Annual Leave Loading Calculator Australia

What the leave loading calculator does

This leave loading calculator turns your annual salary into the ordinary pay you receive for a block of annual leave, adds the award loading on top, then shows the tax taken out and the superannuation paid in. It also tests the greater-of rule that appears in shift-work awards, where the employer pays whichever is higher: the loading, or the penalty rates you would have earned had you worked those weeks.

The output most people are looking for is a single number: how much extra will land in the pay run because I am taking four weeks off. That is the headline figure. Underneath it, the calculator breaks the payment into ordinary leave pay and the loading itself, so the payslip is easy to check line by line.

How annual leave loading works in Australia

Annual leave loading is an additional percentage paid on the ordinary pay for a period of annual leave. The figure that appears in most instruments is 17.5 per cent, which means four weeks of leave is paid at the value of roughly four and seven tenths weeks of ordinary pay.

It is important to be clear about where the entitlement comes from. The National Employment Standards guarantee four weeks of paid annual leave for full-time and part-time employees, and five weeks for certain shift workers. They do not guarantee leave loading. The loading is a creature of modern awards, enterprise agreements and contracts. If none of those apply to you, the leave is paid at the base rate and there is no loading.

Where the loading does apply, it is calculated on the ordinary pay for the leave period. Ordinary pay means the base rate for the classification, not a rate that has already been inflated by overtime or penalties. That is why the calculator starts from an annual base salary and divides it into weeks rather than asking for a gross figure from a recent payslip.

The greater-of rule in shift work awards

A large minority of awards do not simply pay the loading. They pay the greater of the annual leave loading or the shift loadings and weekend penalty rates the employee would have received had they not been on leave.

The logic is straightforward. A nurse, a factory operator or a hospitality worker on a heavy weekend roster may routinely earn far more than 17.5 per cent above base through penalties. Paying them a flat 17.5 per cent while on leave would leave them worse off, which is precisely what the loading was designed to prevent. So the award compares the two amounts and pays the higher.

The calculator models this directly. Switch the greater-of option on and enter the average penalty percentage your roster produces above your base rate. If your penalties come to 30 per cent and the loading is 17.5 per cent, the calculator pays the 30 per cent figure and shows both so you can see the gap. This is a comparison you cannot make without knowing your own roster, which is why the penalty percentage is entered rather than assumed: no published rate covers every roster pattern.

Tax on leave loading

Leave loading taken during employment is ordinary salary and wages and is taxed at marginal rates. There is no concessional treatment, and no separate withholding schedule for it in the way there is for a genuine redundancy.

Because it sits on top of the rest of your income, the true cost is the marginal one. The calculator computes the annual tax on your income including the loading, subtracts the annual tax on the same income without it, and reports the difference. That difference automatically carries the Medicare levy and the withdrawal of the low income tax offset where your income sits in the taper range, so the effective rate shown can be a little higher than the headline bracket rate.

If the loading is instead paid out on termination as part of unused annual leave, different withholding rules apply, and a genuine redundancy attracts a concessional flat rate. That case belongs to the annual leave payout calculator rather than this one.

Superannuation on leave loading

The superannuation guarantee is paid on ordinary time earnings. The Australian Taxation Office treats annual leave loading as ordinary time earnings unless it is demonstrably referable to a lost opportunity to work overtime.

In practice that exception is narrow. It requires evidence, usually in the wording of the award or agreement or in contemporaneous written records, that the loading exists specifically to compensate for overtime the employee could no longer work. Where the instrument is silent, the default position is that super is payable. The calculator leaves the option on by default and lets you turn it off if your situation genuinely fits the exception.

What to enter

Enter your annual base salary, not a package figure that already includes superannuation, and not a total that includes overtime or allowances. Enter the number of weeks of annual leave you are actually taking or being paid for; four weeks is the standard full-time entitlement, and five is common for shift workers covered by the extra week provision.

The advanced options let you override the loading rate if your agreement sets a figure other than the standard one, change the ordinary hours per week from the standard full-time week, and add other taxable income for the year so the marginal tax calculation starts from the right point.

Reading the results

The primary figure is the loading itself. Beside it, the amount actually paid may differ if the greater-of rule is switched on and your penalties win the comparison. Total leave pay is what the leave weeks are worth in full, ordinary pay plus loading, and the hourly rate while on leave shows the same thing expressed per hour so you can compare it with your normal hourly rate.

Loading after tax is the practical number for budgeting a holiday. Super on the loading is not cash today, but it is real money and worth seeing.

All figures are an estimate based on the values you enter and the current published rates. They are general information, not financial, tax or industrial relations advice; check your award or agreement, or speak to a registered tax agent, before you rely on them.

About This Leave Loading Calculator

Use this leave loading calculator 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.