Annual Leave Payout Calculator Australia

What the annual leave payout calculator does

The annual leave payout calculator turns an accrued leave balance into the figure that will actually appear on your final payslip, after loading is added and tax is taken out. Most people know how many hours they have banked but have no idea what those hours are worth once the lump sum is taxed, and the gap between the two numbers is usually larger than expected.

Enter your salary, the accrued hours from your payslip and whether leave loading applies, then choose the reason employment ended. The result splits the payout into base leave pay, loading, any long service leave, the tax withheld and the net amount.

Working out what your leave is worth

The base value is straightforward arithmetic. Your annual salary divided by 52 gives an ordinary weekly wage; dividing that by your ordinary hours per week gives an hourly rate; multiplying by your accrued hours gives the base payment.

Hours matter more than people expect. A full-time balance is normally measured against the standard 38-hour week, so 152 hours is four weeks. If you work part-time, enter your actual ordinary hours in the advanced options, otherwise the tool applies the standard week and both the hourly rate and the number of weeks the balance represents will be wrong.

Leave loading

Many awards and enterprise agreements add a loading of 17.5 per cent on top of annual leave pay. It originated as compensation for the overtime and penalty rates an employee would have earned had they been at work rather than on holiday, and it survives in a large share of modern awards.

Where loading applies, it usually applies to leave paid out on termination as well as leave actually taken. It is worth checking your award rather than assuming, because on a large balance the loading is a meaningful sum. Salaried professionals on individual contracts frequently have no loading entitlement at all, and some agreements absorb it into an annualised rate.

How the payout is taxed

This is where a leave payout differs most from ordinary pay. The lump sum is added to everything you have already earned in the financial year, so it is taxed at your marginal rate, the rate on your last dollar, not your average rate across the year. Someone on a middle income sees roughly a third withheld; someone near the top bracket sees close to half.

The calculator models this properly by working out the tax on your year with the payout included, working it out again without the payout, and taking the difference. That captures the Medicare levy and any withdrawal of the Low Income Tax Offset as well as the marginal bracket itself, which a simple flat percentage cannot do.

The redundancy difference

Unused annual leave and long service leave paid because of a genuine redundancy, an approved early retirement scheme or invalidity get concessional treatment: withholding is capped at a flat rate that includes the Medicare levy, rather than following your marginal rate.

Switch the reason to redundancy in the calculator and the effect is immediate. On a high salary the flat rate is well below the top marginal rate and the saving is substantial. On a lower salary the flat rate can actually exceed what marginal rates would produce, but that is a withholding outcome rather than a final one: the position is squared up when you lodge your return.

Long service leave

Unused long service leave is paid out on termination in most states once you have completed enough continuous service, and the entitlement rules differ between states and territories. Leave loading does not normally apply to it, so the calculator pays it at the ordinary weekly rate.

Enter the number of weeks you are owed if you know it. Long service leave adds to the same lump sum for tax purposes, and because it is often several weeks of pay at once it is frequently what pushes a final payment into a higher bracket.

Checking the result against your payslip

A few things reconcile a difference between this estimate and what your employer pays:

• Employers withhold using ATO schedules, which approximate rather than exactly match your final tax position
• Any salary sacrifice, HELP or HECS repayment obligation, or child support deduction changes the withheld figure
• A partly worked final pay period is paid separately from the leave component
• Rostered days off, time in lieu and accrued overtime are separate entitlements not modelled here

If the withheld amount looks high, remember that it is a withholding, not a final assessment. Over-withholding on a lump sum is common and is returned as a refund after you lodge.

Deciding when to leave

If you have a large balance and a choice about timing, the financial year matters. A payout received early in a new financial year, when little other income has been earned, is taxed against a lower total for the year than the same payout received in June on top of eleven months of salary. That is not a reason to make a career decision, but it is worth knowing when the timing is already flexible.

The same logic applies to taking leave before you resign rather than being paid it out. Taking the leave keeps you employed, keeps superannuation accruing on it and spreads the income across pay periods, which can produce a better outcome than a single taxed lump sum.

All figures here are an estimate based on the rates and thresholds shown above and on the hours you enter. This is general information, not tax, legal or financial advice. Check your award and your final payslip, and speak to a registered tax agent if the amounts are significant.

About This Tool: Annual Leave Payout

Annual leave payout: use this tool to get an instant, accurate estimate. The figures follow official ATO guidance and every rate and threshold is kept up to date for 2026. Adjust the inputs above to match your situation, or browse all our calculators to plan your next step.