Leave Calculator Australia
See what your annual leave balance is worth at your base rate for 2026-27, with the optional 17.5% leave loading, and how a payout is taxed.
Leave Calculator 2026-27
How much annual leave do you get in Australia?
The National Employment Standards set the minimum. Awards and agreements can add more, never less.
You get 4 weeks of paid annual leave per year if you are full-time or part-time. That is the minimum under the National Employment Standards in the Fair Work Act 2009 ss86-87, and it applies from your first day of work, including during probation. The full rules sit in our guide to annual leave entitlements. Shiftworkers covered by an award or agreement with qualifying shiftwork provisions get 5 weeks.
| Employment type | Annual leave per year | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| Full-time | 4 weeks | Based on ordinary hours, 152 hours on a 38-hour week |
| Part-time | 4 weeks | Pro-rata by hours. A 20-hour week accrues 80 hours a year |
| Shiftworker (qualifying) | 5 weeks | Where the award or agreement defines qualifying shiftwork |
| Casual | None | Casual loading is paid instead of leave entitlements |
Source: Fair Work Ombudsman, Annual leave (Fair Work Act 2009 ss86-87), content last updated 25 March 2026.
Part-time is the detail people get wrong. A part-timer does not get fewer weeks. They get the same 4 weeks, measured in their own ordinary hours. Someone on 20 hours a week accrues 80 hours a year, which is still four of their weeks off, fully paid at their rate. Casuals get nothing here, and instead receive a casual loading on every hour worked.
How is the value of your leave calculated?
Three steps from salary to leave value, all at the base rate of pay.
Your leave value is your leave balance in hours multiplied by your base hourly rate. On a $90,000 salary with a 38-hour week, the base rate is $45.55 per hour for 2026-27, so a full 4-week balance of 152 hours is worth $6,923 gross.
The steps the calculator runs:
1. Weekly base pay = annual salary divided by 52. On $90,000 that is $1,730.77.
2. Hourly base rate = weekly pay divided by your ordinary hours. At 38 hours that is $45.55.
3. Leave value = balance in hours multiplied by the hourly rate, plus 17.5% loading if your award or agreement pays it.
The base rate matters. Annual leave is paid at your base rate for ordinary hours, which excludes overtime, penalty rates, allowances and bonuses. If your award adds leave loading, it exists precisely to compensate for the overtime you are not earning while on holiday. Your hourly pay and final pay calculators break the same rates down further.
What is a leave balance worth at common salaries?
A full 4-week balance (152 hours on a 38-hour week), at the base rate and with 17.5% loading, 2026-27.
| Salary | Base hourly rate | 4 weeks at base rate | With 17.5% loading |
|---|---|---|---|
| $60,000 | $30.36 | $4,615 | $5,423 |
| $70,000 | $35.43 | $5,385 | $6,327 |
| $80,000 | $40.49 | $6,154 | $7,231 |
| $90,000 | $45.55 | $6,923 | $8,135 |
| $100,000 | $50.61 | $7,692 | $9,038 |
| $120,000 | $60.73 | $9,231 | $10,846 |
Gross amounts before tax, 2026-27, computed at salary divided by 52 weeks and a 38-hour week. Loading applies only where an award or agreement provides it. Sources: Fair Work Act 2009 ss86-87; Fair Work Ombudsman, Calculating annual leave loading (Library K600323).
How fast does annual leave accrue?
Progressively, from day one, based on your ordinary hours.
Leave accrues progressively from your first day of employment, probation included. On a 38-hour week you accrue 152 hours a year, which works out to about 2.92 hours per week or 11.69 hours per fortnight. It never resets: whatever you do not take rolls over to the next year, indefinitely.
| Ordinary hours per week | Accrued per year | Accrued per fortnight | Equals |
|---|---|---|---|
| 38 hours | 152 hours | 5.85 hours | 4 weeks of your pattern |
| 30 hours | 120 hours | 4.62 hours | 4 weeks of your pattern |
| 25 hours | 100 hours | 3.85 hours | 4 weeks of your pattern |
| 20 hours | 80 hours | 3.08 hours | 4 weeks of your pattern |
Derived from the NES 4-week entitlement, pro-rata by ordinary hours. Source: Fair Work Act 2009 ss86-87.
Leave keeps accruing while you are on paid annual leave, paid sick and carer’s leave, paid family and domestic violence leave, community service leave including jury duty, and long service leave. It does not accrue during unpaid annual leave, unpaid sick or carer’s leave, unpaid parental leave, or on leave you have cashed out. The government Paid Parental Leave scheme does not count as paid leave for accrual purposes.
How is a leave payout taxed when you leave a job?
The reason you leave changes the withholding on an identical balance.
