"They've got an ABN, so they're a contractor."
It is the most common belief of all. None of the five tests asks whether a worker has an ABN. An ABN is a registration number. It has never decided who is an employee.
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Access and ordersThe contractor rules changed in 2022, in 2024 and on 1 July 2026. Has your set-up kept up?
Don't lose over $700,000. Our contractor vs employee calculator runs all five tests and prices every way out, on your own numbers, to show you your choices before a bad decision costs you.
Your contractors have ABNs. They invoice you every month. It has worked for years and nobody has said a word. But five separate tests can each decide the same person is really your employee. Clear four of them and the fifth can still hand you back super, tax or leave for every year it has run.
An employment lawyer charges $220 to $850 an hour to work this out, and a whole group of contractors is weeks of work, not an hour. This calculator does the maths in about three minutes. Every test run separately, every back year priced, every lawful way out put in order.
- Free estimate. No card, no sign up
- Full report $19, paid once. A lawyer charges $220 or more an hour
- Built on the 1 July 2026 (2026-27) rates and rules
Free 30 second check
What could your contractors cost you?
$
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At least
$-
for every year it has run
In total, the years already run could cost you
$-
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A rough guide, using the answers most businesses give and a New South Wales business with no other wages. The full calculator asks how the work is really done, and that decides whether any of this applies to you at all.
Sound familiar?
Confused by the contractor rules?
That is not your fault.
The rules changed twice in three years, in opposite directions, and nobody had to tell you. A lot of the advice online was written before either change. If any of these sound like you, you are in the right place.
"We've got a signed contractor agreement."
That mattered a lot after the High Court decided Personnel Contracting in 2022. It matters much less since 26 August 2024, when the Fair Work Act went back to how the whole relationship really works. Both are true at once, for different purposes.
"Our accountant said it was fine."
They may have been right about the one test they were asked about. Super, payroll tax and workers compensation are three more tests, run by three different bodies with three different definitions. Nobody is required to check all of them at once.
"How far back can this go?"
It is the question people fear most, and for good reason. There is no legal time limit on a super guarantee assessment. Every 30 June adds another year of unpaid super, and another year of interest on every year before it.
So we built the check that was missing.
You answer plain questions about how the work really gets done: the same things a court and the ATO look at. We run all five tests separately, price what the back years could cost, and put every lawful way out in order. No appointment, no hourly fee, and we never ask for a worker's name, an ABN or a tax file number.
The ATO won't warn you
It publishes a ruling and a risk framework, and it will answer questions you ask.
It does not check your set-up for you. And since 1 July 2026 it sees late super
through Single Touch Payroll long before it says anything about it.
Your workers won't warn you
Most contractors don't know either. The ones who find out usually do so in a
dispute, such as a dismissal, an injury or an unpaid invoice. That is the worst
possible moment for everybody.
A lawyer will, at $220 to $850 an hour
For a contested case, a real dispute or an actual disclosure, you need a lawyer, and
this is not a substitute. Most businesses are not there yet. They just need to know
if there is a problem, and how big it is.
About three minutes, and you will know which of the five tests your contractors meet and what the back years could be carrying. It costs nothing.
The cost of guessing
Two businesses, the same six contractors.
One paid $755,480 more.
Both pay six people $80,000 a year. Both have done it for five years. Both are in New South Wales and already at the payroll tax threshold. The only difference: one of them ran the numbers first, and acted on them.
Guessed
Found out when the assessment arrived
- Assumed the ABNs and signed agreements settled it
- Never owned up, so not one penalty was let off
- Kept the same set-up running for three more years
- Paid the unpaid super, the interest, the administrative uplift and the late payment penalty
Payable over the eight year window
$1,845,609
Worked it out
Ran the numbers first
- Ran the five tests and saw which rules were really driving the cost
- Owned up about the back years before anyone asked
- Changed how the work was really done, not just the contract
- Paid the unpaid super and the interest, and none of the penalties
Payable over the eight year window
$1,090,129
Same six people. Same five years. One business paid this extra. The other did not.
$755,480
That is $125,913 a contractor, or roughly $259 a day for the whole eight years. Neither
business set out to do the wrong thing. There are six lawful ways to deal with this
set-up, their costs are miles apart, and the first business was never shown any of them.
The report that puts every option in order costs $19.
Both businesses are made up. The maths is not. Every rate used here is published: the super guarantee rate and charge, the general interest charge, the administrative uplift, the New South Wales payroll tax rate and threshold, the workers compensation premium rate and the National Employment Standards. Interest is worked out to October 2026. The worked examples use the same calculator, so you can check these two against them.
Your way out
You have lawful ways out.
Their costs are miles apart.
For the six contractors above, leaving it alone costs $755,480 more than owning up and changing the work. None of these is a loophole and none of them is advice. They are the options the law really leaves open. The report prices every one that fits your answers and puts them in order.
Leave it as it is
Past years keep gathering interest and every year ahead adds more unpaid super. If no test is met, this is the cheapest line on the list. If all five are, it is by far the dearest.
Put them on the payroll
Stops new costs building from the next pay run. You pay super, leave and payroll tax on time, as ordinary costs, with no charge or penalty on top. It does not settle the back years.
Own up about the back years first
The only option that reaches the past. It takes off the administrative uplift, the late payment penalty, the payroll tax penalty tax and the denied deduction. It never takes off the unpaid super or the interest.
Change how the work is done
A real right to send someone else, their own tools, their own risk of fixing mistakes. It removes the risk ahead but nothing behind. A change on paper alone does not work, because section 15AA looks at what really happens.
Have them invoice through a company
Beats the super rule and most workers compensation deeming, because both need a contract with an actual person. It does not touch payroll tax, and it brings the personal services income rules with it.
Use a high income opt-out notice
Available above $190,100 a year. It removes the Fair Work test and the leave that comes with it. It removes nothing from super, payroll tax or workers compensation.
Which option costs least depends on your own answers, and it is often not the one people expect. About three minutes, free, and you will see which options are open to you and how far apart they sit.
Your choices
Three ways to get an answer.
