Employer Cost Calculator Australia

For a salaried employee below the payroll tax threshold, about 13% to 17% more than their base salary: the Super Guarantee at 12%, plus workers compensation at your industry rate, commonly 1% to 5% of wages. Payroll tax pushes it higher once your total wages cross your state threshold, and a high risk industry premium pushes it higher again. The old rule of thumb of 25% to 30% usually comes from counting the employee's own annual and sick leave on top of their salary, which double counts: a salaried person's leave is already inside the salary you pay them.

Add three on-costs to the base salary: (1) the Super Guarantee at 12% of qualifying earnings, (2) workers compensation at your industry premium rate, and (3) payroll tax if your wage bill is over your state threshold. Watch the base each one is charged on, because they are not the same. Super is charged on the salary. Workers compensation is charged on salary plus super in the NSW and Victorian schemes. Payroll tax is charged on salary plus super in every harmonised jurisdiction. For example, an $85,000 salary carries $10,200 of super, and a 1.5% workers compensation premium on the resulting $95,200 is $1,428, so the cost is about $96,628 before any payroll tax. Add the cost of covering the role while they are on leave only if you actually pay someone to cover it.

Yes, and it is the single most common way an employer under-estimates the bill. Employer superannuation contributions are taxable wages for payroll tax in every harmonised jurisdiction, so your taxable wage figure is salaries plus super, not salaries. At 12% super that is a 12% larger number tested against a threshold that does not move. In NSW, $1,150,000 of salaries looks safely under the $1,200,000 threshold, but the taxable figure is $1,288,000 and the bill is $4,796. This calculator adds super to the salaries you enter for you, and shows the figure it tested. Grossed up fringe benefits, most bonuses, directors fees, termination payments and some contractor payments are also taxable wages and are not in this estimate.

That is what the threshold band on this page is for. It plots your wage bill, including super, against your jurisdiction's threshold, marks where you sit without this person and where you sit with them, and the stepper adds further hires at the same salary so you can see how far the headroom goes. The threshold is a cliff, not a taper: on the dollar you cross it in NSW you start paying 5.45% on everything above $1,200,000, so the first hire that takes you over costs far more than the ones after it. Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia and the Northern Territory soften this with a deduction that phases out instead, which the calculation handles.

No, not as an extra cost. A salaried employee's four weeks of annual leave and ten days of personal leave are already inside the salary you pay: the $85,000 does not go up because they took a fortnight off. What can be a real extra cost is backfill, paying a casual or a temp to cover the role while they are away. Tick 'Include leave backfill cost' only if that is what you do. Long service leave is a separate accruing liability worth modelling on its own.

More than the absent person's own pay for those days, if a casual covers it. A casual under the National Minimum Wage or a modern award is paid a 25% loading in place of leave entitlements, and the Super Guarantee applies to a casual as well, so an hour of cover costs about 40% more than an hour of the salaried rate. On an $85,000 salary, four weeks of annual leave and ten days of personal leave covered by a casual is roughly $13,731 rather than the $9,808 the raw salary rate suggests. The backfill option on this page prices it either way. If the work simply waits, or the team absorbs it, the honest number is zero and the toggle should stay off.

Payroll tax is a state or territory tax on wages paid by employers. It applies only when your total Australian taxable wages exceed that jurisdiction's threshold, and each one sets its own threshold, rate, taper and surcharges. NSW taxes wages above $1,200,000 at 5.45%; Victoria's threshold is $1,000,000 at 4.85% with a deduction that phases out between $3,000,000 and $5,000,000; Tasmania runs two marginal tiers, 4% then 6.1%. This calculator reads the same shared rate configuration as our payroll tax calculator, so the two agree. Many small businesses fall below the threshold and pay no payroll tax at all.

Yes. The Super Guarantee stops at the maximum super contribution base, which is $270,830 of earnings for FY 2026-27. Above that you do not have to pay the Super Guarantee on the extra, so the super line on a $300,000 salary is capped rather than 12% of the whole amount. You can still pay more voluntarily, and the employee's concessional contributions cap applies separately.

Workers compensation (WorkCover) is compulsory insurance covering employees injured or made ill through work. The premium is a percentage of your wages set by your state scheme and industry classification: office based businesses typically pay around 1% to 2% of wages, while construction, trades or mining can pay 3% to 5% or more. Check what your scheme counts as wages before you reconcile against a renewal notice. NSW includes superannuation in wages under section 174(9) of the Workers Compensation Act 1987, and WorkSafe Victoria counts superannuation in rateable remuneration, so a 1.5% premium on an $85,000 salary is 1.5% of $95,200, not of $85,000.

Usually because of what sits outside this calculation rather than a disagreement about the rates. This figure is base salary plus the Super Guarantee, workers compensation and payroll tax, and optionally backfill. It does not include long service leave accrual, redundancy provisioning, fringe benefits tax, payroll tax on bonuses, allowances, termination payments or contractor payments, recruitment and onboarding, equipment, software licences, training, or the employer's time. An accountant costing a role will often add several of those. The other common gap is grouping: if your business is part of a group, or employs across state lines, your threshold is apportioned across the group and your real payroll tax is higher than a single jurisdiction figure suggests.

Long service leave, which accrues under a different Act in every state and territory and is worth modelling on its own service dates rather than as a percentage. Payroll tax and workers compensation on anything other than salary and super, so bonuses, most grossed up fringe benefits, termination payments, directors fees and taxable contractor payments are out. Grouped and interstate employers, whose threshold is apportioned. Regional rates and discounts in Victoria and Queensland. Payroll tax surcharges are applied, but only from the wage bill you enter. Everything the number does include is listed under Sources and methodology below, with the financial year it was computed for.

Long service leave is a genuine accruing liability rather than a percentage you can bolt onto a salary, and every state and territory has its own Act with its own accrual rate and qualifying period. It is not included in the figure above. Work it out for your employee's actual service with the long service leave calculator.