Zone Tax Offset Calculator
This zone tax offset calculator works out what you can claim for living in a remote part of Australia. The fixed amount is $1,173 in a special area, $338 in Zone A and $57 in Zone B, and dependants add more. The amounts are set in the tax law and are the same for 2025-26 and 2026-27.
Your home was in Zone A for at least 183 days, so you claim its full amount and ignore any other zone.
| How the offset is built | Amount |
|---|---|
| Zone A: $338 + 50% of $0 | $338 |
| Zone tax offset (cents dropped) | $338 |
| Income tax for 2025-26 | Amount |
|---|---|
| Income tax on $70,000 after the low income tax offset | $11,788 |
| Less zone tax offset | -$338 |
| Income tax payable, before the Medicare levy | $11,450 |
Zone tax offset amounts for 2025-26 and 2026-27
Your offset is a fixed amount for the area your home was in, plus a percentage of your dependant base amount. With no dependants, the fixed amount is the whole offset.
| Where you lived | Fixed amount | Plus this share of dependant amounts |
|---|---|---|
| Special area (Zone A or B) | $1,173 | 50% |
| Zone A | $338 | 50% |
| Zone B | $57 | 20% |
Any Centrelink or DVA remote area allowance comes straight off the result, and cents are dropped. The offset reduces income tax, so it is worth most to someone who pays at least that much tax. Run your salary through the PAYG calculator to see the income tax it comes off.
Who can claim: your home has to be in the zone
Eligibility turns on your usual place of residence, not where you work. Your home must be in Zone A, Zone B or a special area for 183 days or more in the income year. The days do not have to be in one block.
- Fly-in fly-out from a city: not eligible. The ATO's example is an engineer living in Adelaide who flies to Alice Springs for 12-day shifts.
- Living in a zone, working further out: eligible. The ATO's example lives in Darwin (Zone A) and drives to a mine at Kununurra (a Zone A special area), so claims the Zone A amount.
- Moved in late in the year: days from the first year can carry forward. The ATO's example moved to Lord Howe Island, a special area, with 100 days in 2024-25 and 124 in 2025-26. Together that passes the test, so the 2025-26 claim is the full $1,173.
Carried days count only if you could not claim in that first year. If the first year was not last year, you must also have lived in the zone continuously since, for under five years. The calculator asks for carried days when your days this year fall short.
How dependants increase the offset
Each dependant adds to a base amount, and you get 50% of it in Zone A or a special area, or 20% in Zone B.
- Each full-time student under 25: $376. Your oldest child under 21 who is not a student: $376. Each other child under 21: $282.
- Sole parent of a dependant all year: another $1,607, or $4.40 a day for part of the year.
- An invalid and invalid carer tax offset you are entitled to is added in full.
The full amount for a dependant needs their adjusted taxable income under $286. Above $282 it falls $1 for every $4. An oldest child earning $700 drops to $272, which still adds $136 in Zone A. A student loses the base amount entirely at $1,785.80 for a full year.
One child and one student, all year
Their base amounts total $752. Here is the offset in each area, for a couple and for a sole parent.
| Area | Couple | Sole parent |
|---|---|---|
| Special area (Zone A or B) | $1,549 | $2,352 |
| Zone A | $714 | $1,517 |
| Zone B | $207 | $528 |
Living in more than one zone
If one area had your home for 183 days and also carries the highest fixed amount, you claim that area in full and ignore the rest. The ATO's example: 190 days in Zone A and 40 in Zone B gives the full Zone A amount, $338.
Otherwise each area counts for its days out of 183, starting with the highest fixed amount, up to 183 days in total. With 100 days in Zone A and 120 in Zone B you claim 100/183 of Zone A and 83/183 of Zone B, which comes to $210 with no dependants.
Claim it through your pay, not just your return
You do not have to wait for tax time. Work out the offset, then enter it at question 7 of the ATO withholding declaration you give your employer, and they will withhold less from each pay. If you are also entitled to the invalid and invalid carer offset, the two go in together.
Your employer then works out your pay with the offset applied. To check the tax on your pay before and after, use the take-home pay calculator. At tax time, the tax refund calculator estimates your result without this offset, so take the amount above off its tax figure.
Frequently asked questions
How much is the zone tax offset for 2026-27?
Can fly-in fly-out workers claim the zone tax offset?
Do I need to lodge a tax return to get it?
Does the zone tax offset affect Centrelink payments?
Can I claim the zone and overseas forces offsets together?
How do I find out which zone my town is in?
Sources
Each source below was retrieved on 6 October 2026 and returned a live page.
- Income Tax Assessment Act 1936, section 79A. The fixed amounts, the 50% and 20% shares, the remote area allowance reduction and the more-than-half-the-year test.
- ATO: T4 Zone or overseas forces 2026 (QC106871, last updated 30 May 2026). Tables 1 to 3, worksheets 1 to 7, and the multiple-zone and carry-forward examples.
- ATO: Zone tax offset (QC105018, last updated 8 June 2026). Eligibility, the fly-in fly-out rule, lodging and Centrelink.
- ATO: Calculate a zone or overseas forces tax offset (QC37720). Claiming the offset at question 7 of the withholding declaration.
- ATO: Australian zone list. Which localities are in Zone A, Zone B and the special areas.