Two of them cost you.
| Guess What most businesses do |
A lawyer Employment or tax |
Contractor or Employee This calculator |
|
|---|---|---|---|
| Cost | Nothing now, but it grows every 30 June |
$220 to $850 an hour | $19 |
| Time it takes | An afternoon of worry | Weeks, plus an appointment | About 3 minutes |
| Checks all five tests separately | |||
| Prices and ranks every option | Usually explained, rarely costed | ||
| Can act for you in a dispute | |||
| Shows all the maths | Usually not |
Key dates
3 dates that change what you could owe
Two have already passed, which is why so much advice online is out of date. The third comes around every year, whether anybody acts or not.
Fair Work changed its employee test
Section 15AA started. Fair Work now looks at the real substance and practical reality of the whole relationship, not only what the contract says. It applies to Fair Work and not to the tax or super tests. That is why one worker can be a contractor for super and an employee for leave. What section 15AA actually says.
Payday Super began
Super now has to reach the fund within 7 business days of each payday. A shortfall carries notional earnings compounding daily at the general interest charge of 11.51%, an administrative uplift of up to 60%, and a late payment penalty on top. These are the 1 July 2026 (2026-27) rules.
Another year is added to the bill
Each financial year end adds a whole year of unpaid super at the super guarantee rate of 12% and starts another year of interest on every year before it. It is the one date that grows the figure whether anybody acts or not. How far back it can go.
What you get
What is inside The Deemed-Worker Exposure Report?
The free estimate tells you which of the five tests you meet, why, and what the back years add up to. The report shows where that money comes from, prices every lawful way out and puts them in order. 13 sections and 12 charts, built on your own answers, with every working shown so you can check it or argue with it.
Free: find out if you have a problem, and how big
- All five tests checked separately, met or not met
- The reason each one landed where it did, in one line
- Your multifactor score out of 100, and how it was worked out
- What the back years could cost you, as one total
- Every lawful option open to you, named and explained in plain English
Full report, $19: which way out costs least
- The back years to the dollar, split by year and by rule
- The super guarantee charge in full: unpaid super, interest, fee, uplift and penalties
- Every lawful option priced and ranked on one measure
- What owning up early (a voluntary disclosure) is really worth, piece by piece
- The score where the cheapest answer flips
- The same set-up priced in all eight states and territories
- What the part you cannot deduct really costs in pre-tax profit
- The assistant, on your own figures, with no limit
- The whole report as a PDF for your accountant, charts included
See a full sample, free. It runs a made-up business all the way through, with six sections open exactly as a customer sees them, and the assistant live on it for two questions.
How it works
Check your contractors in 3 simple steps
If you know how many people, roughly what they invoice and how the work really gets done, you have everything you need. Simple mode sticks to the questions that decide most of the answer. Advanced mode lets you set your own workers compensation rate and Part 7 assumption.
Tell us how the work is done
How many people, what they invoice, how long it has run, where the work happens, and eight questions about control, delegation, tools, risk and independence. We never ask for a worker's name, an ABN, a tax file number or a payroll record. The whole calculation happens in your browser.
See which tests you meet, free
All five tests checked separately, with the reason for each, your multifactor score out of 100, and what the back years could cost you in total. Every lawful option open to you, named and explained.
See which rule is costing you money
$19 opens the full report: the back years split by year and by rule, every option priced and ranked, and what owning up early is worth before anybody asks. A PDF comes with it, ready to send to your accountant.
Built on the law, not on opinion
The Superannuation Guarantee (Administration) Act 1992, the Fair Work Act 2009, each state and territory's Payroll Tax Act and workers compensation Act, and the ATO's own ruling TR 2023/4. Named, dated and listed in the guides.
Every calculation shown
No black box. Every figure in the report shows the maths behind it, at the rate that applied in that year.
Not advice, and we say so
We are not licensed to give legal, tax or workplace relations advice. The maths is the part most businesses are missing anyway. The report ranks options. It never recommends one.
Refund if it cannot model your situation
If the calculator cannot properly model your situation, or something goes wrong, tell us within 14 days and we will refund you. No forms, no argument.
Included with the report
Stuck on something in your report?
Just ask.
Every report comes with an assistant that has read your report: your answers, your tests and your figures. It explains any of it in plain English. It is not a search box or a help page. It knows what your report says because it has been given it.
Ask Agent
Why is super owed if they have an ABN?
Because super has its own definition. Section 12(3) of the Superannuation Guarantee (Administration) Act makes somebody an employee for super where they work under a contract wholly or principally for their own labour. The ABN is not part of that test. On your answers the contract is principally for labour and there is no unfettered right to delegate, so that test is met. It accounts for $435,925 of your $1,218,000.
What is the administrative uplift?
It is an amount added on top of a super shortfall from 1 July 2026, up to 60% of the shortfall and the notional earnings together. It is not interest and it is not the super itself; it is there to reflect the cost of enforcement and to reward early disclosure, and it is the one part of the charge a voluntary disclosure can reduce.
An example of the kind of answer it gives, on the sample report's figures.
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It reads your report, not a script Which test costs the most, what owning up early would really save, whether changing the contract would fix anything. It answers from your own figures and quotes them back.
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Plain English on a confusing subject It is built for this one subject and told to explain, not impress. No abbreviation without its meaning, short answers, and no lectures.
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Totally optional. Use it or skip it. It sits behind one button on your report and does nothing until you press it. Nothing in the report is held back from somebody who never opens it, and nothing is sent anywhere unless you ask it something.
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We never tell it who you are What it receives is the figures on your report: amounts, answers and categories. Not your name, not your email address, not your account, and never an ABN, a tax file number or a worker's name, because we do not hold those. The business name you can put on the report cover is optional and is not part of what it is given.
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We do not keep your conversation The conversation stays in your browser tab and is gone when you close it. We record that a question was asked so we know the feature is used, never what it said. Section 5 of the privacy policy sets out exactly what does and does not travel.
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It explains things. It does not give advice. It will tell you what the rules say, what each option costs and where the figures come from, and it will not tell you what to do. The report itself holds the same line. Nothing here is legal, tax or workplace relations advice.
Price
Your whole contractor risk, laid out, for $19
One payment, not an hourly bill. No expiry, nothing to renew, and we never keep your card. It unlocks the whole report and lets you re-run it as often as you like, for as long as you like.
If it cannot model your situation, you get your money back.
If the calculator cannot properly model your situation, or something goes wrong, tell us within 14 days and we will refund you. No forms, no argument.
