Salary sacrifice super calculator
What putting part of your pay into super before tax does to your take-home pay, your tax and your super.
An estimate for residents. It assumes your employer pays 12% super on your salary before sacrifice, charges 15% contributions tax, and ignores Division 293 tax for high incomes, carry-forward unused cap, fund fees and the Medicare levy reduction. Super is locked away until you meet a condition of release. Check the ATO and your fund, and speak to a licensed adviser about your own situation.
How this calculator works
Salary sacrificed to super comes out of your pay before tax, so your taxable income falls. The fund taxes the contribution at 15%. The gain is what lands in super (85% of the sacrifice) minus the take-home pay you lose (the sacrifice minus the tax you save). Employer super and salary sacrifice both count towards the concessional contributions cap, which is $32,500 for 2026-27 and was $30,000 for 2025-26.
Worked example for 2026-27: on $100,000 sacrificing $10,000 cuts income tax and Medicare by $3,200, so take-home pay drops by only $6,800. After 15% contributions tax, $8,500 reaches super, which is $1,700 more than the pay you gave up. Employer super of $12,000 plus $10,000 sacrificed is $22,000, under the $32,500 cap.
Sources and checks
Our figures and rules follow these official sources:
- ATO: Contributions caps (page updated 11 September 2026)
- ATO: Super guarantee (page updated 17 April 2026)
- ATO: Tax rates for Australian residents (page updated 13 August 2026)
Figures last checked: 29 October 2026. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.