New South Wales Payroll Tax Calculator 2026–27

How NSW payroll tax works in practice

NSW payroll tax is a flat 5.45% on every dollar of taxable wages above the $1,200,000 annual threshold, so the first $1,200,000 is effectively tax-free for a single employer or a group. Because there is no taper and no second rate, the effective rate climbs smoothly towards 5.45% as the payroll grows: $43,600 on $2,000,000 of wages (2.18%), $125,350 on $3,500,000 (3.58%) and $261,600 on $6,000,000 (4.36%).

Employees never see payroll tax on their payslip. It is a cost of employing staff that the business pays to Revenue NSW, separate from PAYG withholding (which goes to the ATO) and from superannuation guarantee contributions, although super contributions themselves are counted as wages for payroll tax.

Payroll tax NSW registration: when and how to register

You must register for payroll tax within 7 days after the end of the month in which your total Australian wages go above the NSW monthly threshold, according to Revenue NSW. The test uses Australia-wide wages, so a business with a small Sydney office and a large interstate workforce can still have to register in NSW.

Registration is done with Revenue NSW’s online form, and the form cannot be saved part-way and finished later, so gather everything before you start:

• ABN, business name, postal and business addresses, and the contact person who will deal with Revenue NSW.
• Bank account details for refunds.
• Approximate employee numbers and the dates you started employing in NSW and in other states.
• Whether you belong to a payroll tax group, and if so the other group members.
• NSW and interstate wages for the current financial year plus the four previous financial years.

NSW payroll tax login, returns and the 28 July annual reconciliation

People searching for an “NSW payroll tax login” are usually looking for Revenue NSW’s Payroll Tax Online service. Logging in needs two identifiers: your Client ID, which new payroll tax customers receive in the confirmation letter after registering, and a Correspondence ID. Revenue NSW says each Correspondence ID is only valid for 16 months, so an old letter may not work; use the ID from a recent notice.

Two dates catch people out. The December return is not due on 7 January but on 14 January, and there is no June monthly return at all: June wages go into the annual reconciliation. If a due date falls on a weekend or public holiday, it moves to the next business day. The annual return compares the tax actually payable for the year with what you paid each month, and any shortfall is payable with it.

As a rough guide, an employer with $1,500,000 of NSW wages owes about $16,350 for the year, which is under the level at which Revenue NSW requires monthly payments, so it would pay once a year with the annual return.

What counts as wages for NSW payroll tax

Taxable wages are much wider than gross salary. Revenue NSW lists gross salaries and wages, fringe benefits, employer superannuation contributions (including salary-sacrificed super), termination payments, contractor payments, interstate wages, allowances, bonuses and commissions, directors’ fees, shares and options, and apprentice and trainee wages.

Some payments are exempt or not liable. Paid parental, maternity, paternity and adoption leave is exempt for up to 14 weeks at full pay or the same total at a reduced rate. Defence Force leave and pay for volunteer firefighting or emergency service work are exempt, but annual, long service and sick leave taken for those purposes are not. Statutory workers compensation is not liable, though make-up pay above the statutory amount is taxable. For redundancy payments, the statutory redundancy amount is not liable, but the part that is taxable for income tax is.

Contractors: when payments count as wages in NSW

Payments to contractors can be taxable even when the contractor has their own ABN. Under the “relevant contract” rules, a contract under which a contractor provides you with the services of a worker makes you the deemed employer, and the payments become wages unless an exemption applies. Revenue NSW recognises seven exemptions:

• The services are ancillary to supplying goods (for example, supply and install).
• The services are not ordinarily required by your business and the contractor offers them to the public.
• Services of that type are needed for 180 days or less in a financial year.
• The same contractor provides services for 90 days or less in the financial year.
• The contractor provides the same kind of services to the public generally (a determination may be needed).
• The contractor uses two or more people to do the work.
• Owner-drivers carrying goods in their own vehicle.

Grouping: why related businesses share one threshold

Grouping stops a business from splitting its payroll across several entities to claim the $1,200,000 threshold more than once. Revenue NSW groups related corporations (under section 50 of the Corporations Act 2001), businesses under common control, entities linked by tracing of interests, businesses that share employees, NSW Public Service agencies, and entities grouped because the same third party influences them in illegal phoenix arrangements.

Only one member of a group can claim the annual threshold, so every other member pays tax from the first dollar of its NSW wages. Revenue NSW may grant an exclusion order removing a business from a group if it meets the criteria, and you apply for one online.

Apprentice and trainee rebate in NSW

NSW does not exempt apprentice and trainee wages; it offers a rebate instead. The rebate covers apprentices and new entrant trainees approved by Training Services NSW, from the start of their course until completion or cancellation; existing worker trainees are not eligible. Their wages are still declared as taxable wages and the rebate is claimed on the return. Where a group training organisation places an apprentice, only the GTO can claim, because the host business is not the employer. Non-profit GTOs approved by Training Services NSW are fully exempt on all the wages they pay.

Revenue NSW lists five common errors: claiming for ineligible people, treating the wages as exempt instead of claiming the rebate, reporting only base wages rather than total remuneration, claiming the same apprentice more than once across a group, and claiming for apprentices the business does not directly employ.