Free Australian tax refund estimator for FY 2025-26. Enter your total income, tax already withheld by your employer, and deductions to calculate whether you'll receive a tax refund or owe money to the ATO. Includes Medicare levy, LITO, HELP repayments, and work-related deductions.
Gross income before tax (from payment summary)
Total PAYG tax withheld during the year
Interest, dividends, rental income, etc.
Or toggle above to itemise individual deductions
Enter your income and tax withheld
We'll estimate your refund or amount owing
Join Australian business owners getting our Tax Refund Calculator updates and tax-saving tips.
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Your tax refund is the difference between the tax your employer withheld from your pay during the year and your actual tax liability. When you lodge your tax return, the ATO calculates your total tax based on your taxable income, then compares it to the tax already paid — if your employer withheld too much, you get a refund; if too little, you owe the difference.
In plain terms, the calculation is:
Tax refund = Tax withheld − Tax payable
where Tax payable = Income tax (on taxable income, less offsets) + Medicare levy + any HELP/HECS repayment, and Taxable income = Total income − Deductions. A positive result is a refund; a negative result is an amount owing to the ATO.
Say you earned a $85,000 salary, your employer withheld $20,000 in PAYG tax, and you have no deductions. Using the ATO resident rates for FY 2025–26 (nil on the first $18,200, 16% from $18,201–$45,000, then 30% from $45,001–$135,000):
Adding $2,000 of deductions in this example would lower taxable income to $83,000, cut tax payable by roughly $640 (the 30% marginal rate plus the 2% levy on the deducted amount), and push the refund to about $2,652.
The key to a bigger refund is claiming all legitimate deductions. Keep receipts and records throughout the year for work-related expenses. Common deductions that people miss include: home office expenses, work phone/internet usage, professional subscriptions, union fees, income protection insurance, and the cost of managing tax affairs.
If you lodge your own return via myTax (myGov), the ATO typically processes refunds within 2 weeks. If you use a tax agent, your lodgement deadline is later (usually March of the following year), but processing times can be 2-12 weeks depending on complexity. The ATO pre-fills much of your return from employer, bank, and health fund data.
You may owe the ATO if you had multiple jobs and claimed the tax-free threshold on more than one, earned untaxed income (rental, shares, crypto), your employer under-withheld tax, or you received a redundancy or back-payment that was taxed at a lower rate than your marginal rate.
Your tax refund equals the PAYG tax withheld from your pay during the year minus your actual tax payable. To work out tax payable: take your total income, subtract your deductions to get taxable income, apply the ATO resident tax rates, subtract any offsets like the Low Income Tax Offset (LITO), then add the 2% Medicare levy and any HELP/HECS repayment. If the tax withheld is more than your tax payable, the difference is your refund; if it's less, you owe the ATO.
There's no fixed amount — your refund depends on how much tax was withheld versus your actual tax for the year. Enter your salary, the PAYG tax withheld (both shown on your income statement in myGov), and your deductions above and this calculator estimates the figure using the current ATO resident rates, LITO, the Medicare levy, and any HELP repayment. More deductions and over-withholding push the refund up.
You'll get a refund if the tax your employer withheld during the year (shown on your payment summary / income statement) is MORE than your actual tax liability calculated when you lodge your return. Common reasons for refunds include: over-withholding, work-related deductions, and the Low Income Tax Offset.
Sole traders don't have PAYG withheld by an employer, so a refund usually arises only if you paid PAYG instalments during the year that exceed your final tax. Add your net business profit (income less business expenses) to any other income to get taxable income, then apply the resident tax rates, LITO, and the 2% Medicare levy. Compare that tax payable to the PAYG instalments you've already paid — the difference is a refund or a balance owing.
The ATO typically processes electronically lodged returns within 2 weeks. If you lodge via a tax agent, processing may take longer (up to 12 weeks during peak times). Simple returns with pre-filled data from myGov tend to be processed fastest.
Common deductions include: work from home expenses (70c per hour fixed rate from 1 July 2024 under ATO PCG 2023/1), car expenses for work travel, work uniforms and laundry, tools and equipment, phone and internet (work percentage), self-education related to current employment, union fees, income protection insurance, and donations to deductible gift recipients (DGRs).
You may owe tax if: you had multiple employers and each applied the tax-free threshold, you earned investment income (dividends, interest, rental) without enough tax withheld, your employer didn't withhold enough tax, or you made a capital gain during the year.
Under the ATO's fixed-rate method (PCG 2023/1), you can claim 70 cents per hour for all work from home running expenses from 1 July 2024 (FY 2024-25 onwards). The previous rate of 67c/hour applies to FY 2022-23 and FY 2023-24. You must keep a contemporaneous record of every hour worked from home (e.g. timesheet, roster, or diary) — estimates aren't accepted. The rate covers electricity, gas, phone, internet, stationery and computer consumables; depreciation of furniture and equipment is claimed separately.
You must lodge a tax return if you earned above the tax-free threshold ($18,200) during the financial year, had tax withheld from any payments, are entitled to a refund, had a reportable fringe benefits amount, made a loss, or received certain government payments.
The Medicare levy is a 2% levy on your taxable income that helps fund Australia's public health system, added on top of your income tax. Low-income earners pay a reduced levy or none at all. A separate Medicare Levy Surcharge of 1%–1.5% applies to higher-income earners who do not hold an appropriate level of private hospital cover. Both are included in this calculator's estimate of your total tax owed.
Sources & methodology
This tax refund calculator estimates your refund or amount owing by applying the ATO resident individual income tax rates, the Low Income Tax Offset (LITO), the 2% Medicare levy, the Medicare Levy Surcharge, and any HELP/HECS repayment to your taxable income (income less deductions) for FY 2025-26 (or FY 2024-25 if selected), then comparing the resulting tax liability to the PAYG tax already withheld by your employer. All figures are computed in your browser and nothing you enter is stored or sent to a server.
Authoritative sources
Reviewed by Bishal Shrestha — Founder of OneBookPlus, 10+ years building tools with Australian tax-agent and BAS-agent practices. Last reviewed and updated: May 2026.
Disclaimer: This calculator produces estimates only and is not tax advice. Tax outcomes depend on your individual circumstances. For decisions that affect your tax position, consult a registered tax agent or the ATO directly.
OneBookPlus handles invoicing, GST tracking, BAS prep, and ATO lodgement automatically.