PAYG calculator (tax withholding) 2026-27
This PAYG calculator shows how much tax an employer should withhold from each weekly, fortnightly or monthly pay. It uses the ATO's Schedule 1 formulas for payments made from 1 July 2026. A $1,500 weekly wage with the tax-free threshold claimed has $299 withheld.
The link carries the numbers you entered, so anyone who opens it sees the same result.
Tax withheld per pay
$299
Breakdown
| Gross pay | $1,500 |
|---|---|
| Tax withheld (Schedule 1 scale 2) | $299 |
| Take-home pay | $1,201 |
| Gross over 52 pays | $78,000 |
| Withheld over the year | $15,548 |
| Actual tax on the year | $15,480 |
- Total withheld per pay
- $299
- Withheld over the year
- $15,548
- Estimated annual tax
- $15,480
- Share of gross withheld
- 19.9%
How employers calculate tax withheld (Schedule 1: y = ax − b)
Your employer multiplies weekly earnings by a rate (a) and subtracts a fixed amount (b), both from the ATO's table for your scale. The result (y) is the tax withheld for that week.
- 1
Turn the pay into a weekly figure, x
The ATO rule is to ignore the cents and add 99 cents. For $1,500.00, x is $1,500.99.
- 2
Find a and b for your scale
On Scale 2, the row for x from $1,282 up to $2,596 uses a = 0.3227 and b = 185.1935.
- 3
Work out y and round it
0.3227 × 1,500.99 − 185.1935 = $299.18, which becomes $299. The ATO Schedule 1 formula rules (opens in a new tab) round y to the nearest dollar, and values ending in 50 cents round up.
Other pay cycles are turned into a weekly figure first.
| Pay cycle | How x is found | Withholding on the same $78,000 a year |
|---|---|---|
| Weekly, $1,500 | Ignore cents, add 99c | $299 a week |
| Fortnightly, $3,000 | Halve, ignore cents, add 99c; double the result | $598 a fortnight |
| Monthly, $6,500 | Multiply by 3, divide by 13, ignore cents, add 99c; result × 13 ÷ 3 | $1,296 a month |
The monthly method is easy to get wrong. $6,500 × 3 ÷ 13 is exactly $1,500 a week. That gives $299, and $299 × 13 ÷ 3 rounds to $1,296, not $299 × 4.
Does the pay cycle change the yearly total?
Barely. Weekly gives $299 × 52 = $15,548, fortnightly gives $598 × 26 = $15,548, and monthly gives $1,296 × 12 = $15,552. Any gap comes from rounding each pay to whole dollars.
The same amounts appear row by row in the weekly tax table.
One job or two: where to claim the tax-free threshold
Claim the $18,200 tax-free threshold with one payer only, usually the one paying the highest salary. Every other job uses Scale 1, which withholds from the first dollar.
Say you earn $1,500 a week in a main job and claim the threshold there, plus $600 a week in a second job where you don't. The main employer withholds $299 a week and the second employer $120 a week.
| Step | Amount | Running total |
|---|---|---|
| Withheld by main job$299 × 52 | +$15,548 | $15,548 |
| Withheld by second job$120 × 52 | +$6,240 | $21,788 |
| Total withheld | $21,788 | |
| Actual tax and Medicare levyOn $109,200 of gross pay ($2,100 × 52) | $25,464 | |
| Shortfall at tax time | $3,676 | |
2026-27 Schedule 1 Scales 1 and 2 against 2026-27 resident rates with the 2% Medicare levy. Source: ATO; Calculatax calculation.
You ticked the right boxes and still owe $3,676. The second employer withholds about 20% of the $600, because Scale 1 assumes that job is your only income. In reality every dollar of it sits on top of $78,000 and is taxed at 30% plus the 2% levy.
So the second job adds $9,984 to the tax bill but has only $6,240 withheld.
Claiming the threshold at both jobs makes it worse. The second employer would then withhold $42 a week, total withholding would be $17,732, and the shortfall would grow to $7,732.
