Dividend Tax Calculator Australia

Enter the Dividend

A dividend tax calculation compares annual personal tax with and without the dividend. Enter your client’s cash dividend and other taxable income after deductions. Choose a completed income year.

Use the statement’s franking credit, or calculate it from the franking percentage and the company’s imputation tax rate. The calculated credit is cash dividend multiplied by the franking percentage, then multiplied by the company rate divided by 100 minus that rate.

For a $700 fully franked dividend at 30%, the credit is $700 multiplied by 30 divided by 70, giving $300. An eligible shareholder adds $300 to $700, giving an assessable dividend of $1,000. The franking credit calculator separates the cash portions for statement checking.

Compare Personal Tax

The calculator applies resident income-tax brackets and the low income tax offset to annual income before and after the assessable dividend. It subtracts your other non-refundable offsets, limited to income tax, then adds the selected Medicare levy and subtracts the eligible franking credit.

The headline is annual tax after the dividend minus annual tax before it. A positive amount is extra tax. A negative amount reduces annual tax or increases a refund. Refund after dividend shows the excess credit left after the modelled annual liability.

Full 2% assumes no Medicare reduction or exemption. For family thresholds, low income or partial-year treatment, select Entered and supply a separately calculated levy for each scenario. Select Exempt only when it applies to the full year.

This comparison covers adult full-year Australian residents receiving dividends directly. Foreign residency returns Unavailable because dividend withholding and treaty treatment need a separate calculation. Working holiday makers, minors and part-year residents are outside these schedules.

PAYG withholding, Medicare levy surcharge, study-loan repayments and other refundable offsets are excluded. A dividend can change those amounts. Use the annual tax calculator to reconcile broader return figures. The final lodged-return balance also depends on the client’s other income and entitlements.

Check the Credit Conditions

Confirm your client’s entitlement before selecting Confirmed. The starting figures are a fictional example with entitlement assumed. Select Unknown while eligibility remains unresolved, and the calculator clears the comparison.

The holding-period rule generally requires shares to be held at risk for at least 45 days, or 90 days for certain preference shares. Acquisition and disposal days are excluded. Related payments can change the qualification period, and dividend washing can deny the benefit.

A small-shareholder exemption can affect the holding-period test. The dividend amount alone does not establish eligibility, and the related-payments rule still needs consideration. The income-tax rules for franked distributions govern both the gross-up and offset.

Select Ineligible when entitlement is denied. The calculator then taxes only the cash dividend and removes the credit offset. Incorrect: deny the offset but keep its gross-up in assessable income. Correct: exclude both where the qualification rules deny both benefits.

Read a Worked Dividend

In this fictional 2025-26 example, an adult resident has $80,000 of other taxable income, no other offsets and a full 2% Medicare levy. Annual tax before the dividend is $16,388.

An unfranked $700 dividend adds $210 of income tax and $14 of Medicare levy. Annual tax becomes $16,612, giving a $224 dividend tax difference.

A fully franked $700 dividend at 30% adds a $300 credit and $1,000 to taxable income. Income tax rises by $300 and Medicare levy by $20. After the credit, annual tax is $16,408, giving a $20 difference.

With no other taxable income and a full Medicare exemption, the same eligible dividend produces a $300 refund in this model. Other non-refundable offsets cannot create a refund. The Parliamentary Budget Office’s dividend imputation explanation describes how refundable franking credits work.

Results show whole dollars after calculation. Inputs stay in your browser and are neither transmitted nor saved. Reconcile the statement, credit entitlement and Medicare treatment before using the comparison in your client’s return.