Salary Sacrifice Calculator

Salary sacrifice is an agreement with your employer to pay part of your pre-tax pay into super instead of your bank account. Because the money goes in before income tax, you don't pay your marginal rate on it. Your super fund pays 15% contributions tax instead.

The saving is the gap between those two rates. On a $100,000 salary your marginal rate in 2026-27 is 30% plus the 2% Medicare levy, so 32%. Each $1,000 you sacrifice saves 32% minus 15%, or $170. Sacrificing $10,000 saves $1,700.

Your take-home pay drops by less than the amount you sacrifice. In this example it falls by about $6,800 a year, because $3,200 of the $10,000 would have gone in tax anyway. Your super gets $8,500 after the 15% contributions tax. The calculator shows both of these as "Take-home drops by" and "Super gets".

Your employer must still pay the 12% super guarantee on your full pre-sacrifice salary. They can't use your sacrifice to cut their own contribution.

Salary sacrifice counts towards your concessional contributions cap, which is $32,500 for 2026-27. Your employer's super guarantee counts too, so your room to sacrifice is the cap minus what your employer pays. On $100,000, the employer pays $12,000, leaving $20,500.

If your total super balance was under $500,000 on 30 June 2026, you can also use unused cap amounts from the previous five years (2021-22 to 2025-26). Unused amounts from 2021-22 expire after this year. The calculator does not include carry-forward amounts, so check your available amount in ATO online services through myGov before going over the standard cap.

Contributions over your cap are added to your taxable income and taxed at your marginal rate, less a 15% offset. That wipes out most of the benefit, so keep an eye on the total.

There is no single right amount. Start with what you can live without, because super is locked away until you meet a condition of release, usually retiring after your preservation age of 60.

• The benefit is biggest for people on the 30% rate and above. If you earn under $45,000, your tax rate is 15% plus Medicare levy, so sacrifice saves little. Other options, such as a personal after-tax contribution that attracts the government co-contribution, may suit you better.
• Stay under the concessional cap once your employer's contributions are counted.
• If you earn over $250,000 including super, Division 293 adds another 15% tax on some or all contributions. The calculator's tax saving doesn't include this, so your real saving will be smaller.
• Keep an emergency fund and pay off high-interest debt first. Money in super can't be used for a car repair next month.

Most people arrange salary sacrifice per pay. You can switch the calculator's input to FN to enter a fortnightly amount. These examples use 2026-27 rates and 26 pays a year.

Since 1 July 2026, payday super means employers must get your super to your fund within 7 business days of each payday, rather than quarterly. Employer super guarantee payments now reach your fund faster and start earning returns sooner. When your sacrificed amounts are paid depends on your salary sacrifice arrangement, so check with your employer.

• $75,000 salary, $200 a fortnight ($5,200 a year): saves $884 a year, or $34 a fortnight. Take-home pay falls by about $136 a fortnight and super gets $170 a fortnight after contributions tax.
• $150,000 salary, $300 a fortnight ($7,800 a year): at a 39% marginal rate this saves $1,872 a year, or $72 a fortnight. Take-home falls by about $183 a fortnight and super gets $255. The employer's $18,000 leaves $14,500 of cap room, so after this $7,800 you'd still have $6,700 to spare.

You can get the same tax result without an employer arrangement. You pay money into super from your bank account, send your fund a notice of intent to claim a deduction, wait for the fund's acknowledgement, and claim the deduction in your tax return. These contributions also count towards the concessional cap and are taxed at 15% in the fund.

Salary sacrifice gives you the saving each payday and is automatic. Personal deductible contributions suit the self-employed, people whose employer doesn't offer salary sacrifice, and anyone who wants to top up once they know their income near 30 June.

Salary sacrifice lowers your taxable income, but it doesn't lower your HECS-HELP repayments. Sacrificed super is a reportable super contribution, and the ATO adds it back when working out your repayment income. It is also counted for income tests such as the Medicare levy surcharge and Division 293.

To see the full effect on your pay, including HECS and Medicare, use the take-home pay calculator or the HECS-HELP calculator.