How much tax will I get back?
Your refund is the tax taken out of your pay during the year minus the tax you actually owe for the year. Here is how that works for a 2025–26 return, what makes the refund bigger or smaller, and when it arrives.
How your refund is worked out
Through the year your employer withholds tax from each pay, using ATO tax tables that assume you earn the same amount every pay for a full year. When you lodge your return, the ATO works out your real tax for the year:
- income tax on your taxable income (your income less deductions), less any tax offsets, such as the low income tax offset;
- plus the Medicare levy of 2%, and the Medicare levy surcharge if it applies;
- plus any compulsory HECS-HELP repayment.
If more was withheld than that total, you get the difference back. If less was withheld, you owe it.
For someone on $80,000 paid fortnightly for the whole of 2025–26, with no deductions, $16,432 is withheld and the tax for the year is $16,388, so the refund is just $44. Withholding is designed to land close to your real tax. A bigger refund comes from things your employer’s payroll doesn’t know about.
What gets you more back
Deductions
A deduction lowers your taxable income, so it saves tax at your marginal rate plus the Medicare levy. On $80,000 that is 32%: claiming $1,000 of work-related expenses adds about $320 to the refund. A deduction never gives back the full amount you spent.
Working only part of the year
Because every pay is taxed as if you earned at that rate all year, starting a job late in the year, stopping work, or taking unpaid leave usually means too much was withheld. Someone paid at the rate of $80,000 a year, but only for half the year, has $632 withheld each fortnight, $8,216 in total, but their tax on $40,000 is only $3,713. They get $4,503 back.
Low incomes
If your taxable income was $22,575 or less in 2025–26, you pay no income tax at all, so any tax withheld comes back to you.
Why you might owe tax instead
A bill usually means too little was withheld during the year. The most common causes:
- Two jobs that both claimed the tax-free threshold. Each employer withholds as if its pay were your only income. With jobs paying $50,000 and $20,000, both claiming the threshold, the second job withholds almost nothing and you would owe about $6,220 at tax time. Claim the threshold from your main job only. The second job tax calculator shows what to expect.
- A HECS-HELP debt your employer didn’t know about. On $80,000, the compulsory repayment is $1,950. If nothing was withheld for it, it comes off your refund, turning the $44 refund into a bill of $1,906.
- The Medicare levy surcharge. If your income for surcharge purposes was over $101,000 in 2025–26 (singles) and you had no private hospital cover, you pay an extra 1% to 1.5% of your income, and employers don’t withhold for it. On $110,000 that is $1,100, which leaves a bill of $1,036.
- Income with no tax taken out, such as bank interest, a side business, gig work or rent. It is taxed at your marginal rate when you lodge.
When your refund arrives
Lodge through myTax (via myGov) or a registered tax agent. If you lodge your own return, your 2025–26 return is due by 31 October 2026; this year that falls on a weekend, so the due date moves to 2 November 2026. If you use a tax agent, register with them before then and you will usually have longer.
The ATO says to allow up to 2 weeks for a return lodged online to be processed, and up to 5 business days after that for the money to reach your bank. Returns picked for a manual check can take up to 30 days. Track progress in myTax under Status of your tax return. If you owe the ATO or another government agency money, the refund may be used to pay that debt first.
Frequently asked questions
Why is my refund smaller than last year?
Common reasons are claiming fewer deductions, starting a second job, a pay rise that moved more of your income into a higher bracket part-way through the year, a HECS-HELP debt reaching its repayment threshold, or interest and other income that had no tax taken out. Your employer’s withholding aims to match the tax on your pay, so a refund mostly comes from things the employer can’t see.
Do I get all my tax back if I earned under the tax-free threshold?
In 2025–26, an Australian resident pays no income tax on a taxable income up to $22,575: the first $18,200 is tax-free and the low income tax offset covers the tax on the rest. The Medicare levy also starts higher, at $28,011. So if your income was below that and tax was withheld, you would normally get all of it back.
I made a mistake in my return. Can I fix it?
Yes. Most individuals have 2 years from the day after their notice of assessment to amend a return, through myTax or a tax agent. If the change increases your refund, the ATO pays the difference; if it reduces it, you repay it. See the ATO’s Time limits on tax return amendments.
General information based on ATO rules and rates, not tax advice. Figures are worked out by our calculators; see how we calculate.