Casual Pay Calculator
A $30 base rate with 25% casual loading pays $37.50 an hour. At 25 hours a week that is $938 gross and $825 take-home under the 2026-27 scales. Enter your own rate below.
- The loading exists because casuals miss out on most paid leave, notice of termination and redundancy pay.
- Loaded pay is ordinary income. The ATO taxes your casual earnings on exactly the same 2026-27 scales as permanent wages.
| Weekly | Annually | |
|---|---|---|
| Gross pay | $938 | $48,750 |
| Tax withheld | −$113 | −$5,851 |
| Take-home pay | $825 | $42,899 |
Estimate for an Australian resident on 2026-27 rates including the Medicare levy, assuming the same hours for 52 weeks and no HELP debt. Effective tax rate: 12.0%. Super guarantee is paid by your employer on top and is not shown here.
This tool prices the casual loading and the tax on it. For salaries, HECS, second jobs and every other situation, start at all calculators.
Casual loading, explained
A casual employee is someone with no firm advance commitment to ongoing work who is paid a casual loading or a specific casual rate under an award, agreement or contract. The loading is the price of that flexibility: under most awards it is an extra 25% of the minimum hourly rate, per the Fair Work Ombudsman's casual employment guidance. A $30 permanent rate becomes $37.50 casual.
The exact percentage lives in your award or enterprise agreement rather than in legislation, so 25% is the default in the calculator above, not a universal rule. Some agreements pay a flat casual rate with the loading already baked in. If you only know that loaded figure and want it converted straight into a weekly, monthly or annual salary, the hourly rate calculator does exactly that with no loading maths.
What the loading buys, and what it costs
Casual employees get
- The casual loading on every hour worked
- 10 days of paid family and domestic violence leave a year
- Unpaid carer's, compassionate and community service leave
- A pathway to convert to permanent employment in some circumstances
Casual employees give up
- Paid annual leave and paid sick leave
- Paid notice of termination
- Redundancy pay, even after years of regular shifts
- Guaranteed ongoing hours
Whether the trade works in your favour depends on how much paid leave you would actually have used and what guaranteed hours are worth to you. The loading shows up in every pay; the entitlements only matter when you need them.
How tax applies to casual pay
The ATO does not care that you are casual. Your loaded earnings are ordinary income, withheld and taxed on the same 2026-27 tax brackets as any permanent salary, Medicare levy included. What makes casual tax feel odd is variable hours: a big week is withheld as if every week were that big, then the excess comes back at your return.
Casuals paid weekly can check their payslip against the weekly tax table, which lists the 2026-27 schedule amounts on both the threshold and no-threshold scales. And because casual work so often runs alongside another job, remember the threshold can only be claimed once; the second job tax calculator shows what the no-threshold scale does to a side gig.
Frequently asked questions
What is casual loading?
Is casual loading taxed?
Do casual workers pay more tax than permanent staff?
Can I claim the tax-free threshold on a casual job?
What paid leave do casual employees get?
Where do I find my exact minimum casual rate?
Sources
- Fair Work Ombudsman: Casual employees, definition, entitlements and conversion pathway. Accessed 28 July 2026.
- Fair Work Ombudsman: Your guide to casual employment (PDF), source of the 25% standard award loading. Accessed 28 July 2026.
- ATO: Tax rates for Australian residents
Narelle Hartigan is a CPA-qualified tax accountant with over a decade of experience in Australian personal taxation and payroll. She founded PAYG Calculator Australia to make tax withholding easy for every Australian worker to understand.