Prices in Australian dollars. Paid securely through PayPal, by card or PayPal balance, no account needed. See a sample report before you decide.
FAQ
Contractor vs employee: your questions answered
No. An ABN is a registration number, not a status, and none of the five tests asks whether a worker has one. Those tests are the common law test, the Fair Work test in section 15AA, the super rule for a contract wholly or principally for labour, the payroll tax relevant contract rules and workers compensation deeming. A worker can hold an ABN, invoice you every month, and still be your employee under four of the five.
There is no single test. Five separate tests can each give a different answer for the same person. The common law test weighs eight factors together, and control and the right to delegate carry the most weight. The Fair Work Act, the super guarantee labour rule, the payroll tax relevant contract rules and workers compensation deeming then each apply their own test. This calculator runs all five on your answers.
It is the back entitlements plus the charges on top of them. Super at 12% for every year, plus the super guarantee charge with its interest, fees and uplift. Then payroll tax at your state's rate, workers compensation premium on the same wages, four weeks of annual leave and the rest of the National Employment Standards, and long service leave. This calculator prices all of it on your own figures.
Often, yes. Section 12(3) of the super guarantee law makes someone an employee for super if they work under a contract wholly or principally for their own labour, even if they are a genuine contractor for everything else. The ATO treats a contract as principally for labour when more than half its value is the person's own work. A contract with a company, or a real unfettered right to delegate, takes it outside the rule.
There is no statutory time limit on a super guarantee assessment. This calculator stops at seven years because that is where record keeping obligations and practical recovery usually stop, and it says so. If your arrangement is older than that, the real figure is larger than the one on your report, because every 30 June adds another year of unpaid super and more interest.
Because it is not just the super. For quarters up to 30 June 2026 it is the shortfall worked out on salary and wages, plus interest at 10% a year and $20 per employee per quarter, and none of it was deductible. From 1 July 2026 it is the shortfall plus notional earnings compounding daily at the general interest charge of 11.51%, an administrative uplift of up to 60%, and a late payment penalty.
Payday Super started on 1 July 2026. Super must now reach an employee's fund within 7 business days of each payday. If it arrives late, the shortfall carries notional earnings compounding daily at the general interest charge of 11.51%, plus an administrative uplift of up to 60% and a late payment penalty. The ATO sees what was paid and when through Single Touch Payroll, so late super shows up much sooner.
Often, yes. Every state and territory treats payments under a relevant contract as wages for payroll tax unless an exemption applies, and the rules catch companies and trusts too. General rates run from 4.0% to 6.75%, and thresholds start at $1,000,000. What matters is the extra tax the contractor payments cause once your other wages have used up the threshold. One exemption is a contractor who worked 90 days or fewer for you in the year.
Partly, and not the part people expect. A company defeats the super guarantee labour contract rule and most workers compensation deeming, because both need a contract with a natural person. It does not defeat the payroll tax relevant contract rules, which catch a company exactly as they catch a sole trader. And a company set up because the business insisted on it invites the personal services income rules, Part IVA and the sham contracting provisions.
For a company that is not a small business employer, the maximum is the greater of $546,000 or three times the underpayment, per contravention. A serious contravention, meaning knowing or reckless and part of a systematic pattern, raises that to $5,460,000. Sham contracting means calling employment a contract, dismissing someone to re-engage them as a contractor, or a knowingly false statement to persuade them. These are ceilings a court may impose, not amounts owing.
Yes, but only part of it. Owning up before anybody asks can reach the administrative uplift, the late payment penalty, the Part 7 penalty, payroll tax penalty tax and the deduction that would otherwise be denied. It never reaches the unpaid super, the interest or the administration fee. Timing decides it: the disclosure has to come before the relevant authority starts looking, and super, payroll tax and workers compensation are three separate authorities.
Yes, twice, and in opposite directions. In February 2022 the High Court decided Personnel Contracting and Jamsek and put the written contract at the centre of the common law test. On 26 August 2024 section 15AA of the Fair Work Act took effect and required the real substance and practical reality of the whole relationship to be looked at, for Fair Work purposes only. The tax and super tests still follow the contract.
No. It is an information service. It applies the published rules and rates to the answers you enter and shows what they produce, with every working visible. It ranks options on one stated measure, the total amount payable over the window, and does not recommend one. Whether a person is an employee is decided by a court or by the Fair Work Commission on all of the evidence, not by a calculator.
Every 30 June, the bill gets bigger.
Each one adds another year of unpaid super, and another year of interest on every year before it. Since 1 July 2026 the Australian Taxation Office sees late super through Single Touch Payroll almost as it happens. Better to find out from a calculator than from an assessment. Three minutes now is the cheapest part of the whole process.
No card. No sign up. Your result on the next screen.
Five tests. About three minutes. One number you need to know.
Contractor vs Employee Calculator: Run All 5 Tests
Most contractor checklists give you a yes or a no. This one prices all five tests that can each make your contractor an employee, and shows what every lawful way out costs, side by side.
Answer plain questions about how the work really gets done. About three minutes, free, and the calculation runs in your browser.
Step 1
Just started
Rules as at 1 July 2026 (2026-27).
Your free estimate
What your contractors could cost you
Your five test results, plus tax withholding
How much the past years could cost
The years already run could cost you $0
That is what the years already run would cost if these workers were treated as employees, on your own answers, as of today.
An employment lawyer or a tax adviser
$220 to $850 an hour
Getting it wrong
-
This report, right now
$19
Unlock your full report now
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And you can ask it questions. Your report comes with an assistant that has read it and explains any figure in plain English, if you want it. It is given the amounts on your report, never your name or your email, and the conversation stays in your browser.
If it cannot model your situation, you get your money back.
If the calculator cannot properly model your situation, or something goes
wrong, tell us within 14 days and we will refund you. No forms, no argument.
Not ready to decide?
Email this estimate to yourself, free
A link straight back to this result, so you can pick it up on a laptop or send it to whoever decides. One email, with your figure in it.
Your estimate now, then three short follow-ups over the next week, and we stop. Unsubscribe in one click. We never sell your address.
Pay once. Every 30 June adds another year.
