Queensland payroll tax calculator
See what a Queensland employer that paid wages all year owes in payroll tax and mental health levy for 2025-26 or 2026-27, from its Queensland and Australian wages.
- By Book Keeping Pros
- Sources checked 15 Oct 2026
Work out the payroll tax
Choose the financial year and enter the wages. The result updates as you type.
For the whole year, in whole dollars
Including the wages paid in Queensland
General information only. It works out an estimate from the wages you enter and doesn't take your circumstances into account.
Payroll tax for 2026-27
Enter both wages
Show working
Enter both wages to see the working.
How it works
In Queensland the deduction does the job of a threshold. It begins at the annual deduction amount in the table below and is reduced as Australian wages rise above that amount, at the rate the Payroll Tax Act 1971 sets, until nothing is left. An employer paying wages in other states as well gets the Queensland share of the reduced deduction.
Queensland has two rates, chosen by Australian wages. The lower rate applies up to the step, and once Australian wages are more than the step the higher rate is charged on all the taxable wages, not just the wages above it, so crossing the step lifts the tax on every taxable dollar.
The mental health levy is added to payroll tax for large wage bills. When Australian wages pass the levy threshold, the levy is charged on the Queensland wages above the Queensland share of that threshold, and an additional levy is charged the same way above a second, higher threshold.
Section 95 of the Act says the cents must be disregarded when an amount is worked out by a formula or reduced by a fixed sum for each set amount. The calculator reads that as dropping the cents from the reduction, the deduction, each levy threshold share and each levy, while the payroll tax itself is rounded to the nearest cent.
Thresholds and rates
| Setting | 2025-26 | 2026-27 |
|---|---|---|
| Annual deduction amount (K) | $1,300,000 | $1,300,000 |
| Rate | 4.75% | 4.75% |
| Rate on all wages when total wages are more than the step | 4.95% | 4.95% |
| Total wages above which the higher rate applies | $6,500,000 | $6,500,000 |
| Mental health levy: total wages above | $10,000,000 | $10,000,000 |
| Mental health levy rate | 0.25% | 0.25% |
| Additional levy: total wages above | $100,000,000 | $100,000,000 |
| Additional levy rate | 0.5% | 0.5% |
Office of the Queensland Parliamentary Counsel, Payroll Tax Act 1971 (Qld), reprint current as at 1 July 2026 Checked 15 Oct 2026.
What the result assumes
- It treats the business as a stand-alone employer, outside any payroll tax group, that had wages to pay throughout the financial year.
- The Queensland and Australian amounts are taxable wages with exemptions already taken out, and the Australian amount includes the Queensland one.
- The calculator doesn't judge which payments count as taxable wages or which state taxes them.
- It gives the year's total liability, not the monthly instalments paid along the way.
- No regional discount is applied.
- Dropping the cents under section 95 is this calculator's reading of the Act, as no Queensland Revenue Office ruling on the point was found, and the office's own examples round to the nearest dollar instead, so they can differ slightly.
Sources
- Payroll Tax Act 1971 (Qld), reprint current as at 1 July 2026
Office of the Queensland Parliamentary Counsel. Reprint current as at 1 July 2026, released 1 July 2026. Checked 15 October 2026.
Sourced from the Queensland Legislation website (www.legislation.qld.gov.au), licensed under CC BY 4.0 Licence: CC BY 4.0.
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Questions about this calculator
Something else on your mind? Ask us directly.
Why does the tax rise sharply when Australian wages pass the step?
When does the deduction run out?
What is the mental health levy?
Why are the deduction and levies in whole dollars?
Does it apply the regional discount?
General information