Contractor Pay Calculator
See what a day or hourly rate leaves you after tax and super as a sole trader, or the rate you need to match an employee’s salary. Figures for 2026–27.
Result
Take-home pay a year
$113,406.80
$2,180.90 a week · $515.49 per billable day
- Income (excluding GST)
- $176,000.00
- Your super contribution (tax deductible)
- −$21,120.00
- Taxable income
- $154,880.00
- Income tax
- −$38,375.60
- Medicare levy
- −$3,097.60
- Take-home pay
- $113,406.80
- Super (your contribution)
- $21,120.00
Registered for GST: invoice $193,600.00 a year including 10% GST, and pass the $17,600.00 GST to the ATO. GST is not your income.
Sole trader only. Assumes an Australian resident with this as their only income.
Rates checked 12 October 2026 against the ATO · How we calculate · Calculated in your browser; nothing you enter is sent anywhere.
Rate to take-home pay
Your income is your rate multiplied by the days (or hours) you bill in a year. From that, the calculator takes your business expenses and any super you pay yourself, which are both tax deductible, then works out income tax, the Medicare levy and any HECS-HELP repayment on what is left, using the same rates as employees.
For example, $800.00 a day for 220 days is $176,000.00 a year. Putting aside 12% for super ($21,120.00) leaves taxable income of $154,880.00, and take-home pay of $113,406.80 after $38,375.60 income tax and $3,097.60 Medicare levy.
The brackets and levies used are on the tax rates page.
Salary to equivalent rate
An employee is paid for every working day, including leave and public holidays, and gets super on top. A contractor is paid only for the days they bill and funds their own leave. The “Salary → rate” mode finds the rate whose take-home pay and super match the employee’s.
To match a $120,000 salary with $14,400.00 super, a contractor paying their own super needs about $134,871.00 a year: $613.05 a day, or $80.67 an hour at 7.6 hours a day.
Billable days and unpaid leave
A year has 260 weekdays. Full-time employees get 4 weeks (20 days) of paid annual leave and 10 days of paid sick and carer’s leave under the National Employment Standards, plus public holidays. The default of 220 billable days takes off those 30 days and assumes 10 public holidays. The number of public holidays differs by state, so adjust the days to suit your work.
Fewer billable days means a higher rate is needed for the same income:
| Billable days | Day rate | Hourly rate |
|---|---|---|
| 200 | $674.36 | $88.74 |
| 210 | $642.24 | $84.51 |
| 220 | $613.05 | $80.67 |
| 230 | $586.40 | $77.16 |
| 240 | $561.96 | $73.95 |
Sources: Fair Work Ombudsman, annual leave, paid sick and carer’s leave and public holidays.
GST and super for contractors
GST
GST is a 10% tax on most goods and services. You must register once your GST turnover reaches $75,000; after that you add 10% to your invoices and pass it to the ATO. Because GST is not your income, enter your rate excluding GST. The result shows the invoice total including GST when you are registered.
Super
If a client pays you mainly for your own labour (more than half the contract’s value is for your work, you are paid for your time and skills rather than a result, and you can’t delegate the work), you are an employee for super guarantee purposes and the client must pay 12% super for you, even if you have an ABN. Otherwise you fund your own super. Personal contributions are tax deductible once you notify your fund, which is why the calculator subtracts them before working out tax.
Sole traders can also claim the small business income tax offset, worth 16% of the tax on business income up to $1,000 a year. It does not apply to personal services income (income produced mainly, more than 50%, from your own skills or efforts) unless you run a personal services business, so it is off by default.
Sources: ATO, registering for GST, super for independent contractors, sole trader tax obligations and small business income tax offset.
Contractor or employee? (ABN vs TFN)
Having an ABN doesn’t make you a contractor. The ATO looks at the whole working arrangement, and lists six things to check:
| What to check | Question to ask |
|---|---|
| Ability to delegate or sub-contract | Who can do the work? |
| Basis of payment | How is your payment calculated? |
| Equipment, tools and other assets | What do you need to do your work and who provides it? |
| Commercial risks | If you make a mistake, who pays to have it fixed? |
| Control over the work | Who has the right to tell you how, when and where you do your work? |
| Integration | Are you seen as part of the business or separate from it? |
Apprentices, labourers and trainees are always employees for tax and super purposes.
As an employee you give your employer a tax file number declaration, they withhold tax from each pay, pay super into your fund and pay you for leave. As a contractor you invoice for your work, set money aside for tax (you may need to pay PAYG instalments during the year), lodge activity statements, report GST if registered, and fund your own holidays, sick days and insurance.
Sources: ATO, employee or independent contractor and tax and super obligations compared.
Frequently asked questions
What day rate equals a $120,000 salary?
About $613.05 a day (excluding GST) if you pay your own super, on 220 billable days a year. That rate funds the same take-home pay as a $120,000 employee ($91,400.00 in 2026–27) plus $14,400.00 of super, with no pay for the leave days an employee would get. If your client pays super on top, the rate needed falls to about $547.60 a day. Business expenses push the rate up; use the calculator’s “Salary → rate” mode with your own figures.
Do contractors pay their own super?
It depends on the contract. If a business pays you mainly for your own labour, you count as an employee for super guarantee purposes, even with an ABN, and the business must pay 12% super for you. If you are contracted to achieve a result, or you run your own business as a sole trader, you don’t have to pay super guarantee for yourself, but you can make personal contributions and claim a tax deduction for them after notifying your fund. Concessional contributions count towards the $32,500 cap in 2026–27.
Should a contractor charge GST?
You must register for GST once your GST turnover (business income, not profit) reaches $75,000 over the current and previous 11 months, or is likely to over the current and next 11 months. Once registered you add 10% to your invoices and pass that GST to the ATO, usually through a business activity statement. Below the threshold you can choose to register. GST you collect is not your income, so this calculator works with rates excluding GST.