Salary Sacrifice Super Calculator

Cash Salary Before the Sacrifice

Salary sacrifice into super reduces cash pay while adding to the client’s super. This calculator compares annual take-home pay with and without the arrangement, using the same salary and tax settings.

Enter the annual amount before salary sacrifice. Choose whether employer super is on top or already included. For an inclusive package, the calculator subtracts the employer contribution you enter to establish cash salary.

A fictional $112,000 package containing $12,000 of employer super starts with $100,000 of cash salary. Entering $100,000 with super on top produces the same cash baseline. Employer super remains separate from the proposed sacrifice.

Use the employer’s actual annual contribution, including any contractual amount above the statutory minimum. Salary sacrificed super does not reduce the employer’s statutory contribution basis or replace the required employer contribution.

Compare the Contribution Choice

The super comparison separates the gross contribution, ordinary fund tax and net extra super. The standard taxed-fund assumption is 15% contributions tax. Fund fees, investment returns and government contribution payments are excluded.

At the default $100,000 cash salary and $10,000 sacrifice, ordinary contributions tax is $1,500 and net extra super is $8,500. Annual cash falls by $6,800. The $8,500 contribution therefore exceeds the reduction in cash by $1,700, before additional taxes or government payments.

The same-cost after-tax comparison contributes the $6,800 cash reduction to super without claiming a personal deduction. That contribution has no ordinary entry tax, leaving $6,800 in super. Current cash after contributing is the same as under salary sacrifice.

An eligible personal contribution claimed as a deduction is a different comparison. It generally attracts contributions tax and counts towards the concessional cap. Eligibility and the fund’s acknowledged notice of intent determine whether the deduction is available.

The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) explains salary sacrifice contributions. These are employer contributions, so the client cannot also claim them as personal deductions. Arrange the sacrifice before earning the salary it covers.

Check the Contribution Position

The cap comparison adds employer super, the proposed super sacrifice and other concessional contributions across all funds. The general cap is $32,500 in 2026-27 and $30,000 in 2025-26. Employer contributions alone can use the available cap.

Enter a confirmed eligible carry-forward amount only after checking the client’s unused cap record. The ATO contribution-cap rules also set the prior-year balance condition and expiry of unused amounts.

An excess-cap warning leaves the ordinary comparison visible for reconciliation. The figures exclude the additional assessment, release election and related adjustments for excess contributions. Complete that calculation separately before treating the comparison as the client’s final tax outcome.

The after-tax comparison assumes the client can make that non-concessional contribution. Their total super balance, age and other contributions affect eligibility. The tool flags an amount above the general annual cap but does not assess bring-forward eligibility.

The estimate excludes Division 293 tax, the low income super tax offset and super co-contributions. Use the Division 293 calculator for the additional contributions tax affecting high-income clients. Low-income clients need their eligible government payments included before comparing final outcomes.

A Salary Sacrifice Worked Through

Consider a fictional resident employee on $100,000 plus $12,000 employer super in 2026-27. The employee has the ordinary single-adult Medicare levy and no study debt. A $5,000 super sacrifice reduces income tax by $1,500 and the levy by $100.

Cash falls by $3,400. Ordinary fund tax is $750, leaving $4,250 in extra super. Increasing the sacrifice to $10,000 reduces cash by $6,800 and leaves $8,500 in extra super. Both contributions remain below the general cap with the stated employer contribution.

The result changes when a sacrifice crosses tax brackets. At $140,000 cash salary, a $10,000 sacrifice removes $5,000 taxed at 37% and $5,000 taxed at 30%. Income tax falls by $3,350, with a further $200 levy reduction. A flat 30% assumption would understate that income-tax reduction.

Compare Salary Sacrifice Tax

The income-tax reduction compares the selected year’s resident brackets and automatic low income tax offset before and after sacrifice. The Medicare levy reduction is shown separately. Super contributions are excluded from taxable salary and ordinary contributions tax is shown separately from personal income tax.

The calculator supports 2025-26 and 2026-27. The first taxable bracket is 16% and 15% respectively. It uses the single-adult Medicare low-income thresholds in force, or a full-year exemption. Family reductions, pensioner thresholds and partial exemptions require a separate calculation.

Study-loan repayment income adds sacrificed super back to taxable income. Enter other repayment-income additions separately, including reportable fringe benefits, other reportable super, net investment losses and exempt foreign employment income. The annual repayment follows the ATO study-loan repayment table and is capped at the remaining debt.

Other concessional contributions affect the cap only. This tool assumes salary is the client’s only taxable income and applies no personal contribution deduction. It excludes the Medicare levy surcharge and other tax offsets. It estimates annual liability, not the tax refund or payroll withholding for a particular pay.

Take-Home Pay With Salary Packaging

Choose Work item for an eligible FBT-exempt work-related item, such as a laptop primarily used for employment. The employer must establish that the item satisfies the exemption, including the restrictions on substantially identical items.

The pre-tax field is the actual salary deduction. Enter any additional employee payment in the post-tax field. The item’s value here is their combined amount. The estimate assumes no administration fee or GST adjustment and keeps employer super fixed at the entered amount.

For a $100,000 cash salary in 2026-27, a $2,000 pre-tax work item plus a $200 post-tax payment reduces annual cash by $1,560 with no study debt. The item is worth $2,200 under those assumptions. Income tax falls by $600 and the Medicare levy by $40.

The work-item exemption for salary packaging ends on 1 April 2027. In 2026-27, select whether the item is provided before that change. A later item needs a separate FBT calculation, so the tool withholds that estimate. Super sacrifice remains available for the full selected income year.

For an exempt work item within the supported period, the package creates no reportable fringe benefits amount. Its lower taxable salary can reduce a study-loan repayment. Salary sacrificed super remains reportable and is added back, which usually leaves repayment income unchanged.

The cash-per-period figures divide the annual result by 52 weeks, 26 fortnights or 12 months and round the estimate to whole dollars. They assume even pay and show the same declaration settings in both cases. Use the novated lease calculator for a vehicle comparison.

Entries stay on this page. The calculator sends no salary or contribution amounts to Tax Genie or the ATO and saves none in browser storage.