Australian Capital Territory Payroll Tax Calculator

Worked examples (FY 2026/2027)

These results are computed live by the calculation engine at page render — they cannot drift from the calculator above.

Registration & lodgement

Australian Capital Territory payroll tax threshold history

Since FY 2021/2022, the annual payroll tax threshold in Australian Capital Territory has fallen 12.5%. In FY 2026/2027 it is $1,750,000. The table below shows the threshold and headline rate for every financial year currently tracked in the engine. These values are drawn directly from the statutory registry, so if a legislative amendment is recorded there it will automatically appear here.

Rates and thresholds should be confirmed against the official Payroll Tax Act 2011 (ACT)and the relevant state revenue office website before lodgement.

The ACT's 2026-27 rewrite: five bands, selected nationally

From 1 July 2026 (Determination DI2026-151) the ACT threshold is $1,750,000 and the old flat 6.85% rate has been replaced by five bands selected by Australian-wide group wages: 6.75% up to $20,000,000, 6.85% from $20,000,000 to $50,000,000, 7.35% from $50,000,000 to $100,000,000, 7.85% from $100,000,000 to $150,000,000, and 8.75% above $150,000,000 with no threshold deduction at all.

The selection test is the group's national wages, not its ACT wages. A small ACT operation inside a large national group therefore pays the higher band rate on its ACT wages, and above $150,000,000 of national wages it loses the threshold entirely. The 8.75% top band is the highest headline payroll tax rate in the country.

The bands are narrow at the bottom and wide at the top: the first runs to $20,000,000 of Australian wages, the next two add $30,000,000 and $50,000,000, and the top band begins at $150,000,000. A national group crosses two boundaries between $20,000,000 and $100,000,000, so the ACT rate can step twice without any change to the ACT operation. Because the top band also removes the deduction, a group above $150,000,000 pays the highest rate on a base with no shelter at all.

Two ACT-specific carve-outs

Commonwealth government wages are exempt in the ACT, so a practice with mixed employer status — for example one that also provides services under a Commonwealth arrangement — should confirm which wages fall inside the exemption before calculating. Universities with an ACT campus are capped at 6.85% regardless of the group's national wages, a substantial benefit for practices connected to that sector.

There is also a transitional wrinkle. The financial year 2025-26 had a mid-year commencement on 1 January 2026 for the $150,000,000 band, so a group crossing that threshold may need a part-year split rather than a single annual rate. The ACT Revenue Office should be consulted on the apportionment method before relying on a full-year figure.

The ACT's bulk-billed GP exemption

From 1 July 2025 the ACT exempts wages relating to bulk-billed GP services, using a proportional method in the same shape as Victoria and South Australia. An earlier amnesty ran to 30 June 2025 and was conditional on at least 65% bulk billing. Non-GP cohorts are not covered by the exemption.

The banded rate structure makes the ACT unusually sensitive to group size. A standalone practice with $1,800,000 of ACT wages pays 6.75% on $50,000 — $3,375. Place the same operation inside a group with $80,000,000 of national wages and the rate becomes 7.35% while the apportioned threshold collapses to a fraction of $1,750,000; the calculator's own example on $3,000,000 of ACT wages in an $80,000,000 group produces $215,676.56. In the ACT the rate band, not the exemption, is usually the dominant variable.

The ACT's registration and band-selection mechanics

The ACT rate is selected by Australia-wide group wages, so the practice's own ACT payroll is not the variable that determines the rate. A practice with modest ACT wages inside a national group can pay the top 8.75% band and lose the threshold entirely once group wages exceed $150,000,000. Registration and lodgement are unaffected by the GP exemption, and the exempt portion of GP wages has to be identified within the return.

For a practice operating in both the ACT and another jurisdiction, the threshold is apportioned by the ACT's share of national wages. Because the band and the apportionment are both driven by the group's national total, the two should be modelled together: establishing the band without also establishing the apportioned threshold will understate the liability for a group that has grown.