Payroll tax calculator
Pick your state or territory and enter your annual wages to estimate 2026–27 payroll tax, including each state’s deduction taper and rate tiers.
Figures checked 5 November 2026. Free to use, no sign-in.
Your estimate
Estimated NSW payroll tax for 2026–27
$70,850
About $5,904 a month.
- Rate applied
- 5.45%
- Effective rate
- 2.83%
- Deduction
- $1,200,000
- Annual taxable wages
- $2,500,000
- NSW threshold (full)
- $1,200,000
- Deduction at this level of wages
- $1,200,000
- Wages taxed
- $1,300,000
- Estimated payroll tax
- $70,850.00
- New South Wales: 5.45% on wages above the $1,200,000 threshold. There is no taper.
- Assumes one employer that is not part of a group, paying all its Australian wages in this state or territory for the whole year. Interstate wages, grouping, part-year employment, exemptions, regional rates and Queensland’s mental health levy are not included.
An estimate for planning, not tax advice. Your revenue office assesses the actual amount.
How this works
Payroll tax is a state and territory tax on wages above a tax-free threshold. The calculator applies the 2026–27 rules for the state you choose to the wages you enter.
- NSW: 5.45% on wages above $1,200,000.
- Victoria: 4.85% above a $1,000,000 deduction, which reduces between $3 million and $5 million of wages. Surcharges apply above $10 million.
- Queensland: 4.75% (4.95% above $6.5 million) above a $1,300,000 deduction that reduces to nil at $10.4 million.
- South Australia: nil up to $1,500,000; above that, up to 4.95% on wages above a $600,000 deduction.
- Western Australia: 5.5% above a $1,000,000 threshold that reduces to nil at $7.5 million.
- Tasmania: 4% on wages from $1,250,001 to $2,000,000 and 6.1% above.
- ACT: 6.75% on wages above $1,750,000, with higher rates once total wages pass $20 million.
- Northern Territory: 5.5% above a $2,500,000 deduction that reduces to nil at $7.5 million (6.5% from $100 million).
Not included: grouping, wages paid in other states, part-year employment, exemptions, regional employer rates and discounts, and Queensland’s mental health levy. Check with your state revenue office before you lodge.
Legal basis
- Payroll Tax Act 2007 (NSW)
- Payroll Tax Act 2007 (Vic)
- Payroll Tax Act 1971 (Qld)
- Payroll Tax Act 2009 (SA), Schedule 1
- Pay-roll Tax Assessment Act 2002 (WA)
- Payroll Tax Act 2008 (Tas)
- Payroll Tax Act 2011 (ACT)
- Payroll Tax Act 2009 (NT), s 7A and Schedule 1
Checked against these sources on 5 November 2026. Spotted a figure that looks wrong? Tell us.
Questions
What counts as wages for payroll tax?
More than salary. Payroll tax wages generally include super contributions, allowances, bonuses and commissions, fringe benefits, termination payments and some payments to contractors. Each state publishes its own list of what is taxable and what is exempt.
Which state’s payroll tax do I pay?
Wages are taxed in the state or territory where the employee is based, under rules that are largely the same across Australia. If you pay wages in more than one state, each state’s threshold is reduced to its share of your total Australian wages, which this calculator does not model.
Do related businesses share one threshold?
Usually, yes. Businesses that are grouped for payroll tax (for example, through common ownership or shared employees) combine their wages and share one threshold. Only one member of the group claims it.
Why is the deduction smaller than the threshold?
In Victoria, Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia and the Northern Territory the deduction shrinks as wages rise, and disappears entirely at a set level. That is why payroll tax can rise faster than the headline rate once wages pass the threshold.
When do I need to register?
Once your wages go over the monthly or annual threshold for the state, you must register with that state’s revenue office and lodge returns, usually monthly with an annual reconciliation.
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