Know what your contractors could cost, before anyone asks
Five separate tests can each treat a contractor as your employee. The full report runs all five on your own arrangement, splits the back years by rule and by year, ranks every lawful way out on one stated measure, and shows what owning up early (a voluntary disclosure) is really worth. 13 sections and 12 charts. One payment, nothing renews, and we never ask for a worker's name, an ABN or a tax file number.
If it cannot model your situation, you get your money back.
If the calculator cannot properly model your situation, or something goes wrong, tell us
within 14 days and we will refund you. No forms, no argument.
See a sample report before you buy.
Questions before you buy
Yes, it is included, and using it is entirely your choice. It sits behind one button on your report and does nothing until you press it. Nothing in the report is held back from somebody who never opens it.
When you do ask it something, what it receives is the figures on your report: amounts and categories. Not your name, not your email address, not your account, and never an ABN, a tax file number or a worker's name. We do not hold those in the first place. The name you can put on the report cover is optional and is not part of what it is given. The conversation stays in your browser tab and is gone when you close it, and we record that a question was asked without recording what it said.
Section 5 of the privacy policy sets out exactly what does and does not travel, including who processes it.
No. You pay once and the access is yours. There is no subscription and nothing renews. PayPal handles the payment, so we never see your card number.
Because the arithmetic is the part most businesses are missing, and arithmetic scales. An employment lawyer or a registered tax agent gives you a considered view of your facts, can argue a contested classification and can act for you in a dispute. This service is not licensed to do any of that and does not try. What it does is run the five tests on your answers, price every back year at the rate that applied in it, and rank every lawful option on one stated measure, with the working shown. For a contested position or an actual disclosure, take the report to somebody licensed. It will save them time, and save you some of their hours.
Contractor or Employee provides information, not legal, tax or workplace relations advice. We are not licensed to give it and we never tell you which option to pick. We apply the published rules to the answers you enter and show you what they produce, with every working visible. Your real position is decided by other people: whether a person is an employee is decided by a court or by the Fair Work Commission on all of the evidence, the super guarantee charge is assessed by the Australian Taxation Office, and payroll tax is assessed by your state or territory revenue office. Nothing on this site binds any of them.
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Contractor cost examples
10 Contractor Reclassification Examples, Fully Costed
Most of these businesses are carrying money they did not know about. A few have arrangements that really do stand up. All ten are made up, but every figure is worked out as the page loads, by the same engine a paying customer's report uses, on the current published rules. Nothing is typed in, so nothing can quietly go stale.
2 things to know before you read the numbers
1
There are five tests, not one
The common law test, section 15AA of the Fair Work Act, section 12(3) of the super guarantee Act, each state's payroll tax relevant contract rules and each workers compensation scheme's deeming provisions. They have different words and they regularly reach different answers about the same person.
2
The charge is not the super
Unpaid super turns into the super guarantee charge, which is the shortfall plus interest plus fees plus, since 1 July 2026, an administrative uplift of up to 60%. Paying the super late does not avoid it. Only paying it on time does.
Everything below is those two facts in real dollars, for ten different businesses. Worked out on the current rules.
Your numbers will be different. See yours.
Your figure turns on eight answers about how the work is really done, how long it has run, how many people are on it and where they are. Change any one of them and the tests that are met change with it. About three minutes, free, and the calculation runs in your browser.
Your options, side by side
Every lawful thing this business can do, and what each one costs in total over eight years: the five years already run plus the three ahead. Same workers, same work. Open Show Details on any row to see what it means, what it fixes and what it does not, and the usual steps. Those panels work on this page.
The cheapest line here also comes with the most catches, and the report says so. When each worker invoices through their own company, the super rule and most workers compensation rules stop applying, because both only catch a contract with a person. Payroll tax still applies. And if the business pushed the workers into setting up companies, that can bring in the personal services income rules, the tax anti-avoidance rules (Part IVA) and the sham contracting rules. None of those risks is in the dollar figure, and the full report says so.
The short version
Seven contractors in New South Wales, $88,000 each a year, five years already run. All five tests are met on these answers.
The back years carry
$1,218,000
today, with nothing disclosed
Leaves the least payable
$1,318,716
Have each worker invoice through their own company
Leaving it as it is costs
$1,049,536 more
than the cheapest way out, over the same 8 years
How the options are ranked. On one thing only: the total you would pay over the eight years. That is what is owed for the five years already run, plus what the arrangement costs over the three years ahead. It is arithmetic on the answers given. It is not a recommendation, and it is not a prediction of what anyone would actually assess.
Which of the five tests you meet, and what each one costs
Five separate tests can each decide the same person is an employee, and they do not have to agree with one another.
| The test | Where Harbourline lands | Back years |
|---|---|---|
| The common law test, and PAYG withholding with it | Met | - |
| Fair Work Act section 15AA: leave and the National Employment Standards | Met | $460,026 |
| Super guarantee section 12(3): a contract for labour | Met | $435,925 |
| Payroll tax: the relevant contract provisions | Met | $260,757 |
| Workers compensation: the deeming provisions | Met | $61,292 |
Common law and PAYG. The eight factors score 78 out of 100, which is on the employee side of halfway. This row shows no dollars because the run assumes the workers paid their own income tax. When they have, the ATO usually lets the tax-withholding penalty go.
Super (section 12(3)). The contract is mainly for the person's own work, and they cannot freely send someone else in their place. That is exactly what the super rule catches, whatever the common law test says.
Payroll tax. None of the exemptions applies, so the payments count as wages for payroll tax.
The multifactor test, factor by factor
Harbourline's answers score 78 out of 100, which is high. The weights are ours. No court adds up a score. The factors themselves come from the court cases and the ATO's ruling.
Two answers carry 40 of the 100. The first is who controls the work, which the High Court focused on in Personnel Contracting (2022). The second is whether the worker can freely send someone else, which the Full Federal Court in JMC (2023) said does not fit a contract for a person's own work. Harbourline's carpenters bring their own hand tools and are paid per job, not per hour. That is why the score is 78 and not higher.
The past years, one at a time
Super and payroll tax are charged at the rates and thresholds that applied in each year, not at today's. Workers compensation and leave use this year's published rates. Interest runs to today, so older years carry more of it.
