Fortnightly Tax Table 2026-27 (ATO NAT 1006) — PAYG Withholding Amounts

Fortnightly Tax Table Lookup — Check Your Withholding Instantly

Enter your gross fortnightly pay to see the PAYG amount that should be withheld this financial year, including the study loan (STSL) component if you have a HECS-HELP debt.

Fortnightly Tax Table 2026-27 (NAT 1006)

The table below shows PAYG withholding for common fortnightly earnings under the 2026-27 resident rates, in the three most-used NAT 1006 columns: claiming the tax-free threshold (column 2 of the ATO table), claiming it with a study loan, and not claiming it (column 3, typical for a second job). Fortnightly is Australia's most common pay cycle — 26 pays a year.

Every figure is computed at page load from the ATO Schedule 1 coefficients, so it reproduces the printed NAT 1006 look-up table exactly — including the property that every amount is an even number of dollars. Calculate your exact fortnightly pay here.

How to Read the Fortnightly Tax Table

The ATO's printed table has three numbered columns: column 1 is fortnightly earnings, column 2 is the amount to withhold with the tax-free threshold, and column 3 is the amount without it. The employer's process for one pay run is:

1. Add allowances and irregular payments to normal fortnightly earnings, then ignore the cents.
2. Find that whole-dollar figure in column 1; if it is not listed, use the next lower amount.
3. Read across to column 2 or column 3, depending on the Tax file number declaration.
4. Subtract any tax offset claimed on a Withholding declaration, converted to a fortnightly value.
5. Subtract any Medicare levy adjustment the payee is entitled to.
6. Add the study and training support loan component if the payee has one.

The ATO's own worked example: fortnightly earnings of $989.80 are looked up as $989 after ignoring cents. Claiming the tax-free threshold, withhold $40; not claiming it, withhold $176. The calculator above returns exactly those two figures, and both are asserted in our automated tests.

Why Every Fortnightly Amount Is an Even Number of Dollars

NAT 1006 is not calculated independently — it is derived from the weekly schedule. The ATO halves the fortnightly earnings to get a weekly equivalent, applies the weekly Schedule 1 formula, rounds that weekly result to the nearest dollar, and only then doubles it. Doubling a whole number always produces an even number, so a genuine NAT 1006 figure is never an odd dollar amount.

This is a useful audit check. If a payroll system or online calculator shows an odd fortnightly withholding figure, it is not applying the schedule — it has almost certainly annualised your pay, run the annual tax scale, and divided by 26. That shortcut also tends to subtract the full Low Income Tax Offset, which the ATO scales deliberately do not deliver through withholding, and it under-withholds badly at the low end. The same rule applies to the study loan component, which is likewise derived weekly and doubled.

"With Tax-Free Threshold" vs "Without" — What the Columns Mean

The first $18,200 of annual income is tax-free, but only one employer may apply it. Claiming the threshold spreads about $700 a fortnight of tax-free income across your pays, which is the entire reason column 2 sits so far below column 3.

• Column 2 — tax-free threshold claimed. The normal column for your main job. Nothing is withheld until fortnightly earnings pass roughly $724, and the 2% Medicare levy is built in with its low-income shading.
• Column 3 — no tax-free threshold. Used for second jobs and anyone who has not claimed the threshold. Withholding starts from the first dollar. At $1,600 a fortnight, column 2 withholds $166 while column 3 withholds $368 — $202 more per pay.

Claiming the threshold at two jobs simultaneously is the most common cause of an unexpected tax bill: each employer withholds as though the other did not exist. Our second job tax calculator shows the size of the gap. When column 3 applies, the ATO says to allow no tax offsets and make no Medicare levy adjustment.

What the STSL Column Adds

STSL stands for "study and training support loans" and covers HELP, VET Student Loan, Financial Supplement, Student Start-up Loan and Australian Apprenticeship Support Loan debts. Ticking the study loan box on your Tax file number declaration adds a repayment component on top of the ordinary withholding.

That component comes from NAT 3539 (Schedule 8), which has its own coefficient table — it is not the annual HECS repayment divided by 26. Since FY2025-26, student loan repayments have used a marginal system rather than a flat percentage of total income. At $3,000 a fortnight with the threshold claimed, the income tax is $598 and the loan component is $50, for $648 total. See our HECS-HELP calculator for how withholding compares with your actual annual repayment.

