Work out what a bonus is worth after withholding

Bonuses are withheld at a schedule rate that rarely matches your final liability. Compare what lands now with what the bonus costs once the year is assessed.

Check the bonus › Full calculator ›

Estimates only, based on published Australian rules for the selected tax year. Not tax, legal or financial advice, and not a substitute for your payslip or an assessment from the ATO.

Bonus

AU-2026.27-v1

Base salary

Bonus amount

Bonus in your account

— after tax

Bonus

$20,000

Withheld now

—

Final tax

—

You keep

—

Bonus amount$20,000 · 15.4% of base

Withheld now under Schedule 5—

Final tax on the bonus—

Shortfall at assessment—

Your employer withholds from a bonus under ATO Schedule 5: the bonus is averaged over the year’s pays and the extra withholding on an ordinary pay is multiplied back up, capped at 47%. The difference from the tax actually owed on it is settled when the year is assessed.

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This section answers one question: what actually lands in your account. Enter a salary, an hourly rate or a payslip figure and PayLens applies the 2026–27 resident rules, the Medicare levy, HELP and employer super, then shows every assumption it used so you can check the working line by line.

Tools in this section

Pay CalculatorGross to net with residency, HELP, super and packaging controls.
Take-Home PayOne salary field, one answer, for a quick sanity check.
Net to GrossWork back from the take-home you need to the salary that delivers it.
Payslip CheckerCompare a real payslip against the rules for your pay period.

How Bonus works

Bonuses are withheld at a schedule rate that rarely matches your final liability. Compare what lands now with what the bonus costs once the year is assessed.

What you enter

✓Base salary

✓Bonus amount

✓Payment month

What you get

✓Withheld now

✓Final tax on the bonus

✓Refund or shortfall at assessment

Applied Rule Set AU-2026.27-v1

Tax year2026–27

ResidencyAustralian resident

Medicare levyApplied, 2%

HELP treatmentNo debt held

Employer super12% on top of base

Rules verified21 Aug 2026

Sources: ATO individual income tax rates, Medicare levy and study and training loan thresholds; Federal Register of Legislation. Not modelled: offsets, deductions, Division 293, the Medicare levy surcharge or part-year employment.

Need every setting?

Residency, salary sacrifice, exemptions and other tax years live in the full calculator.

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Related guides

Australian income tax, explainedThe brackets, your effective rate and where your salary sits.
Why your payslip tax rarely matches your final taxHow PAYG withholding is estimated each pay run.
The Medicare levy, the surcharge, and the exemptionsWho pays, when it is reduced and how the surcharge differs.