Resign, and your unused annual leave is withheld at marginal rates under ATO Schedule 7 (NAT 3351). Be made genuinely redundant, and the same balance is withheld at a flat 32%. On the $6,923 payout from the example above, the redundancy withholding is $2,215. This is the single most misunderstood part of leaving a job.
| Payment | Reason for leaving | Withholding (2026-27) |
|---|---|---|
| Unused annual leave (accrued after 17 Aug 1993) | Resignation, retirement, termination for inefficiency | Marginal rates |
| Unused annual leave (any accrual date) | Genuine redundancy, invalidity, early retirement scheme | 32% |
| Annual leave loading (accrued after 17 Aug 1993) | Resignation, retirement | Marginal rates |
| Annual leave loading (any accrual date) | Genuine redundancy, invalidity, early retirement scheme | 32% |
| Unused annual leave accrued before 18 Aug 1993 | Any termination | 32% |
Source: ATO Schedule 7, Tax table for unused leave payments on termination of employment (NAT 3351), published 17 June 2026, applies to payments from 1 July 2026.
Two things to hold onto. First, marginal rates under Schedule 7 are worked out by annualising the payment across your pay periods, so the withholding approximates the tax the lump sum actually attracts at your income. On a $90,000 salary your marginal rate for 2026-27 is 30%. Second, both figures are withholding, not final tax. The payout lands in your tax return as normal income (STP label A applies to the 32% amounts), and any over- or under-withholding settles there. No HECS-HELP amount is withheld from these payments, though the income can still raise your HELP repayment at assessment.
What is annual leave loading?
An extra 17.5% on top of leave pay, where your award or agreement provides it.
Leave loading is an extra 17.5% paid on top of your base rate while you are on annual leave, where an award or enterprise agreement provides it. On a $90,000 salary, it turns a $6,923 four-week payout into $8,135. It dates from an era when overtime was common: the loading compensated workers who could not earn overtime while on holiday.
Not everyone gets it. Many salaried employees on individual contracts do not, and some agreements roll it into the salary. Check your award or agreement, then flip the toggle in the calculator above. One rule worth knowing now rather than later: unused leave paid out on termination must include the loading if you would have received loading during employment, even where the award or contract says loading is not paid on termination. The final pay calculator covers that rule in detail.
Who uses this calculator?
Four situations where a leave balance turns into a dollar figure.
Planning a long break
Costing the time off
You have 200 hours banked and want to know what six weeks away looks like in pay terms. The calculator converts the balance both ways, hours or weeks.
Resigning with leave owed
Sizing the payout
Your final pay must include every unused hour at your base rate, plus loading if you received it. Withholding runs at marginal rates under Schedule 7 (NAT 3351).
Part-time and checking pro-rata
4 weeks, your hours
On 22 hours a week you accrue 88 hours a year. The calculator prices your actual balance at your actual hours, not a full-timer’s 152.
Facing redundancy
Flat 32% withholding
In a genuine redundancy the leave payout is withheld at 32% under Schedule 7, separate from the tax-free redundancy amount. The redundancy calculator handles that part.
What changed on 1 July 2026?
The rules held steady; the tax tables under them moved.
The entitlement itself did not change: 4 weeks under the NES, 5 for qualifying shiftworkers, 17.5% loading where an award provides it. The ATO republished Schedule 7 (NAT 3351) on 17 June 2026, applying to payments from 1 July 2026, with the flat 32% redundancy rate unchanged.
What moved is the marginal side. The first marginal tax rate fell from 16% to 15% on 1 July 2026, so a resignation payout withheld at marginal rates under the 2026-27 tax tables attracts slightly less withholding for most incomes than it did in 2025-26. The income tax calculator shows the full 2026-27 scale.
What are the common mistakes with annual leave?
Four errors that cost real money or cause tax-time surprises.
Expecting a flat 32% on resignation
The 32% flat rate applies only to genuine redundancy, invalidity or early retirement. Resign and the payout is withheld at marginal rates. People budget on the wrong one in both directions.
Forgetting loading in the payout
If you received 17.5% loading during employment, it must be included when unused leave is paid out, even if the award says loading is not paid on termination. Check the final payslip line by line.
Counting sick leave as payable
Unused sick and carer’s leave is never paid out on termination. Only annual leave, and where applicable long service leave, converts to money.
Treating withholding as final tax
Withholding is the payday estimate. The payout is assessed as income in your return, and the difference comes back as a refund or shows up as a bill. Budget on the assessed figure, not the payslip one.
Annual leave FAQ
Common questions about leave balances, accrual and payouts.
Sources
The documents behind every figure on this page.
- Fair Work Ombudsman, Annual leave, content last updated 25 March 2026. Source reference: Fair Work Act 2009 ss86-87.
- Fair Work Ombudsman, Calculating annual leave loading (Library K600323).
- Fair Work Ombudsman, Final pay, content last updated 15 May 2026. Source reference: Fair Work Act 2009 ss90(2), 117, 323.
- ATO, Schedule 7, Tax table for unused leave payments on termination of employment (NAT 3351, QC107125), published 17 June 2026, applies to payments made from 1 July 2026.
- ATO, individual income tax rates 2026-27 (15% first marginal rate from 1 July 2026).
Last verified 23 July 2026.