Super is not the biggest line here, which surprises most people. Leave and public holidays come to $460,026. Super and the super guarantee charge come to $435,925. Four weeks of annual leave with a 17.5% loading, eleven public holidays and long service leave add up to almost 15% of what each person is paid, before any interest at all.
All six options on one chart
The same figures as the list above. The shorter the bar, the less you pay over the eight years.
Unlock 7 more sections and their charts
- 07How the super guarantee charge is built
- 08What each option costs, year by year
- 09The score where the cheapest option changes
- 10What a voluntary disclosure is actually worth
- 11The same arrangement in every state and territory
- 12What the part you cannot deduct really costs in pre-tax profit
- 13How the cost grows, and the maximum court penalties
Everything above is real arithmetic on a made-up business. Run yours, unlock the report, and this half opens on your own answers.
And you can ask it questions. Every report comes with an assistant that has read your report and explains any figure in it in plain English. Using it is entirely your choice, it does nothing until you press the button, and it is given the amounts on your report and never your name, your email or your account.
That is somebody else's answer. Yours takes about three minutes and costs nothing to see.
We could not find that link
The link may have been used already. If you still get emails, contact us and we will stop them.
Free guides
Contractor vs Employee Guides for Australian Businesses
Plain English guides to the Australian contractor rules, written for the person running the business rather than for the person advising them. Every one carries the current rates, names the section or the case it is describing, and shows the arithmetic rather than asserting the conclusion.
Reading is useful. Knowing what your own contractors could cost you is better.
Super
Payday Super: the new 7 day rule from 1 July 2026
From 1 July 2026 super contributions have to reach an employee's fund within seven business days of each payday, and the charge for missing that is structured differently and compounds daily. For a business with contractors who turn out to be employees, it changes both the size of the problem and how quickly anybody finds out about it.
What the Payday Super law changed
The Treasury Laws Amendment (Payday Superannuation) Act 2025 and the Superannuation Guarantee Charge Amendment Act 2025 received Royal Assent on 6 November 2025 and took effect on 1 July 2026. Together they replaced the quarterly super guarantee system that had operated since 1992.
Under the old system an employer had until 28 days after the end of a quarter to make contributions. In practice that meant a shortfall for July could sit undetected until late October, and a shortfall for a whole year could sit undetected for fifteen months. Under the new system the obligation attaches to each payday.
qualifying earnings day → 7 business days → contribution received by the fund
The measurement point is receipt by the fund, not the date the employer initiates the payment. A transfer sent on the seventh business day that clears on the ninth is late.
The new late super charge, piece by piece
Where a contribution does not arrive in time, the employer is liable for a super guarantee charge for that qualifying earnings day, made up of four things.
| Component | What it is |
|---|---|
| Individual final shortfall | The amount that should have reached the fund and did not, aligned to ordinary time earnings |
| Notional earnings | Compounding daily at the general interest charge until a contribution reduces the shortfall to nil |
| Administrative uplift | Up to 60% of the shortfall plus the notional earnings, reducible by regulation according to the employer's history and disclosure |
| Choice loading | 25% of the value of the eligible contributions where the choice of fund rules were not complied with |
A separate late payment penalty of 25% of the outstanding charge applies, rising to 50% where the employer has been liable for that penalty in the previous two years. And Part 7 of the super guarantee Act still allows an additional charge of up to 200%, remittable.
Why Payday Super hits contractor set-ups hardest
This is where the change bites hardest, and it is not obvious at first reading.
A business paying contractors who are caught by section 12(3) is not making late contributions - it is making no contributions at all, on every payday, indefinitely. Under the old quarterly system that produced four shortfalls a year per worker, each carrying flat interest at 10%. Under the new system it produces one shortfall per payday - twelve, twenty-six or fifty-two a year per worker - each carrying daily compounding interest and an administrative uplift of up to 60% on top of itself.
The arithmetic on any single payday is small. The arithmetic across a year of paydays and a group of workers is not, and it grows faster than the old system did.
The ATO now spots late super much faster
The compliance mechanism is the quieter half of the reform. Employers report salary and wages and super liabilities through Single Touch Payroll on or before each pay event. Funds report contributions received. The ATO matches the two.
Under the quarterly system that match was meaningful only after each quarterly deadline. Under Payday Super it is meaningful within days of every pay run. On 13 March 2026 the ATO and the Fair Work Ombudsman published a joint statement naming building and construction and road freight as sectors where their data was showing patterns that did not add up - which is a statement about matched data as much as it is about sham contracting.
The practical consequence for a business considering whether to deal with a historical contractor arrangement is a narrower window. A voluntary disclosure is only voluntary until somebody asks, and the interval between a shortfall arising and somebody being in a position to ask is now short.
The maximum contribution base is now yearly
A smaller change with real consequences for high earners: the maximum contribution base moved from a quarterly figure to an annual one on 1 July 2026, and is $270,830 for 2026-27.
Under the quarterly cap, income earned unevenly across the year could exceed the cap in one quarter and fall short in another, which reduced the total obligation. An annual cap removes that. For a contractor on an irregular billing pattern above the cap, the obligation is now measured against the whole year.
What to check in your payroll now
For employees already on the payroll, the general process is: confirm the payroll system computes and initiates super on each pay event rather than monthly or quarterly; confirm the clearing house or gateway used delivers to funds inside seven business days rather than merely accepting the payment inside seven business days; check the treatment of new starters against the 20 business day window; and reconcile Single Touch Payroll reported liabilities against fund receipts, because that is the reconciliation the ATO is doing.
For contractors, the prior question is whether any of them are caught by section 12(3) at all - because if they are, none of the above has been happening for any of them, on any payday, since the arrangement started.
Why the new tax deduction cuts both ways
Section 26-95 of the ITAA 1997 denied a deduction for the super guarantee charge. It was repealed from 1 July 2026, so the new charge is deductible. That is a genuine improvement for anybody incurring a charge today.
It does not reach backwards. A business with five years of unpaid super on contractors is looking at four or five years of entirely non-deductible charge and one year of largely deductible charge. That is why the report shows the cash figure and the pre-tax profit needed to fund it as separate columns: on an older exposure the second column is materially larger, and the first column understates the problem.
How much does Payday Super add to your bill?
The report prices every back year under the regime that applied to it, and every year ahead under the new one, so the difference is visible rather than assumed.
