Why use this calculator
Almost every salary sacrifice calculator online multiplies the sacrificed amount by a single marginal rate, which is wrong whenever the sacrifice crosses a bracket boundary and wrong again whenever the Medicare levy phase-in or the low income tax offset is in play. This one runs your whole income through the 2026-27 resident brackets twice, once with the sacrifice and once without, so the answer is correct at every income including the awkward zones just above 45,000 and just above 135,000 dollars.
It also handles three things the simple version quietly ignores: the concessional cap already partly consumed by your employer's 12 per cent contributions, Division 293 tax which doubles the contributions tax for high earners, and the fact that a study loan repayment is assessed on income that adds the sacrificed amount straight back.
That last one catches thousands of people who expect sacrificing to shrink their HELP bill and find it does not.
How to use it
- Enter your base salary before tax and excluding employer superannuation, which is the figure written in your employment contract rather than the total package some employers advertise.
- If you were quoted a package, divide it by 1.12 to strip out the super guarantee first.
- Enter the total amount you intend to redirect into super before tax across the whole financial year, not the per pay amount, since the cap and the brackets both work annually.
- If you are setting up a fortnightly arrangement, multiply the fortnightly figure by 26 before entering it.
- Finally tell the calculator whether you have a HELP, VET or other study loan, which you can confirm in your myGov account under the ATO section, because study loans change the answer in a way most people do not expect.
What each result means
- Income tax and levies saved
- The reduction in income tax and the Medicare levy from lowering your taxable income, calculated across the brackets rather than at one rate.
- Contributions tax on the sacrifice
- The 15 per cent your super fund deducts as the money arrives. It is the price of the concessional treatment.
- Division 293 tax added
- An extra 15 per cent on concessional contributions once income plus contributions passes 250,000 dollars. Zero for most people.
- Net tax saving
- Income tax saved less every tax charged on the way into super. This is the genuine annual benefit of the arrangement.
- Sacrifice to arrange per fortnight
- Your yearly sacrifice spread over 26 fortnightly pays, which is the amount most payroll teams ask you to nominate. The note shows how much your fortnightly take-home pay actually falls after the tax saving.
- Extra in super after tax
- What actually lands in your fund and starts compounding, after contributions tax and any Division 293.
- Take-home pay before sacrificing
- Your annual net pay today, after income tax, the Medicare levy and any study loan repayment.
- Take-home pay after sacrificing
- Your annual net pay once the sacrifice is running. The gap is what your weekly budget has to absorb.
- Take-home pay given up
- The real cost of the arrangement to your spending money, which is always less than the amount sacrificed.
- Super gained per $100 of take-home given up
- The leverage the tax system provides. Above 100 dollars means every dollar of spending power buys more than a dollar of retirement savings.
- Employer super guarantee
- The 12 per cent your employer must pay on ordinary earnings. It counts towards the same concessional cap as your sacrifice.
- Concessional cap room left
- What remains of the 32,500 dollar annual cap once employer contributions and your sacrifice are counted. Exceeding it is expensive.
The formula
Tax before = income tax on your full salary under the 2026-27 resident brackets, less the low income tax offset, plus the Medicare levy and any study loan repayment
Tax after = the same calculation on (salary minus the sacrifice), except that the study loan repayment is calculated on repayment income, which adds the sacrificed amount back as a reportable employer super contribution
Contributions tax = sacrifice multiplied by 15 per cent
Division 293 tax = 15 per cent of the lesser of your concessional contributions and the amount by which income plus those contributions exceeds 250,000 dollars
Net tax saving = tax before minus tax after minus contributions tax minus any additional Division 293 tax
Extra in super = sacrifice minus contributions tax minus Division 293
Concessional cap room = 32,500 dollars minus the employer super guarantee of 12 per cent of ordinary earnings
How this number is used in practice
The leverage figure is the one worth acting on. At a 39 per cent effective marginal rate including the Medicare levy, giving up 61 dollars of take-home pay puts 85 dollars into super, because the tax office funds the difference. That is an immediate 39 per cent uplift before a single dollar of investment return, and no investment available to a retail investor reliably matches it.
The catch is access: the money is preserved until you meet a condition of release, which for anyone under about sixty means decades away. Salary sacrifice is therefore the right tool for money you were never going to spend and the wrong tool for money you might need for a house deposit, a career break or a medical bill.
Watch the cap carefully, because the employer contribution consumes a large slice of it before you start. On a 110,000 dollar salary the 12 per cent super guarantee is already over 13,000 dollars, leaving under 20,000 dollars of room. Contributions above the 32,500 dollar concessional cap are added back to your assessable income and taxed at your marginal rate with an interest charge attached, which turns a tax planning exercise into a tax bill.
If your balance was under 500,000 dollars at the end of the previous financial year you may be able to use unused cap amounts carried forward from the preceding five years, which is the standard way to make a large one-off contribution in a year with a capital gain or a bonus.
Two traps are worth stating plainly. First, salary sacrificing does not reduce a study loan repayment, because the ATO assesses repayment income by adding reportable employer super contributions straight back to your taxable income. Anyone sacrificing specifically to duck a HELP bill is giving up take-home pay for no repayment benefit at all, though the super tax saving still stands on its own.
Second, at incomes above 250,000 dollars Division 293 doubles the contributions tax from 15 to 30 per cent. Sacrificing is still worthwhile at a 47 per cent marginal rate, but the advantage is roughly half what a simple calculator suggests.
