Australia Take-Home Pay & HECS Explained: ATO 2026–27 Rates With Worked Examples

Income tax first, using the ATO 2026–27 resident brackets: 0% to $18,200, 15% to $45,000, 30% to $135,000, 37% to $190,000 and 45% above. On $100,000 that is $4,020 on the $18,201–$45,000 slice plus 30% of the $55,000 above $45,000, which is $16,500 — $20,520 in total. LITO is zero at this income (it phases out at $66,667). The Medicare levy at 2% adds $2,000. Total tax and levy: $22,520. Take-home pay: $77,480 a year, or about $2,980 a fortnight.

Now add a HELP debt. The 2026–27 compulsory repayment is nil to $69,528, then 15c per $1 to $129,717. On $100,000 of repayment income that is 15% of $30,472, or about $4,571. Take-home pay falls to about $72,909. Your employer also pays 12% Super Guarantee on top — $12,000 on a $100,000 salary — which is part of your package but not part of take-home pay, unless your contract is written as a total package that includes super.

First, marginal versus average rates: only the income inside each bracket is taxed at that bracket's rate, so a $100,000 salary is not taxed at 30% on the whole amount — the average rate here is 22.5% including the levy. Second, the Medicare levy is not the same as the Medicare Levy Surcharge: the 2% levy applies to most residents, while the 1–1.5% surcharge applies only to higher earners without private hospital cover, and this guide's calculator excludes the surcharge. Third, HELP repayment income is not quite the same as taxable income — it adds back items like reportable super contributions and fringe benefits — so your repayment can be slightly higher than a simple salary figure suggests.

Each 1 June your HELP balance is indexed, and indexation is charged on the whole balance. If your compulsory repayment is close to the year's indexation amount, most of the payment is absorbed and the balance barely moves. That is the most common reason graduates feel their debt is not falling. Voluntary repayments help twice: they cut the balance directly and they cut the base that future indexation is charged on. The HECS Payoff Calculator simulates this year by year so you can compare a payoff time with and without voluntary payments — and see immediately if your current payments are below annual indexation, in which case the debt will not be paid off at current settings.