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People reading this page usually work these out too.
A wage calculator for Territory workers, on ATO 2026-27 rates. Two things change the answer more here than anywhere else in Australia: the zone tax offset, which every NT resident can claim, and Picnic Day and May Day, which nobody outside the Territory gets.
Checking a payslip? Compare the fortnightly figure above with the net pay on your slip — see how to read an Australian payslip.
The Territory levies no income tax. What it does have is the zone tax offset, which the calculator above deliberately does not apply because the amount depends on your locality and it is claimed in your return rather than withheld from your pay. Here is the base arithmetic on $103,173, the average full-time wage in the NT.
$103,173 is what a full-time adult in the Northern Territory earns on average before overtime — ABS average weekly ordinary time earnings of $1,984.10 a week, May 2026, over 52 weeks.
| Gross salary | $103,173 |
| Income tax | − $21,472 |
| Medicare levy (2%) | − $2,063 |
| Take-home pay | $79,638 |
That is $1,531.50 a week, $3,063.00 a fortnight or $6,636.50 a month in the bank.
Effective tax rate 22.8%. The next dollar you earn is taxed at 32% — that is the marginal bracket plus the 2% Medicare levy.
Superannuation of $12,381 at 12% is paid by your employer on top, making the package $115,554.
With a HECS-HELP debt, a further $5,047 is withheld and take-home pay falls to $74,591 — $2,868.88 a fortnight.
Add the zone offset on top of this result at tax time — it reduces the tax you owe, not your taxable income, so it comes back as a refund rather than a bigger fortnightly pay.
Every NT resident lives in a designated zone. Which one decides how much you get back, and you must have lived there for more than half the income year to claim.
Work out yours with the zone tax offset guide and calculator, then add it to the take-home figure above. Remote-area housing and district allowances paid by your employer are a separate matter again — some are fringe benefits rather than salary, so check how yours is treated on your payslip.
The Territory has an unusual earnings shape. Full-time ordinary time earnings of $1,984.10 a week sit below the national average — but the all-employees figure of $1,675.30 is the second highest in the country, because the NT has proportionally far less part-time work than anywhere else.
| NT average weekly earnings | Per week | Per year |
|---|---|---|
| Full-time adults, ordinary hoursBase pay only — the figure this page's worked example uses | $1,984.10 | $103,173 |
| Full-time adults, including overtimeAdds overtime, so it runs ahead of the ordinary-time figure | $2,092.10 | $108,789 |
| Full-time adult menOrdinary time earnings | $2,095.30 | $108,956 |
| Full-time adult womenOrdinary time earnings | $1,853.50 | $96,382 |
| All employees, including part-timePulled down by part-time hours, not by lower rates | $1,675.30 | $87,116 |
Full-time adults in the Northern Territory earn −4.8% less than the national average of $2,083.70 a week. Source: ABS Average Weekly Earnings, May 2026, released 13 August 2026 (Table 13, original series). Read on 28 August 2026.
Overtime adds more than $108.00 a week to the full-time figure — the second largest overtime gap of any jurisdiction. If you work a roster, the overtime calculator and the mining and FIFO pay guide will get you closer than base salary alone.
The NT gazettes 15 public holidays, more than any state. Two are Territory-only: May Day in early May and Picnic Day on the first Monday in August. Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve are both part-day holidays from 7 pm, so an evening shift changes rate partway through. Regional show days in Darwin, Katherine, Tennant Creek and Alice Springs are declared separately and are not in the Territory-wide list.
Northern Territory publishes 15 public holidays for 2026, and 8 of them are not observed Australia-wide. Those are the days a worker one state over does not get paid a penalty rate for. The days marked NT only below are the difference.
| 2026 date | Public holiday | Observed |
|---|---|---|
| Thursday 1 January | New Year's Day | Nationwide |
| Monday 26 January | Australia Day | Nationwide |
| Friday 3 April | Good Friday | Nationwide |
| Saturday 4 April | Easter Saturday | NT only |
| Sunday 5 April | Easter Sunday | NT only |
| Monday 6 April | Easter Monday | Nationwide |
| Saturday 25 April | Anzac Day | Nationwide |
| Monday 4 May | May Day | NT only |
| Monday 8 June | King's Birthday | NT only |
| Monday 3 August | Picnic Day | NT only |
| Thursday 24 December | Christmas EvePart-day holiday, from 7 pm to midnight. | NT only |
| Friday 25 December | Christmas Day | Nationwide |
| Saturday 26 December | Boxing Day | Nationwide |
| Monday 28 December | Additional public holiday for Boxing Day | NT only |
| Thursday 31 December | New Year's EvePart-day holiday, from 7 pm to midnight. | NT only |
Source: Fair Work Ombudsman, 2026 public holidays, read 28 August 2026. Regional and part-day variations apply — check with Northern Territory for the list that covers your town.
