Employer Cost Calculator
See the true annual cost of an employee for 2026-27: super with the new annual cap, payroll tax by state, leave on-costs, an indicative workers compensation premium and FBT if you provide it.
Employer Cost Calculator 2026-27
What does an employee actually cost beyond their salary?
Six components sit on top of salary, and one of them, payroll tax, only applies to some employers at all.
A salary is the starting point, not the total. On top of it, an employer for 2026-27 owes 12% superannuation (capped once earnings pass a new annual threshold), an on-cost for annual leave loading, public holidays and paid personal leave together worth about 17% of salary, a workers compensation premium that only your state scheme can quote precisely, payroll tax once your total wage bill crosses your state’s threshold, and fringe benefits tax if you provide anything beyond cash and super.
The on-cost for leave and public holidays reflects that a salaried role is paid the same 52 weeks a year regardless of the roughly four weeks it is not worked, so a business budgeting a true labour cost, or pricing a job, needs to spread that paid non-working time across the cost of the role. The only genuinely new cash payment among the leave figures is the 17.5% loading paid while annual leave is actually taken.
How much super must you pay on top of salary in 2026-27?
12%, capped once earnings for the year pass a new annual threshold.
The Super Guarantee rate is 12% of ordinary time earnings, unchanged since 1 July 2025. On a $90,000 salary, that is $10,800 a year, paid every payday under Payday Super rather than quarterly. Source: ATO, Super guarantee, updated 17 April 2026.
What changed on 1 July 2026 is how the maximum contribution base works. It used to be a quarterly figure, $62,500 per quarter in 2025-26. From 1 July 2026 it is a single ANNUAL figure of $270,830, derived as the 2026-27 concessional contributions cap of $32,500, multiplied by 100 and divided by 12%, then rounded down to the nearest $10 ($32,500 x 100 / 12 = $270,833.33, rounded down to $270,830). An employer tracks an employee’s cumulative ordinary time earnings across the whole financial year and stops charging super once that running total reaches $270,830, not once each quarter’s old cap is reached.
On a $300,000 salary, that means SG is capped at 12% of $270,830, which is $32,500, not 12% of the full $300,000 ($36,000). A bonus paid mid-year does not reset this: if the same role also receives a bonus later in the financial year, the cap still applies to the combined total for the whole year, and some earlier pay periods may need adjusting once the cumulative cap is actually reached. Qualifying earnings include ordinary hours, shift and public holiday penalties, most allowances, annual and personal leave and commissions for ordinary-hours work; they exclude overtime, redundancy, reimbursements and termination payments.
When do you pay payroll tax, and how much?
Only once your total Australian wage bill, across every employee, crosses your state’s threshold.
Payroll tax is a state and territory tax on total wages, not on any one salary. An employer whose total Australian wage bill sits below their state’s threshold pays none at all, no matter how high an individual salary is. Once the business crosses that threshold, tax applies to the wages above it, at rates and structures that vary sharply by state.
| State | Rate | Annual threshold | Structure |
|---|---|---|---|
| NSW | 5.45% | $1,200,000 | Flat rate above the threshold |
| VIC | 4.85% (1.2125% regional) | $1,000,000 | 50% threshold phase-out $3M-$5M; +2% surcharge above $10M |
| QLD | 4.75% or 4.95% | $1,300,000 | Rate depends on total wage level; regional discount up to 1% |
| WA | 5.5% | $1,000,000-$7,500,000 | Threshold diminishes; full wages taxed above $7.5M |
| SA | 0%-4.95% | $600,000-$1,500,000 | Progressive from $600,000, tiered further above $1.5M |
| TAS | 4% or 6.1% | $1,250,000 / $2,000,000 | Two-bracket system |
| NT | 5.5% or 6.5% | $2,500,000 | 6.5% only once wages reach $100M |
| ACT | 6.75%-8.75% | $1,750,000 | Five-bracket tiered system |
Rates and thresholds current from 1 July 2026. Sources: Revenue NSW (1 Jul 2026); State Revenue Office Victoria (10 Jul 2026); Queensland Revenue Office (17 Jul 2024); WA.gov.au Payroll Tax Employer Guide; RevenueSA (8 Jul 2026); State Revenue Office Tasmania; NT Department of Treasury and Finance (28 Jul 2026); ACT Revenue Office.
Some of these structures carry mechanics beyond a flat rate above a threshold: Victoria phases out its threshold for wages between $3 million and $5 million and adds a 2% combined surcharge above $10 million; Queensland applies a separate mental health levy and a regional discount of up to 1%; Western Australia’s threshold diminishes progressively between $1 million and $7.5 million before disappearing entirely above that; and South Australia’s rate phases in progressively from $600,000. The calculator applies the flat rate and threshold precisely and flags where one of these extra mechanics would change the result, rather than guessing at figures the source material does not specify.
What do leave entitlements add to the cost of a role?
Annual leave loading, public holidays and paid personal leave, together worth around a sixth of salary.
On a $90,000 salary, annual leave plus its 17.5% loading adds about $8,135 (roughly 9% of salary, from (salary / 52) x 4 x 1.175), public holidays add about $3,780 (4.2%, from 11 public holidays across roughly 260 working days), and paid personal/carer’s leave adds about $3,420 (3.8%, the value of 10 days a year). Together that is about 17% of salary. Source: Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) NES minimum entitlements.
Long service leave is the hardest of these to price. It accrues slowly and varies by state: NSW, Victoria and Queensland use roughly 8.67 weeks per 10 years of service, while Western Australia is more generous at roughly 13 weeks per 10 years. We could not verify the exact formulas for South Australia, Tasmania, the Northern Territory and the ACT in this research pass, so treat any single "1.5% of payroll" provision, including the optional one in the calculator above, as a conservative estimate rather than an official rate. It depends heavily on how long your staff actually stay.
