Salary Sacrifice Calculator Australia

This salary sacrifice calculator shows how putting part of your pre-tax salary into super changes your take-home pay, your tax and your super balance in 2026–27. Enter your salary, how much you want to sacrifice and how often, and the calculator compares your pay with and without the arrangement. It also warns you if you are close to the $32,500 concessional contributions cap.

What is salary sacrifice?

Salary sacrifice is an agreement with your employer to pay part of your salary into super before income tax is taken out. That money is taxed at 15% inside the fund instead of at your marginal rate, which is 30% or more for most full-time workers. Your take-home pay therefore falls by less than the amount you put into super. Work for a charity, hospital or public ambulance service? You may also be able to pay rent and bills from pre-tax pay; our salary packaging calculator for charity and hospital workers shows how much that is worth.

The saving comes from the gap between your marginal rate and the 15% super tax. If you are not sure which bracket you are in, read how your marginal tax rate differs from the average rate on your payslip.

A worked example: $100 a fortnight on $90,000

Someone earning $90,000 sacrifices $100 a fortnight, or $2,600 a year.

• Their taxable income falls to $87,400.
• Income tax and Medicare fall by about $832 a year.
• Take-home pay drops by about $1,768, not the full $2,600.
• After the 15% contributions tax, $2,210 lands in super.
• The net gain is roughly $442 a year compared with taking the money as wages.

Take-home pay after salary sacrifice

The question most people actually ask is simple: how much smaller will my pay be? Because the sacrificed amount comes out before tax, your take-home pay falls by less than the amount you put into super. The table shows the effect of sacrificing $200 a fortnight, or $5,200 a year, at different salaries in 2026–27.

In every row, putting $200 into super costs you less than $140 of take-home pay, while $170 lands in your super account. At $150,000 the drop is smaller again because each sacrificed dollar would otherwise have been taxed at 37% plus the Medicare levy.

How to work out your own after-sacrifice pay

• Enter your salary and the amount you want to sacrifice in the calculator above, choosing week, fortnight or month to match your pay.
• Read the “Drop in take-home pay” figure and divide it by your number of pays to see the change on each payslip.
• Compare the new figure with your budget before you sign the salary sacrifice agreement.

Your employer will reduce the tax taken from each pay to match your lower taxable income. To check the new amount on a single payslip, use the tax withheld per pay calculator.

Who gains the most from salary sacrifice?

The table shows the effect of sacrificing $5,000 a year at different salaries in 2026–27.

The gain depends on your marginal rate, not your salary as such. Anyone in the 30% bracket ($45,001 to $135,000) gets a similar result, while the 37% bracket above $135,000 gains more, because each sacrificed dollar would otherwise lose 39 cents to tax and the Medicare levy. Below $45,000 the gain mostly disappears.

At higher incomes the numbers grow quickly. Someone on $150,000 who sacrifices $10,000 gives up about $6,100 of take-home pay and adds $8,500 to super, a gain of about $2,400 a year.

The concessional contributions cap for 2026–27

From 1 July 2026 the cap on concessional, or before-tax, contributions rises from $30,000 to $32,500 a year. It covers:

• your employer's 12% super guarantee
• any salary sacrifice
• any personal contributions you claim a tax deduction for

On a $90,000 salary the employer already contributes $10,800, leaving $21,700 of room for salary sacrifice. If your total super balance was below $500,000 on 30 June 2026, you may also be able to carry forward unused cap amounts from the previous five years, which helps if you want to make a larger one-off contribution.

Rules worth knowing before you start

Your employer's 12% cannot shrink

Since 1 January 2020, the super guarantee must be worked out on your salary before the sacrifice. Sacrificing $10,000 does not reduce your employer's contribution by $1,200.

Super now arrives every payday

Under Payday Super rules from 1 July 2026, employers pay super, including salary sacrifice amounts, at the same time as wages, and it must reach your fund within 7 business days. Your super account will show the extra contribution soon after each pay.

Sacrificed super still counts for some tests

Salary sacrificed super is a reportable employer super contribution. It is added back when working out HELP repayments, the Medicare levy surcharge income test and some government payments, so it will not lower those. The HELP repayment rates for 2026–27 show what that means in dollars.

Very high incomes pay extra

If your income plus concessional contributions is more than $250,000, Division 293 tax adds a further 15% on some or all of those contributions. The calculator does not include it.

Low incomes get the tax back

If your adjusted taxable income is $37,000 or less, the low income super tax offset refunds the 15% contributions tax, up to $500 a year. The government has announced this offset will rise to $810 for incomes up to $45,000 from 1 July 2027.

How to set up salary sacrifice

1. Decide how much you can live without each pay. Use the fortnightly take-home calculator to test your new budget.
2. Check the total, including your employer's 12%, stays under the $32,500 cap.
3. Ask your employer or payroll team for their salary sacrifice form and agree the amount in writing before the pay it applies to. Pay you have already earned cannot be sacrificed.
4. Make sure your super fund has your tax file number, or contributions are taxed at a higher rate.
5. Check your next payslip and your super account to confirm the amount is going in.

Salary sacrifice or a personal deductible contribution?

If your employer does not offer salary sacrifice, you can make a personal contribution from your bank account and claim a tax deduction for it. You need to send your fund a notice of intent to claim before you lodge your return. The tax result is broadly the same; the difference is timing. Salary sacrifice lowers tax every pay, while a personal contribution gives the saving back at tax time.

To see how salary sacrifice fits with HELP, the Medicare levy surcharge and the rest of your pay, switch on the salary sacrifice option in our take-home pay calculator.

Salary sacrifice FAQs

Is salary sacrifice worth it?

It usually pays off once your marginal tax rate is above 15%, which in 2026–27 means taxable income over $45,000. The trade-off is that the money is locked in super until you reach preservation age and meet a condition of release.

Does salary sacrifice reduce my employer's super payments?

No. Since 1 January 2020, employers must calculate the super guarantee on your salary before any amount is sacrificed, so sacrificing cannot be used to reduce their 12% contribution.

Does salary sacrifice lower my HELP repayments?

Not really. Salary sacrificed super is a reportable employer super contribution, which is added back to your repayment income. Your HELP repayment is therefore worked out as if you had not sacrificed.

What happens if I go over the concessional cap?

Excess concessional contributions are added to your taxable income and taxed at your marginal rate, with a 15% tax offset for the tax the fund already paid. If your total super balance was under $500,000 on 30 June of the previous year, you may be able to use unused cap amounts from the previous five years.

Can I salary sacrifice if I earn under $45,000?

You can, but the tax benefit is small or nil because your marginal rate is already 15% or lower. If your income is $37,000 or less, the low income super tax offset refunds the 15% contributions tax on up to $500 a year, so the tax inside super is effectively nil.

Is salary sacrifice better than a personal deductible contribution?

Both are taxed the same way inside super and both count toward the concessional cap. Salary sacrifice reduces tax every pay; a personal contribution gives you the tax saving when you lodge, after you send your fund a notice of intent to claim a deduction.