Fortnightly Tax Calculator
Enter your fortnightly pay and see the 2026-27 tax withheld. A resident on $3,000 a fortnight claiming the tax-free threshold takes home $2,405 after $595 tax.
- The fortnightly schedule assumes 26 pays a year. Your fortnight is multiplied by 26, taxed as a full year, then divided back.
- Some financial years fit 27 fortnightly paydays. The ATO publishes optional extra withholding amounts so the extra pay does not leave you short.
| Weekly | Fortnightly | Annually | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gross pay | $1,500 | $3,000 | $78,000 |
| Income tax | −$268 | −$535 | −$13,920 |
| Medicare levy | −$30 | −$60 | −$1,560 |
| Take-home pay | $1,202 | $2,405 | $62,520 |
Tax bracket breakdown
| Bracket | Rate | Taxable | Tax |
|---|---|---|---|
| $0 – $18,200 | 0% | $18,200 | $0 |
| $18,200 – $45,000 | 15% | $26,800 | $4,020 |
| $45,000 – $135,000 | 30% | $33,000 | $9,900 |
| Income tax | $13,920 |
Tax by bracket
Where your gross goes
- Take-home pay80%
- Income tax18%
- Medicare levy2%
This page is the fortnightly view of the site's PAYG engine. Every other cycle and special case is covered at all calculators.
How fortnightly withholding works
The ATO's fortnightly schedule annualises each pay: your fortnightly earnings, ignoring cents, are multiplied by 26, a full year of tax is calculated on that figure using the 2026-27 tax brackets plus the 2% Medicare levy, and the answer is divided back into one fortnight. The tax-free threshold is built into the standard scale, which is why low pays withhold nothing at all.
Because each pay event is treated as typical, a fortnight with heavy overtime withholds at a rate your real annual income never reaches, and the excess returns as a refund after you lodge. The step-by-step maths, including how HELP repayments stack on top, is in how PAYG is calculated.
The 27-pay year, explained
Twenty-six fortnights is 364 days, one or two days short of a full year. Those spare days accumulate, so every eleven years or so your payday lands 27 times inside one financial year. The schedule is built on 26 pays, which means each pay withholds one twenty-seventh too little in that year. On middling wages the shortfall is usually a few hundred dollars at your return.
The fix is voluntary: the ATO publishes flat extra amounts you can ask payroll to withhold from each fortnight during a 27-pay year. The 2026-27 amounts are in the table alongside.
| Fortnightly earnings | Extra withholding |
|---|---|
| $1,700 – $5,199 | $12 |
| $5,200 – $7,249 | $27 |
| $7,250 and over | $48 |
ATO additional withholding per fortnight when a financial year has 27 pays. Optional, requested by the employee.
Look your pay up instead
If you want the schedule amounts rather than a calculator, our fortnightly tax table lists 2026-27 withholding for fortnightly pay from $1,000 to $6,000, on both the threshold-claimed and no-threshold scales, computed from the same engine as this page.
Paid every week rather than every second one? Per-pay rounding makes the numbers differ slightly from halving a fortnight, so use the weekly tax calculator for that cycle.
Frequently asked questions
How much tax do I pay on $3,000 a fortnight?
How much tax on $2,000 or $4,000 a fortnight?
What is a 27-fortnight year?
Should I ask for extra withholding in a 27-pay year?
Is fortnightly pay taxed differently from monthly pay?
Should I claim the tax-free threshold on fortnightly pay?
Sources
- ATO: Fortnightly tax table, including the 27-pay-year additional withholding amounts. 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.