How much is workers compensation insurance, really?
There is no single number, and it cannot be calculated from salary alone.
Workers compensation insurance is compulsory for every employer in every state and territory, but the premium is not a function of salary. It is set by your state scheme from your industry classification, your claims history and your payroll size. A hospitality venue and a mining operation on identical wage bills can face entirely different premiums, because the risk profile of the work, not the pay, drives the rate.
| State | Indicative range | Note |
|---|---|---|
| NSW | 0.55%-6.5%+ | Highly variable by industry classification |
| VIC | 0.3%-10%+ | Highly variable by industry classification |
| QLD | 0.4%-8%+ | Highly variable by industry classification |
| WA, SA, TAS, NT, ACT | Similarly wide | All industry-classification dependent |
Indicative ranges only, not verified premium schedules. Source: state scheme websites (iCare NSW, WorkSafe Victoria, WorkCover Queensland and equivalents), accessed 28 July 2026.
Because no percentage here is a genuine calculation, the calculator above asks you to pick a broad industry band or type your own rate, and labels the result indicative throughout. Treat it as a placeholder for budgeting, then get an exact premium quote from your state scheme, iCare in NSW, WorkSafe in Victoria, WorkCover in Queensland, or the equivalent body elsewhere, before you rely on the figure.
Does FBT add to the cost of an employee?
Only if you provide something beyond cash salary and superannuation.
FBT applies when an employer provides a taxable fringe benefit: a car, entertainment, a low-interest loan or subsidised accommodation are common examples. It does not apply to ordinary cash wages, and it does not apply to superannuation, which is taxed inside the fund at 15% instead. Common exemptions include work laptops, protective clothing and, since 1 July 2022, eligible electric vehicles, though those still need to be reported. If a role is paid only in cash salary and super, FBT never enters the calculation.
The rate applied to taxable fringe benefits has long stood at 47%, and that is the figure used here. We could not independently confirm a specific restatement of that rate for the FBT year to 31 March 2027 in this research pass. If fringe benefits are a real part of a role’s package, confirm the current rate with the ATO or a registered tax agent before you budget on it. Source: ATO, Fringe benefits tax (FBT).
What does a $90,000 salary really cost, in NSW?
The same role costs a different total depending on whether the employer is above the payroll tax threshold.
| Component | Small employer (below threshold) | Larger employer ($2,000,000 wage bill) |
|---|---|---|
| Base salary | $90,000 | $90,000 |
| Superannuation (12%) | $10,800 | $10,800 |
| Annual leave + 17.5% loading | $8,135 | $8,135 |
| Public holidays | $3,780 | $3,780 |
| Personal/carer’s leave | $3,420 | $3,420 |
| Workers compensation (indicative, 1.8%) | $1,620 | $1,620 |
| Payroll tax (NSW, 5.45% above threshold) | $0 | $4,905 |
| Total annual cost | $117,755 | $122,660 |
| Uplift on salary | 30.8% | 36.3% |
Illustrative, 2026-27. No fringe benefits, no long service leave provision. Workers compensation set at an illustrative 1.8%; use your own state scheme rate. Payroll tax computed as (wage bill minus $1,200,000) x 5.45%, then attributed to this role as the difference in the business’s payroll tax with and without it.
What mistakes do employers make costing a new hire?
Four errors that either overstate or understate the true cost.
Using the old quarterly super cap
The $62,500-per-quarter maximum contribution base ended on 30 June 2026. From 1 July 2026 it is a single $270,830 annual figure, tracked across the whole financial year, not reset each quarter.
Treating workers comp as one fixed rate
There is no national or even single state rate. Premiums are set by industry classification and claims history. A rate that fits an office role will badly understate one for a warehouse or construction role.
Assuming payroll tax always applies
A business below its state’s wage bill threshold pays no payroll tax on any salary, however high. Many small employers budget for a tax they do not yet owe, or forget it will apply once they grow past the threshold.
Costing a contractor like an employee
Super, leave on-costs, payroll tax and workers comp mostly do not apply to a genuine independent contractor. Comparing a day rate to a salary without adjusting for these is not a like-for-like comparison; see the contractor vs employee calculator.
Employer cost FAQ
Common questions on what an employee costs beyond salary.
Sources
The documents behind every figure on this page.
- ATO, Super guarantee, updated 17 April 2026 (12% rate; 2026-27 annual maximum contribution base of $270,830).
- Revenue NSW, Payroll tax thresholds and rates, updated 1 July 2026.
- State Revenue Office Victoria, Payroll tax (current rates), updated 10 July 2026.
- Queensland Revenue Office, Payroll tax rates and thresholds, updated 17 July 2024.
- Government of Western Australia, Payroll Tax Employer Guide: Calculation.
- RevenueSA, Rates and Thresholds, updated 8 July 2026.
- State Revenue Office Tasmania, Rates and thresholds.
- NT Department of Treasury and Finance, Payroll tax rates and thresholds, updated 28 July 2026.
- ACT Revenue Office, About payroll tax.
- Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth), National Employment Standards (annual leave, personal/carer’s leave, public holidays).
- ATO, Fringe benefits tax (FBT).
- State workers compensation schemes: iCare (NSW), WorkSafe (Victoria), WorkCover (Queensland) and equivalents, accessed 28 July 2026, for indicative ranges only.
Last verified 27 July 2026. Payroll tax structures with mechanics beyond a flat rate above a threshold (VIC phase-out and surcharge, QLD mental health levy, WA diminishing threshold, SA progressive banding, and exact state-by-state long service leave formulas) are flagged in the text above rather than calculated precisely, where the source material did not specify the exact formula.