Step-by-step calculations for take-home pay, salary sacrifice, work-from-home claims, rental losses, shares and HELP.
These guides take the rules and run the numbers. The step-by-step income tax guide is the starting point: it walks from gross salary to taxable income, tax on taxable income, offsets, Medicare levy and HELP, with every line of arithmetic shown.
From there you can test common tax-saving decisions: whether salary sacrificing into super suits your marginal rate, how carry-forward concessional contributions work in a year with a bonus or capital gain, whether the 70 cents per hour fixed rate or the actual cost method gives a bigger work-from-home claim, what a negatively geared property really costs after tax, how the CGT discount applies when you sell shares, and whether a voluntary HELP repayment makes sense.
All figures are illustrative examples chosen to show the method; they are not a forecast of your tax. Use the calculators linked in each guide with your own numbers, and confirm the current-year thresholds on the ATO website before relying on a result.
Worked Examples and Checklists
How unused concessional cap amounts carry forward for five years, who qualifies with a balance under $500,000, and a worked example using them against a capital gain.
Worked Examples and Checklists
Compare voluntary HELP repayments with saving, an offset account or super, using after-tax returns, indexation timing around 1 June and the effect on borrowing and cash flow.
Worked Examples and Checklists
Go from gross income to taxable income, tax, offsets, Medicare levy and HELP repayment, then compare with PAYG withheld to see whether you get a refund or owe tax.
Worked Examples and Checklists
How a rental loss reduces tax on your other income, a full 2026–27 worked example with cash and non-cash deductions, and the rules on depreciation, travel and interest.
Worked Examples and Checklists
Worked 2026–27 examples showing the tax saved, the fall in take-home pay and the net gain from salary sacrificing into super at $44,000, $60,000, $85,000 and $150,000.
Worked Examples and Checklists
A step-by-step 2025–26 example with three share sales, a prior-year loss, the 50% discount and the order that minimises tax, plus parcel, DRP and ETF cost base tips.
Worked Examples and Checklists
A practical list of the documents, statements and records an individual needs for a tax return, grouped by income type, deductions, super and health cover, with tips on pre-fill.
Worked Examples and Checklists
Compare the ATO's 70 cents per hour fixed rate with the actual cost method using a worked example, the records each needs and what can still be claimed separately.
