OzCalc Australian tax, finance & workplace calculators

Tax Return & Refund Calculator FY2025-26

Every rate here checked against its official source on or after 2026-08-19 — per-source dates listed below.

Estimate the refund (or bill) your FY2025-26 tax return will produce before you lodge it. Enter your income, deductions and the tax withheld shown on your income statement — the calculator assesses your tax the way the ATO's notice of assessment does and shows the difference, including HELP/HECS repayments and the Medicare levy surcharge if they apply.

Estimate your refund

Your income and the tax withheld from your income statement are the two fields that matter — everything else is optional fine-tuning.

$

Before tax: salary and wages plus other assessable income (interest, etc.).

$

Work-related expenses, donations, cost of managing tax affairs — the total you'll claim. For a 2026-27 return, residents automatically get at least the $1,000 standard deduction (it doesn't exist for 2025-26) — the calculator applies whichever is larger.

$

From your income statement in myGov (or payment summaries) — the PAYG tax your employer took out, totalled across all jobs.

Uses taxable income as a proxy for repayment income — the full definition adds fringe benefits, investment losses and reportable super (see the HECS repayment calculator).

Estimated refund $2,012

Taxable income: $85,000

Base tax: $16,288

Medicare levy: $1,700

Total assessed (tax the return asks for): $17,988

Tax already withheld (your credit): $20,000

This is general information, not personal advice — your notice of assessment is the authoritative figure. Consider a registered tax agent for guidance specific to your situation.

Tax assessed at common incomes (FY2025-26)

Your refund is whatever you had withheld minus the figure in the last column (resident rates, no deductions, no HECS or surcharge). If your income statement shows more withheld than the total assessed, the difference comes back to you.

Taxable income Base tax LITO Medicare levy Total assessed
$45,000 $4,288 −$325 $900 $4,863
$60,000 $8,788 −$100 $1,200 $9,888
$75,000 $13,288 — $1,500 $14,788
$85,000 $16,288 — $1,700 $17,988
$100,000 $20,788 — $2,000 $22,788
$120,000 $26,788 — $2,400 $29,188
$150,000 $36,838 — $3,000 $39,838
$190,000 $51,638 — $3,800 $55,438

How this is calculated

The calculation mirrors the ATO's notice of assessment: it works out the tax you owe on your taxable income, then compares it with the credit you already have for tax paid during the year. Taxable income is your income minus deductions — and for a resident 2026-27 return, minus at least the $1,000 standard deduction for work expenses (ITAA 1997 s 25-130, legislated 26 June 2026; it first applies to 2026-27 assessments, so never to a 2025-26 return). The assessed amount is bracket tax, minus the Low Income Tax Offset, plus the Medicare levy — and, if you tick them, the Medicare levy surcharge and the compulsory HELP/HECS repayment. Withheld tax above that total is refunded; any shortfall becomes a bill.

FY2025-26 resident brackets used for the default year:

Taxable income Tax rate
$0 – $18,200 0%
$18,200 – $45,000 16%
$45,000 – $135,000 30%
$135,000 – $190,000 37%
$190,000 and over 45%

The first $18,200 is tax-free for residents; each bracket taxes only the slice of income inside it. Selecting FY2026-27 swaps in that year's scale (its second bracket is 15% instead of 16% — the 1 July 2026 tax cut). Foreign residents and working holiday makers get their own published scales, no tax-free threshold (for foreign residents), no LITO, and no Medicare levy — they're exempt from it and with it the surcharge. Both years' full tables, including those scales, are on the Australian tax brackets page.

The Low Income Tax Offset is $700 up to $37,500 taxable income, tapering to nil at $66,667; it's non-refundable, so it can cut bracket tax to zero but never below and never reduces the Medicare levy. The Medicare levy is 2% of taxable income with the single-person low-income reduction (nil at or below $28,011, shading in at 10c per $1 of the excess). The Medicare levy surcharge tier rate applies to your whole income, and the HELP/HECS repayment uses the marginal system that applies from 2025-26 — both use taxable income as a proxy for their wider statutory income definitions, which is disclosed below.

Sources

Assumptions used here follow the same general approach as ASIC's MoneySmart calculators and may not reflect every personal circumstance — see "What this doesn't model" for specifics.

What this doesn't model

If any of these apply to you, your notice of assessment will differ from this estimate.

Frequently asked questions

How is my tax refund worked out?

The ATO assesses the tax you owe on your taxable income (your income minus deductions), then credits the tax already paid for you during the year — the PAYG amounts on your income statement. If the credits are bigger than the assessed tax, the difference is your refund; if they're smaller, you get a bill for the gap. That's exactly the sum this calculator does, using the FY2025-26 rates: bracket tax, minus the Low Income Tax Offset, plus the Medicare levy (and the surcharge or HELP repayment if they apply to you), compared against what you've had withheld.

How much refund would I get on $85,000?

It depends entirely on how much was withheld. As a worked example: on a taxable income of $85,000 in FY2025-26, the assessment comes to $17,988 ($16,288 bracket tax plus $1,700 Medicare levy). If your income statement shows $20,000 withheld, you'd get about $2,012 back. If it shows less than $17,988, you'd owe the difference instead.

Why would I owe tax instead of getting a refund?

A bill just means less tax was taken during the year than your assessment came to. The common structural causes are visible in this calculator: a HELP/HECS repayment your employer wasn't withholding extra for, the Medicare levy surcharge if you didn't hold private hospital cover, or income that had no tax withheld at all (interest, some second incomes). Deductions work the other way — they shrink taxable income, so the assessed tax drops and the same withholding produces a bigger refund.

When will I get my refund?

The ATO says it aims to process returns lodged online through myTax within 2 weeks, returns lodged through a tax agent within 2 weeks, and paper returns within 50 business days. Your notice of assessment then shows the final refund or amount owing, and the ATO may use a refund to offset other government debts you have. In serious financial hardship you can contact the ATO about faster processing.

Which financial year should I pick?

Pick 2025-26 for the return you lodge from 1 July 2026 — that's the year that just ended, and the default here. Pick 2026-27 to plan ahead for the year that ends 30 June 2027: its second tax bracket is 15% instead of 16%, and it's the first year of the automatic $1,000 standard deduction, so the same income assesses noticeably less tax.

Does the $1,000 instant tax deduction increase my refund?

Yes — but only from the 2026-27 return (lodged from July 2027), not the 2025-26 return being lodged now. ITAA 1997 s 25-130, legislated 26 June 2026, gives resident employees a standard work-expenses deduction of the lesser of $1,000 and their labour income, no receipts needed; if your actual work-related claims are bigger you claim those instead. Select 2026-27 above and the calculator applies the floor automatically — for someone on the 30% bracket the deduction alone is worth about $320 including the Medicare levy.

Is this the exact amount the ATO will pay me?

No — it's an estimate built from the published rates and the figures you enter. Your notice of assessment is the real answer, and it can differ: this page doesn't model offsets beyond the Low Income Tax Offset (seniors' SAPTO, the private health rebate), refundable credits other than tax withheld (franking credits), business or capital-gains schedules, family Medicare levy thresholds, or part-year residency. The ATO can also review an assessment for 2 years after issue (4 in some circumstances).