HOME/FREE TOOLS/PAYG WITHHOLDING
Tax & compliance

PAYG withholding calculator

Put on your first apprentice or tradie and you have to withhold the right tax from every pay. Estimate PAYG withholding and take-home pay for weekly, fortnightly or monthly runs.

The pay run
Gross pay and how the employee is set up for tax.
PAYG to withhold per week
$303
From $1,500 gross, withhold about $303 — the employee takes home roughly $1,197 each week.
Gross per week$1,500
PAYG withheld per week$303
Net pay per week$1,197
Annualised gross$78,000
Annual tax withheld$15,748
Effective tax rate20.2%

traqR captures the hours your team works on each job — feed those into your payroll and the pay run practically writes itself.

Start free trial

How it works

1

Annualise the pay

Withholding schedules work off yearly income. We scale one pay period up to a full year so the right marginal rates apply.

2

Apply tax + Medicare

Resident income tax rates, the tax-free threshold (if claimed) and the 2% Medicare levy are applied to the annual figure.

3

Divide back down

The annual tax is spread evenly back across the pay periods and rounded, giving the amount to withhold each week, fortnight or month.

Frequently asked questions

Is this the exact amount the ATO tax tables give?

It’s a close estimate, not the exact schedule figure. The ATO’s weekly and fortnightly tax tables use rounded coefficients and specific rules, so the official amount can differ by a dollar or two. For payroll you must use the current ATO tax tables or the ATO’s tax withheld calculator — treat this tool as a quick sense-check.

What is the tax-free threshold?

The first $18,200 of income each year is tax-free. An employee claims it on their Tax File Number declaration, usually at their main job, which lowers the tax withheld. At a second job they normally don’t claim it, so more is withheld to avoid a tax bill at year end.

Does this include the Medicare levy?

Yes, when the Medicare levy option is on it adds the standard 2% levy with the low-income shade-in. Some people are exempt or pay a reduced levy, and higher earners without private hospital cover may also pay the Medicare levy surcharge, which this tool doesn’t model.

What about HELP or study loan repayments?

This estimate doesn’t include compulsory HELP/HECS or other study and training loan repayments, which are withheld on top once income passes the repayment threshold. If your employee has a study loan, the actual withholding will be higher — use the ATO calculator to include it.

Is super withheld from pay?

No. Superannuation is paid by the employer on top of wages (12% super guarantee), not deducted from the employee’s pay. Only PAYG tax and things like salary-sacrifice or garnishees come out of gross pay.

This calculator is a general estimate based on current resident tax rates and is not tax advice. It doesn’t account for HELP/STSL loans, the Medicare levy surcharge, offsets, salary sacrifice or varied withholding. Use the current ATO tax tables or the ATO tax withheld calculator for payroll, and check with your accountant.

Turn job hours into clean pay runs

traqR captures the hours your team logs on each job, ready to flow into payroll. Try it free for 14 days.

Start free trial View pricing