fortnightly amount is therefore $52,000 over 26 pays, or about $4,333 a month on average. Some months have three paydays. Plan recurring bills using the dates you are actually paid, and treat the annual result here as a budgeting estimate.
Why the result can differ from your payslip
This tool uses the 2026–27 ATO regular-pay withholding formulas and their rounding rules. Tax-free-threshold and student-loan settings matter. It calculates weekly, fortnightly and monthly withholding separately; the annual estimate uses twelve monthly pays. Small differences across periods are expected.
It does not handle working holiday makers, foreign tax residents, missing TFNs, salary sacrifice, bonuses, termination payments, Medicare exemptions or family adjustments, the Medicare levy surcharge, seniors’ offsets, or individual withholding variations. Enter ordinary after-tax deductions separately. If your situation includes an excluded item, use the ATO calculator or ask payroll to explain the deduction.
Student-loan withholding is money withheld during the year. Your final repayment is worked out using repayment income at tax time and can differ. We do not ask for your loan balance or cap withholding to that balance.
Sources and calculation details
- ATO Withholding Schedules Instrument 2026 — schedules 1 and 8
- ATO super guarantee rates and maximum contribution base
- ABS Employee Earnings and Hours, May 2025 — data cubes 3 and 8
- ATO tax withheld calculator
Published by Howloop. Educational estimates; not reviewed by a registered tax agent. Report an unexpected result.