2025–26 individual return
Tax refund estimator
Am I getting a refund, or will I owe the ATO, and roughly how much? For a PAYG employee who is an Australian resident for the full year. Self-lodgers for 2025–26 are due 31 October.
How the estimate is worked out
Taxable income is salary and wages, bank interest, dividends, other income, and franking credits, minus the deductions you enter. It does not go below zero. Franking credits are added to income and then taken off again as a credit.
The result is resident tax on that income, minus the low income tax offset, plus the Medicare levy, plus a HELP repayment if you have a debt, minus franking credits, minus PAYG withheld. A negative balance is a refund. A positive balance is an amount owing.
Resident tax for 2024–25 and 2025–26 is nil to $18,200, then 16% to $45,000, 30% to $135,000, 37% to $190,000, and 45% above that. The published bases are $4,288 at $45,000, $31,288 at $135,000, and $51,638 at $190,000.
The low income tax offset is $700 at a taxable income of $37,500 or less. It falls by 5 cents per dollar to $325 at $45,000, then by 1.5 cents per dollar until it ends at $66,667. It only reduces income tax, and only down to zero. Unused offset is not paid out.
Medicare levy for a single person who is not on the seniors and pensioners tax offset is 2% of taxable income. In 2025–26 there is no levy at or below $28,011. Between that and $35,013, the levy is 10 cents per dollar over the lower threshold. In 2024–25 those singles thresholds are $27,222 and $34,027. Family reductions are not included. A full exemption here sets the levy to zero for the whole year. The Medicare levy surcharge is a separate amount — see the Medicare levy surcharge estimate.
HELP in 2025–26 uses the marginal repayment system. Nothing is payable at or below $67,000. Above that it is 15 cents per dollar over the threshold, until $125,000. The next band is $8,700 plus 17 cents per dollar over $125,000, up to $179,285. From the next dollar it is 10% of repayment income. This estimate uses taxable income as repayment income. The ATO also adds reportable fringe benefits, reportable super contributions, total net investment loss, and exempt foreign employment income.
HELP in 2024–25 is still a percentage of the whole repayment income. It is nil below $54,435 and 10% from $159,664. The bands in between step up by half a percentage point.
Rates were checked against the ATO pages for resident tax rates, the low income tax offset, 2025–26 Medicare levy reduction thresholds, 2024–25 Medicare levy thresholds, and study and training loan repayment thresholds.
This is an estimate for a full-year Australian resident for tax purposes. It is not tax advice, not a notice of assessment, and not an ATO calculator. It does not include SAPTO or other offsets, Division 293 tax, foreign income, part-year residency, or the Medicare levy surcharge. The sums run in your browser. The last figures you enter stay on this device.