Australian Tax Guides

Sourced to the ATO, dated, and written for the financial year they actually describe

Plain-English guides to Australian income tax, written against the ATO's published rates and dated so you can see how current they are. Every figure on this site was last checked against ato.gov.au on 21 August 2026.

How these guides are written

There is a lot of Australian tax content online that is confidently wrong, usually because it was written once and never updated. Two financial years are live at any moment, rates change on 1 July, and a page that does not say which year it is describing is not much use.

So every guide here does three things. It states which financial year it covers. It links the specific ATO page each rate came from. And it carries the date that page was last read. Where the ATO has not yet published a figure for the current year, we say so instead of guessing at it. The full list of sources is here.

None of it is financial or tax advice. Clearway Apps is not a registered tax agent, and these pages cannot account for your circumstances. More about who publishes this.

Tax time

Tax return 2025-26
Deadlines, which year's rates apply, and why the refund is smaller than people expect.
What you can claim
The three rules every deduction must pass, what they rule out, and what a claim is really worth.
Working from home
The 70c fixed rate, what it bundles in, and when actual cost beats it.
Why your refund shrank
The mechanisms behind a smaller refund, with the second-job maths worked through.
Claiming without receipts
The $300 rule, the $150 laundry rule that sits inside it, and what the ATO will not accept.

Study debt

How HECS repayments work
The marginal system, repayment income, and the indexation timing that catches everyone.

Super

Salary sacrifice
The real saving at each income, the cap, and the three things that erode the benefit.

Medicare and health

Medicare levy surcharge
The thresholds, and the income where hospital cover becomes cheaper than the surcharge.

Multiple incomes

Tax on a second job
Why it feels overtaxed, the withholding gap in dollars, and how to close it.
The tax-free threshold
What the $18,200 threshold is, who gets it, and when claiming it is the wrong move.

Business

GST for sole traders
The $75,000 threshold, the 21 day rule, and what registration really changes.

Calculators

Income tax and take-home pay
Your pay after tax, the Medicare levy and HECS, at FY2026-27 rates.
HECS and HELP repayment
Your compulsory repayment at any income.
Salary sacrifice
Take-home and tax saved, side by side.
GST
Add or remove 10% GST.
Superannuation
12% super on top of or inside a package.
Pay rise
How much of a raise you keep.