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About us
Why we built this contractor calculator
You pay people who send you invoices. They have ABNs, most of them have signed something calling them a contractor, and it has worked this way for years. Then somebody mentions the High Court, or a worker asks about super, or an accountant says the word "reclassification", and suddenly there is a question attached to five years of payments that nobody can answer in a sentence. It is rarely urgent until it is very urgent. By then the figure is bigger than it was when it could have been dealt with quietly.
None of this is secret. It is in the Superannuation Guarantee (Administration) Act 1992, the Fair Work Act 2009, the Taxation Administration Act 1953, eight separate state and territory Payroll Tax Acts, eight separate workers compensation Acts, two 2022 High Court judgments, a 2023 Full Federal Court judgment and the Commissioner's own ruling TR 2023/4. That is the problem. It is thirty-odd documents written for administrators and lawyers, each answering a different question, updated on cycles nobody outside the industry follows. None of them adds anything up for your business.
Contractor or Employee does one thing: it applies those published rules to your answers and shows you, in full, what they produce. All five tests answered separately, every back year priced at the rate that applied in it, every lawful option ranked on one stated measure, and every working visible so you can check it, argue with it, or take it to somebody who can act on it.
We do not tell you what to do. We are not licensed to, and honestly the arithmetic is the part people are missing, not the opinion. Here is what that advice costs, and when it is worth it if you decide you want it as well.
Privacy Policy
Short version: we hold as little as we can, we never ask for the identifiers that matter most, and the calculation runs on your own device. The long version is below, because you are entitled to it.
1. About this policy
This policy explains how XTO Pty. Ltd. (we, us, our) collects, holds, uses and discloses personal information, and how you can access, correct or complain about it. We handle personal information in accordance with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs).
It applies to calculatedchoices.com.au and to every email we send you. It does not apply to any third party site we link to.
2. What we never collect
We do not ask for, and you should never send us, your Medicare number, tax file number, tax file numbers, ABNs, worker names or payroll records, bank account details or card number. The calculator does not need them. If you send one to us anyway we will delete it rather than store it.
We do not collect sensitive information as defined in the Privacy Act - health information, racial or ethnic origin, political or religious beliefs, sexual orientation, or criminal record. Where the calculator asks about care needs it asks about funding categories, never about a medical condition.
3. What we collect, and why
Information you give us
- Account details - first and last name, email address, and optionally phone, suburb, state, postcode and your relationship to the person entering care. Used to create and secure your account and to deliver what you bought.
- Saved reports - the figures you entered and the results produced, stored against your account only if you choose to save one. Used so you can return to and compare them.
- Purchases - the order, amount, currency, access period and the PayPal transaction reference. Used to grant access, issue receipts and meet our tax and record keeping obligations.
- Correspondence - what you write to us and our reply. Used to answer you and to resolve disputes.
- Email estimates and reviews - the email address you give us to receive a free estimate, and any review you submit for publication.
Information collected automatically
- Technical data - IP address, browser user agent, device type, screen and viewport size, and the referring page.
- Activity data - the pages you open, the order you open them in, time spent on each, how far you scroll, which calculator steps you complete, and which buttons you press. Used to understand where the site is confusing and to improve it.
- Advertising identifiers - where you arrive from an advertisement, the click identifier appended to the link (for example Google's gclid) and any campaign parameters, so we can measure which advertising works.
4. Where the calculation happens
In your browser, on your device. The figures you type into the calculator are processed locally to produce your result. They are transmitted to us only if you choose to save a scenario to your account. If you never save one, we never receive them.
Two exceptions, and both are things you have to choose to do:
- If you ask us to email your free estimate, the headline figure that estimate produced is stored with your email address so the estimate we send you is the one you saw.
- If you use the optional report assistant, the figures in the report you have open are sent to us and on to the service that answers it. That is the only part of this site that sends anything to a third party, and section 5 sets out exactly what does and does not travel.
5. The report assistant
A paid report comes with an optional assistant you can ask questions about your own figures. It is the one part of this site that sends anything to a third party, so it is set out here in full.
It is entirely your choice, and it does nothing until you use it. Nothing is sent anywhere unless you open the assistant and ask a question. If you never open it, this section does not apply to you at all, and the rest of the report works exactly the same.
What is sent when you do ask
- A plain-text summary of the figures in the report you have open - the amounts, categories and comparisons the report already shows you on screen.
- The question you typed, and the questions and answers already in that conversation, so a follow-up makes sense.
What is not sent
- Your name. The name field on the calculator is optional and is used only on your own report cover. It is not part of what the assistant is given.
- Your email address, your account, your phone number or your street address. The assistant is not told who you are, and is given no way to find out.
- Your Medicare number, tax file number, tax file numbers, ABNs, worker names or payroll records, bank account or card details - we never hold these in the first place. See section 2.
What travels is a set of amounts and categories. On its own it does not identify anybody, and we do not send anything alongside it that would.
Who processes it
The request is answered by Google's Gemini API, which processes it outside Australia - see sections 10 and 11. We do not train any model on your figures and we have no arrangement permitting anyone to do so; what Google does with data sent to its API is governed by its own terms, which we do not control.
How long it is kept
- The summary of your figures is held in our server's memory for one hour so a conversation does not have to re-send it with every question, and is then discarded. It is never written to our database.
- The conversation itself is stored in your own browser tab and is gone when you close that tab. We do not keep a copy.
- We record that a question was asked, and how long it was, so we know whether the feature is used. We do not record what it said.
Because the assistant is optional, you can have the entire paid report without any of the above ever happening. Nothing in the report is withheld from somebody who never opens it.
6. Cookies and browser storage
We use the following, and nothing else:
- An authentication cookie - set only when you sign in, so you stay signed in. Strictly necessary.
- A guest identifier - so a scenario saved before you register can be attached to your account when you do.
- A session key (browser session storage) - identifies one visit for the activity data described above. It is a random value and is discarded when you close the tab.
- A visitor key (browser local storage) - a random value kept for up to twelve months so we can tell a returning visitor from a new one. It contains no personal information and is not shared with anyone.
- Preferences - your light or dark theme choice.
You can clear or block these through your browser at any time. Clearing them will sign you out and reset your preferences; the site will otherwise work normally.