Fortnightly Tax Table for Foreign Residents

Foreign residents for tax purposes use ATO Scale 3. There is no tax-free threshold and no Medicare levy, so withholding starts at 30 cents in the dollar from the first dollar. The ATO publishes these bands, and the table beneath shows the resulting fortnightly amounts:

At $2,000 a fortnight a foreign resident has $600 withheld against a resident's $276. Foreign residents cannot claim tax offsets to reduce withholding, so an offset claimed on a Withholding declaration is ignored. A foreign resident who has not provided a valid TFN is withheld at a flat 45% instead. Working holiday maker visa holders use Schedule 15 (NAT 75531) for every payment, including lump sums.

What to Do If the Employee Has No TFN

A payee who has not quoted a tax file number, has not claimed an exemption from quoting one, and has not advised that they have applied for one must be withheld at the penalty rates: 47% for a resident and 45% for a foreign resident, ignoring cents. It is a flat rate on every dollar — no threshold, no graduated scale.

If the payee states on their Tax file number declaration that they have applied for a TFN or made an enquiry with the ATO, they have 28 days to supply it before those rates begin. Separately, if no valid declaration arrives within 14 days of the employment starting, the employer must report that through STP Phase 2 using a tax treatment code beginning with "N". While a no-TFN rate applies, allow no tax offsets, make no Medicare levy adjustment, and withhold no study loan component.

The 27-Pay Year Problem

NAT 1006 is built on 26 pays a year. Depending on where the pay date falls, a financial year sometimes contains 27 fortnightly pay days. The table cannot know that, so the extra pay is withheld exactly like an ordinary fortnight — and across the year slightly too little tax is collected. The shortfall shows up as a smaller refund, or a bill, on the tax assessment.

Employers should tell payees when a 27-pay year is coming. A payee who would rather not be caught out can ask payroll to withhold an additional amount from every pay, using the ATO's published table:

This is voluntary and must be requested by the payee — an employer cannot impose it. Weekly payroll faces the same issue in a 53-pay year; monthly payroll never does, because twelve calendar months always means exactly twelve pays.

When to Use the Fortnightly Tax Table

Use NAT 1006 for anything paid to an individual on a fortnightly basis: salary and wages, allowances and leave loading, paid parental leave, directors' fees, payments to labour-hire workers and religious practitioners, government education or training payments, and periodical compensation or accident payments made because someone is unable to work.

Use a different schedule when:

• The pay cycle differs — use the weekly table (NAT 1005) or the monthly table (NAT 1007).
• You are paying a bonus, commission or back payment covering more than one pay period — use Schedule 5 (NAT 3348).
• The worker holds a working holiday maker visa — use Schedule 15 (NAT 75531) for every payment.
• You are paying unused leave or a redundancy on termination — use Schedule 7 or Schedule 11, and see our final pay calculator.
• The payee is a senior or pensioner claiming SAPTO — use Schedule 9 (NAT 4466).

How Much Tax Is Withheld From Your Fortnightly Pay?

Under the 2026-27 fortnightly tax table, withholding at $2,000 a fortnight is $276 (14% of gross), and at $3,000 a fortnight $598 (20%). The percentage climbs with income because each extra dollar above roughly $1,731 a fortnight (annualised $45,000) is withheld at the 30% marginal rate plus the Medicare levy. Check where your income lands in the tax brackets guide, or model a salary change with the income tax calculator.

What Changed in the Fortnightly Tax Table for 2026-27?

From 1 July 2026 the marginal rate on income between $18,201 and $45,000 dropped from 16% to 15% under the legislated cost-of-living tax cuts, and the ATO reissued all 15 withholding schedules and 12 tax tables — including NAT 1006 — to match. The same update raised the Medicare levy low-income thresholds and re-indexed the study and training loan repayment thresholds. Compared with 2025-26, withholding falls by up to about $10 per fortnight for anyone earning $45,000 a year or more. A further cut to 14% arrives on 1 July 2027 — details in our 2026-27 tax changes guide.

Official ATO Fortnightly Tax Table PDF and Spreadsheet

The ATO publishes NAT 1006 both as a printable PDF look-up table and as a spreadsheet look-up tool where you enter fortnightly earnings and read off both columns. The calculator at the top of this page gives the same answer instantly, but the source documents are linked directly below.

Related Tax Tables and Calculators

• PAYG withholding tables hub — the full schedule system explained.
• Weekly tax table (NAT 1005) — withholding for 52-pay cycles.
• Monthly tax table (NAT 1007) — withholding for 12-pay cycles.
• Schedule 5 tax table (NAT 3348) — bonuses, commissions, and back payments.
• Fortnightly pay calculator — your full fortnightly take-home breakdown.
• HECS-HELP calculator — how the STSL column affects your repayments.

Fortnightly Tax Table — Frequently Asked Questions