Why the NT list matters to your pay
Under most modern awards, working a public holiday attracts a penalty of 200% to 250% of your base rate, and if you do not work you are still entitled to be absent without losing pay. You are entitled to the public holidays where you are based for work, not where you happen to be standing on the day.
Work out what a holiday shift is actually worth with the overtime and penalty rate calculator, or read the penalty rates guide.
The NT matches South Australia on quantity — 13 weeks at 10 years — but is stricter about how you get there. Part years do not count at all, workers compensation absences do not accrue, and you cannot cash the leave out instead of taking it.
Thirteen weeks of paid leave after 10 years of continuous service, calculated at 1.3 weeks for each year of employment. Part years do not count, and you cannot cash the leave out instead of taking it. Between 7 and 10 years a pro-rata payment is owed only if you reach retirement age, the employer ends the job for something other than serious misconduct, or you resign because of illness, incapacity or pressing necessity.
| Governing law | Long Service Leave Act 1981 (NT) |
| Service before you can take leave | 10 years |
| Leave at that point | 13 weeks |
| After that | 1.3 weeks of leave for each further year of employment |
| Pro-rata payment when the job ends | From 7 years |
| Who to ask | NT Office of the Commissioner for Public Employment |
Long service leave is paid at your ordinary rate, so the calculator at the top of this page tells you what a week of it is worth after tax. A lump sum paid out when you leave is taxed differently — see the final pay calculator. Source: NT Office of the Commissioner for Public Employment, read 28 August 2026.
Coming soon: NT long service leave calculator
We are building a calculator for each state's long service leave rules. The Northern Territory long service leave calculator will work out your accrued weeks and what they are worth after tax. Until it lands, use the leave calculator or go straight to NT Office of the Commissioner for Public Employment.
While on long service leave you are paid at your usual rate, which does not include overtime, penalties, or district and site allowances — a meaningful difference in the Territory, where those can be a large share of take-home pay. NT Government and Australian Government employees, and construction workers under NT Build, are covered by separate arrangements.
Does NT payroll tax come out of your pay? No.
It is a cost of hiring you, not a deduction from you. Once an employer's Australian wage bill passes $2,500,000 a year it starts paying 5.50% to the Northern Territory revenue office on the excess. That never appears on your payslip and never reduces your gross salary. If you see a deduction you cannot account for, the full employer-side detail is further down this page.
The Territory has the highest payroll tax threshold in the country, so most NT employers never pay it. Either way, it is not a payslip line — see the payslip guide.
Income tax is identical everywhere in Australia. What changes is the public holiday calendar, the long service leave Act and the payroll tax your employer pays.
None of this is deducted from an employee's pay.
NT payroll tax is 5.5% on taxable wages above a $2,500,000 annual threshold, payable by the employer only and not deducted from employee take-home pay.
The Northern Territory offers one of Australia's highest payroll tax thresholds, meaning small-to-medium businesses with total annual wages below $2,500,000 pay no payroll tax at all. Employers with interstate operations must register and apportion wages across jurisdictions. Exempt categories include wages paid to apprentices during the first 2 years of a training contract, Commonwealth Government wages, and certain Indigenous community organisations.
5.5%; a 6.5% rate applies from 1 July 2026 to employers with $100m+ Australia-wide wages
| State / Territory | Rate | Annual Threshold |
|---|---|---|
| Northern Territory | 5.50% | $2,500,000 |
| New South Wales | 5.45% | $1,200,000 |
| Victoria | 4.85% | $1,000,000 |
| Queensland | 4.75% | $1,300,000 |
| South Australia | 4.95% | $1,500,000 |
| Western Australia | 5.50% | $1,000,000 |
| Tasmania | 4.00% | $1,250,000 |
| Australian Capital Territory | 6.75% | $1,750,000 |
The NT's $2,500,000 threshold is the highest outside the ACT. Use our Employer Cost Calculator to see the total cost of employing staff including payroll tax, superannuation, and workers' compensation.
Income tax, LITO, the Medicare levy, HECS-HELP and superannuation are calculated with the site's federal engine for 2026-27. The zone tax offset is not included in the automated calculation because zone classification is location-dependent and the offset is claimed in a tax return. NT earnings come from the ABS Average Weekly Earnings release for May 2026 (Table 13g, original series). Public holidays come from the Fair Work Ombudsman's 2026 list, and long service leave from the Long Service Leave Act 1981 as published by the NT Government. NT payroll tax data is sourced from NT Treasury and describes employer obligations only.
Last verified: 28 August 2026. Our content is based on the latest information from official Australian government sources.