7. Analytics and advertising
We use Google Analytics and Google Ads to measure how people find and use the site and whether our advertising is worth running. Where these are enabled, Google receives your IP address, device and browser information, the pages you viewed, and - when you complete a purchase - the order reference and the amount paid. Google may set its own cookies and may combine this with data it holds from other sources. Google's handling of that data is governed by its own privacy policy, not ours.
We do not sell your personal information, and we do not disclose it to data brokers, advertising networks other than as described above, the Australian Taxation Office, a revenue office, an insurer or a regulator, or anyone who might try to sell you something.
You can opt out of Google Analytics using Google's browser add-on, and you can adjust personalised advertising in your Google account settings.
8. Payments
Payments are processed by PayPal. Your card or account details are entered on PayPal's systems and are never transmitted to, seen by, or stored on our servers. We receive only the transaction reference, the amount, the status and the email address associated with the payment.
9. Who we disclose information to
- Service providers who host the site, send our email and process payments, and only so they can perform that function.
- Google, as described in sections 5 and 7.
- Professional advisers - our accountants and lawyers, under obligations of confidence.
- A purchaser of our business, if it is ever sold, on terms that require them to honour this policy.
- Law enforcement, courts or regulators, where we are required or authorised by law.
10. Overseas disclosure
Some of these providers store or process data outside Australia, principally in the United States (Google, PayPal) and, depending on our email provider, in other countries. By using the site you acknowledge that we take reasonable steps to ensure overseas recipients handle your information consistently with the APPs, but that we cannot control and are not accountable for how an overseas recipient handles it once disclosed, and that you may not be able to seek redress in that jurisdiction.
11. Security
The site runs entirely over HTTPS. Passwords are stored as salted PBKDF2 hashes, not as text anyone here can read. Access to the database is restricted to those who need it. No system is perfectly secure, and we cannot guarantee the security of information transmitted over the internet, but we take reasonable steps to protect it from misuse, interference, loss and unauthorised access, modification or disclosure.
If a data breach occurs that is likely to result in serious harm, we will notify you and the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner as required by the Notifiable Data Breaches scheme.
12. How long we keep it
- Account and saved reports - until you delete them or ask us to.
- Order and payment records - seven years, as required by Australian tax law. We cannot delete these earlier, even on request.
- Activity data - up to twenty‑six months, then deleted or aggregated so it no longer identifies anyone.
- Email leads - until you unsubscribe, then only the record needed to honour that unsubscribe.
13. Direct marketing
If you give us your email address for a free estimate we may follow up about the full report. Every commercial email we send identifies us and carries a functional unsubscribe link, as required by the Spam Act 2003 (Cth). We action unsubscribes immediately. You will still receive transactional email - receipts, access details and password resets - because those are not marketing.
14. Accessing, correcting and deleting your information
Write to support@calculatedchoices.com.au. We will:
- give you access to the personal information we hold about you, or explain why we cannot;
- correct anything inaccurate, out of date, incomplete, irrelevant or misleading;
- delete your account and every scenario attached to it, subject to the retention periods in section 12.
We will respond within 30 days and will not charge you for making a request. We may need to verify your identity first.
15. Complaints
If you think we have breached the APPs, write to support@calculatedchoices.com.au with "Privacy complaint" in the subject line. We will acknowledge within 5 business days and respond substantively within 30 days.
If you are not satisfied with our response, you may complain to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner: oaic.gov.au, 1300 363 992, or GPO Box 5288, Sydney NSW 2001.
16. Children
The site is intended for business owners, directors, bookkeepers and advisers deciding whether a contractor arrangement holds up. It is not directed at children and we do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 18.
17. Changes to this policy
We may update this policy. The effective date at the top changes when we do. Where a change is material we will tell you by email or by notice on the site before it takes effect. Continuing to use the site after that means you accept the updated policy.
18. Contact
Privacy Officer
XTO Pty. Ltd. (ACN [ACN NOT SET])
Level 1, 457 Elizabeth Street, Surry Hills NSW 2010
support@calculatedchoices.com.au
Terms of Service
Plain English, because the whole point is that you understand it. Section 6 is the one that matters most - please read it before you rely on anything here.
1. Agreement
By using calculatedchoices.com.au (the site) or buying a pass you agree to these terms. If you do not agree, do not use the site. In these terms we, us and our mean XTO Pty. Ltd.; you means the person using the site or, where you use it on behalf of another person or an entity, both you and that person or entity.
2. Eligibility
You must be at least 18 and legally able to enter a contract. The site is intended for use in Australia and applies Australian law and the published Australian employee and contractor tests, super guarantee rules, payroll tax rules and workers compensation deeming provisions only. If you use it from outside Australia you do so on your own initiative and are responsible for local compliance.
3. What this service is
Contractor or Employee is an information and calculation service. It applies the published Australian employee and contractor tests, super guarantee rules, payroll tax rules and workers compensation deeming provisions to figures you supply and reports what those rules produce, showing its workings and naming the fee schedule used.
4. What it is not
It is not financial product advice, personal advice, legal advice, tax advice, accounting advice or legal, tax or workplace relations advice, and it is not a recommendation to acquire, dispose of or deal in any financial product.
- We do not hold an Australian Financial Services Licence and are not authorised representatives of any licensee.
- We do not know your full circumstances, objectives, financial situation or needs, and nothing produced by the site takes them into account.
- Where the report ranks options it does so on a single arithmetic measure that deliberately ignores everything a number cannot capture - health, family circumstances, tax position, estate planning, how the work is actually controlled, delegated and paid for, and what actually matters to you.
- We receive no commission and have no relationship with any the Australian Taxation Office, your state or territory revenue office, your workers compensation insurer, the Fair Work Ombudsman and the workers themselves.
You should obtain independent, licensed advice before acting. Any decision you make is yours.
5. Accuracy and estimates
We take considerable care to keep the rates current and the formulas right, and every report prints the schedule it was built on. Even so:
- All output is an estimate based on the figures you entered. If those figures are wrong, incomplete or out of date, the output will be too.
- Any actual liability is assessed by the Australian Taxation Office and your state or territory revenue office, and whether a worker is an employee is decided by a court or by the Fair Work Commission on the whole of the evidence, not by a calculator. Those prevail over anything the site produces.