Worked examples
A 110,000 dollar salary sacrificing 12,000 dollars with no study loan
Saves 2,040 dollars in net tax and puts 10,200 dollars into super for 5,940 dollars of take-home pay
A 75,000 dollar salary sacrificing 10,000 dollars with a HELP debt
Saves 1,700 dollars in net tax, with the HELP repayment unchanged because sacrificed super is added back
A 280,000 dollar salary sacrificing 20,000 dollars, which triggers Division 293
Division 293 adds 3,000 dollars of tax, cutting the net saving to 5,400 dollars
When people use it
- Deciding how much to sacrifice without breaching the concessional cap
- Checking whether the tax benefit justifies the cut to your weekly budget
- Testing the effect of Division 293 before setting up an arrangement on a high income
- Confirming whether sacrificing will reduce a HELP repayment, which it does not
- Comparing salary sacrifice against making a personal deductible contribution after June
Tips
- Subtract your employer's 12 per cent contribution from the 32,500 dollar cap before deciding how much to sacrifice. It is already using part of it.
- Get the arrangement in writing with payroll before the income is earned. Sacrificing pay you have already earned is not effective for tax.
- If your super balance was under 500,000 dollars last 30 June, check myGov for carried forward cap space from the previous five years.
- Do not sacrifice money you may need within a decade. Super is preserved until you meet a condition of release, with very limited exceptions.
- A personal contribution claimed as a deduction after the year ends achieves nearly the same result with more flexibility, which suits variable income.
- Review the arrangement whenever you get a pay rise, because the cap does not move with your salary and a rise can push you over it.
What it assumes, and where it stops being accurate
- Uses the 2026-27 Australian resident income tax brackets, the low income tax offset, the 2 per cent Medicare levy and the 12 per cent super guarantee from tax-au.ts.
- Assumes the salary entered excludes employer superannuation. A total package figure will overstate the saving by about 12 per cent.
- Assumes the sacrifice runs for a full financial year. A mid-year start delivers a proportionally smaller benefit.
- Excludes the Medicare levy surcharge, private health insurance rebates, fringe benefits, investment income and any other deductions or offsets.
- Assumes your employer calculates the super guarantee on the pre-sacrifice salary, which has been required since 2020 but should still be confirmed with payroll.
- Excludes the government co-contribution, the spouse contribution offset and the low income super tax offset, which can change the answer at lower incomes.
- Ignores investment returns and fees inside the fund. The figures show what arrives, not what it grows to.
Terms used on this page
- Salary sacrifice
- An agreement to take part of your pay as an employer super contribution before income tax applies.
- Concessional contribution
- A before-tax contribution to super, taxed at 15 per cent inside the fund and counted against the annual cap.
- Concessional cap
- The 32,500 dollar annual limit on before-tax contributions for 2026-27, including employer contributions.
- Division 293 tax
- An extra 15 per cent on concessional contributions for people whose income plus contributions exceeds 250,000 dollars.
- Repayment income
- Taxable income plus reportable employer super contributions and certain other amounts, used to work out study loan repayments.
- Preservation
- The rule that keeps super inaccessible until you meet a condition of release such as retiring after preservation age.
Questions people ask
- How much can I salary sacrifice into super?
- The concessional contributions cap for 2026-27 is 32,500 dollars and it includes your employer's super guarantee, so the room available to you is the cap less those contributions. Going over means the excess is added back to your assessable income and taxed at your marginal rate plus an interest charge.
- Does salary sacrifice reduce my HELP repayment?
- No. The ATO calculates the compulsory repayment on repayment income, which adds reportable employer super contributions back to your taxable income. Sacrificing therefore leaves the study loan repayment unchanged. The super tax saving is still real, but it is not a way to reduce a HELP bill.
- What is Division 293 tax?
- An additional 15 per cent charged on concessional contributions when your income plus those contributions exceeds 250,000 dollars, taking the effective contributions tax to 30 per cent. It is assessed separately by the ATO and can be paid personally or released from your super fund.
- Can I get the money back before retirement?
- Generally no. Contributions are preserved until you meet a condition of release, usually reaching preservation age and retiring. Narrow exceptions exist for severe financial hardship, compassionate grounds and terminal illness, and the First Home Super Saver Scheme allows limited voluntary contributions to be withdrawn for a first home.
- Is salary sacrifice better than a personal deductible contribution?
- The tax outcome is very similar. Salary sacrifice is automatic and spreads across the year, while a personal contribution claimed as a deduction lets you decide after you know your income, which suits variable earnings or a bonus year. You must lodge a notice of intent with the fund for the personal route.
- Is it worth sacrificing on a low income?
- Often not much. If your marginal rate is 15 per cent or below, the contributions tax cancels most of the benefit, and you may do better with a non-concessional contribution that attracts the government co-contribution. The low income super tax offset can refund the contributions tax for incomes under 37,000 dollars.
Use this with
Salary Sacrifice Calculator answers one part of the question. These pick up where it stops: Superannuation Calculator, Salary After Tax Calculator, Australian Income Tax Calculator and HECS-HELP Repayment Calculator.
Where these figures come from
Figures and rules on this page follow Australian law and ATO guidance.
- ATO: Tax rates for Australian residents. Income tax brackets for 2026-27
- ATO: Super guarantee and contribution caps. SG rate 12% and the maximum contribution base
- ATO: Study and training loan repayment thresholds and rates. HELP repayment thresholds and the marginal repayment system
- MoneySmart - Super and retirement. Australian government guidance on contributions and caps
Salary Sacrifice Calculator produces an estimate for general information. It is not financial, tax, medical, legal or engineering advice. read the full disclaimer. Spotted a wrong number? Report it and it gets fixed. The form picks up this calculator and the inputs you used.