STSL, Medicare exemptions and foreign residents use different scales
The same $1,500 weekly wage gives very different withholding depending on the scale.
| Scale | Who it is for | Withheld on $1,500 a week |
|---|---|---|
| Scale 1 | Resident, tax-free threshold not claimed | $409 |
| Scale 2 | Resident, tax-free threshold claimed | $299 |
| Scale 3 | Foreign resident | $450 |
| Scale 4 | No tax file number provided (resident) | $705 (47%) |
| Scale 5 | Full Medicare levy exemption | $269 |
| Scale 6 | Half Medicare levy exemption | $284 |
How a study loan changes withholding
A study or training support loan (STSL) adds a separate component from Schedule 8. With the threshold claimed, nothing is added until x reaches $1,337 a week, and on $1,500 the extra is $25 a week. Without the threshold, the component starts at $987 a week.
That design can leave a HELP debt badly under-collected. The $600 second job in the example is below $987, so it attracts no study loan component. Over the year $1,300 is withheld for the debt, yet the compulsory repayment on $109,200 is $5,950.80.
Asking your employer to withhold extra tax
You can ask an employer in writing to withhold more than the Schedule 1 amount.
In the two-job example, an extra $71 a week from the second job would cover the $3,676 income tax shortfall. Covering the HELP gap as well would take about $89 a week more, since $4,650.80 is unpaid over 52 weeks.
It works the other way too. If large deductions mean too much is withheld, you can apply to the ATO for a withholding variation to reduce it. An employer can't lower withholding on its own.
- Income tax calculatorThe annual bill to aim for.
- Marginal tax rate calculatorThe rate on extra income.
- Australian tax bracketsThe 2026-27 rates.
- ATO tax tablesEmployers' full row-by-row amounts.
What the calculator leaves out
The calculator handles regular pay only. Bonuses, back pay and commissions use Schedule 5, and lump sums on termination have separate rules.
It doesn't model the Medicare levy surcharge, salary sacrifice arrangements or tax offsets. It assumes the same gross pay every period, so overtime or irregular hours change each week's figure.
PAYG questions: tax withheld, payment summaries, Schedule 5 and instalments
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Last reviewed
What is PAYG?
PAYG stands for pay as you go. Under PAYG withholding, employers deduct tax from each pay and send it to the ATO, so your income tax is collected through the year. For 2026-27 they use the Schedule 1 formulas. A resident on $1,500 a week who claims the tax-free threshold has $299 withheld each week.
What does tax withheld mean?
It's the amount your employer keeps back from gross pay and sends to the ATO for you. Think of it as a prepayment, because your final tax is assessed later and the amount withheld is credited against it at year end. On $1,500 a week, $15,548 is withheld over a year, against a resident's actual tax of $15,480.
What is a PAYG payment summary?
It's the paper or PDF statement employers once issued showing a year's pay and tax withheld. Most employers now report through Single Touch Payroll instead. The same figures appear as an income statement in ATO online services, marked "tax ready" once the employer finalises it for the year.
What is PAYG on Schedule 5?
Schedule 5 is the ATO tax table for back payments, commissions, bonuses and similar payments. Method A spreads the extra payment across the year's pay periods. Method B(i) covers back pay for specific current-year periods, and Method B(ii) covers prior-year back pay and payments not tied to one period. Regular wages stay on Schedule 1.
What is a PAYG income tax instalment?
It's a prepayment of tax on business or investment income that has no employer withholding. The ATO enters you in the system based on your last return and issues instalment notices, usually quarterly. Instalments are credited against your assessed tax, the same way withheld amounts are for wages.
Estimates only, based on published rates for 2026-27. General information, not tax or financial advice.
Keep going
Sources
- ATO: Schedule 1: coefficients for weekly payments (opens in a new tab)
- ATO: Schedule 1: working out the weekly earnings (opens in a new tab)
- ATO: Schedule 8: study and training support loan components (opens in a new tab)
- ATO: Schedule 5: back payments, commissions, bonuses and similar payments (opens in a new tab)
- ATO: Schedule 1: using a formula (opens in a new tab)