- Rates, thresholds and caps change by legislation and indexation, and legislation can change without notice or retrospectively.
- Projections rely on assumptions about the future - investment returns, indexation, home values, length of stay - which are inherently uncertain and will not be accurate.
Always confirm before you act.
6. Your responsibility for decisions
You acknowledge and agree that you are solely responsible for evaluating the output, for verifying it against official sources, for obtaining independent professional advice, and for every decision you make or do not make. We are not your adviser and no fiduciary or advisory relationship arises from your use of the site.
7. Accounts
You are responsible for keeping your password confidential and for everything done under your account. Tell us immediately at support@calculatedchoices.com.au if you suspect unauthorised use. We may suspend or close an account we reasonably believe is being used in breach of these terms.
8. Passes, price and payment
- A pass grants access to the full report from the moment payment is confirmed, and it does not expire. It does not renew and nothing is charged automatically. There is no subscription and no card is kept on file.
- Prices are in Australian dollars and include GST where applicable. We may change prices at any time; the price shown when you buy is the price you pay.
- Payment is processed by PayPal under its own terms. We do not receive your card details.
- A pass is for personal or single household use. It is not transferable and may not be shared, resold or used to provide a service to others.
9. Reports you export
A report you export as a PDF or otherwise save remains yours to keep and to show to family, an adviser or an engaging business. That licence is personal and non‑commercial. It does not permit republication, resale, or use as part of a product or service you provide to others.
10. Refunds
Our promise: if the calculator cannot properly model your circumstances, or something has gone wrong, write to us within 14 days of purchase and we will refund the pass. No form and no argument. We would rather refund you than have you rely on a number that does not fit.
This is a voluntary commercial guarantee offered in addition to, and it does not limit, your rights under the Australian Consumer Law. Refunds are made to the original payment method within five business days of us accepting the request.
11. Acceptable use
You must not:
- scrape, crawl, harvest, mirror or systematically extract the site or its content;
- attempt to access the paid report engine, any account, or any data without authorisation;
- reverse engineer, decompile or attempt to derive the source of any part of the service;
- interfere with the site's operation or security, or impose an unreasonable load on it;
- resell, sublicense or commercially exploit the service or its output;
- use the site to provide financial, legal or placement advice to third parties; or
- use it unlawfully, or to infringe anyone's rights.
12. Intellectual property
All content, code, calculation methodology, report design, text and branding on the site is owned by us or licensed to us and is protected by copyright and other laws. Legislated rates and government data are not owned by anyone; our expression, arrangement and implementation of them is. Nothing in these terms transfers ownership to you.
13. Availability
We aim to keep the site available but do not guarantee it will be uninterrupted, timely, secure or error free. We may modify, suspend or discontinue any part of it, and may perform maintenance, at any time. If we permanently discontinue the service while your pass is running, we will refund the unused portion.
14. Third parties
The site relies on third party services including PayPal, Google and our hosting and email providers, and links to third party sites and government resources. We are not responsible for those services or sites, their availability, their content or their terms.
15. Australian Consumer Law
Our goods and services come with guarantees that cannot be excluded under the Australian Consumer Law. For major failures with the service, you are entitled to cancel your service contract with us and to a refund for the unused portion, or to compensation for its reduced value. You are also entitled to be compensated for any other reasonably foreseeable loss or damage. If the failure does not amount to a major failure, you are entitled to have problems with the service rectified in a reasonable time and, if this is not done, to cancel your contract and obtain a refund for the unused portion of the contract.
Nothing in these terms excludes, restricts or modifies any consumer guarantee, right or remedy conferred by the Australian Consumer Law or any other law which cannot lawfully be excluded, restricted or modified. If any part of these terms would do so, that part does not apply.
16. Limitation of liability
Subject always to section 15, and to the maximum extent permitted by law:
- the site and its output are provided "as is" and "as available", and we exclude all warranties, conditions, guarantees and representations not expressly set out in these terms, whether express, implied, statutory or otherwise, including as to accuracy, fitness for a particular purpose, merchantability and non‑infringement;
- we are not liable for any indirect, incidental, special, punitive or consequential loss, or for any loss of profit, revenue, savings, opportunity, goodwill, data, anticipated benefit, or for any loss arising from a decision made or not made in reliance on the site, however arising and whether in contract, tort (including negligence), statute or otherwise, even if we were advised of the possibility;
- our total aggregate liability to you for all claims connected with the site or these terms is limited, at our election, to resupplying the service or to refunding the amount you actually paid us in the twelve months before the claim arose; and
- where liability cannot be excluded but can be limited, it is limited as set out above.
You agree that this allocation of risk is reasonable given the price of the service and that the service is information rather than advice.
Our liability is reduced to the extent your loss is caused or contributed to by you, including by entering incorrect figures, by failing to verify output against official sources, or by failing to obtain independent advice.
17. Indemnity
To the maximum extent permitted by law, you indemnify us against any claim, loss, liability, cost or expense (including reasonable legal costs) arising from your breach of these terms, your misuse of the site, or your provision of the site's output to a third party who relies on it. This does not apply to the extent the claim arises from our own breach, negligence or wilful misconduct.
18. Termination
You may stop using the site at any time. We may suspend or terminate your access immediately if you breach these terms. Sections 4, 5, 6, 9, 12, 15, 16, 17, 19 and 20 survive termination.
19. Privacy
Our Privacy Policy forms part of these terms and explains how we handle personal information.
20. Governing law
These terms are governed by the laws of New South Wales, Australia. You and we submit to the non‑exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of New South Wales and the courts entitled to hear appeals from them.
21. General
- Changes. We may amend these terms. The effective date changes when we do, and material changes will be notified by email or on the site before they take effect. The terms in force when you bought a pass govern that purchase.
- Severability. If a provision is unenforceable it is read down to the minimum extent necessary, or severed, without affecting the rest.
- Waiver. A failure to enforce a right is not a waiver of it.
- Assignment. You may not assign these terms without our consent. We may assign them on a sale of the business.
- Entire agreement. These terms and the Privacy Policy are the entire agreement between us about the site.
22. Contact
XTO Pty. Ltd. (ACN [ACN NOT SET])
Level 1, 457 Elizabeth Street, Surry Hills NSW 2010
support@calculatedchoices.com.au