"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.
Free, and nothing changes on this page. Your estimate now, then three short follow-ups over the next week, and we stop. Unsubscribe in one click.
Every calculation is unlocked. Change one answer and re-run it as many times as you like. Nothing is deducted, nothing counts down, and none of it expires.
The contractor rules changed in 2022, in 2024 and on 1 July 2026. Has your set-up kept up?
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
| 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
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
$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.
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.
No black box. Every figure in the report shows the maths behind it, at the rate that applied in that year.
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.
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
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.
An example of the kind of answer it gives, on the sample report's figures.
Price
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.
Prices in Australian dollars. Paid securely through PayPal, by card or PayPal balance, no account needed. See a sample report before you decide.
FAQ
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.
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.
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.
Rules as at 1 July 2026 (2026-27).
Your free estimate
That is what the years already run would cost if these workers were treated as employees, on your own answers, as of today.
Use any email you like for your login. It does not have to be your PayPal one.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Your full report opens the moment the payment clears, on the answers you already gave. Nothing to fill in again, and no waiting.
Use any email you like for your login. It does not have to be your PayPal one.
Contractor cost examples
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
Seven contractors in New South Wales, $88,000 each a year, five years already run. All five tests are met on these answers.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The same figures as the list above. The shorter the bar, the less you pay over the eight years.
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.
The link may have been used already. If you still get emails, contact us and we will stop them.
Free guides
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
Unpaid super does not stay unpaid super. It becomes the super guarantee charge, which is calculated on a wider base, carries interest and fees, and - for every quarter up to 30 June 2026 - was not deductible at all.
The super guarantee is not a debt to the worker; it is a charge on the employer, imposed by the Superannuation Guarantee Charge Act 1992 and worked out under the Superannuation Guarantee (Administration) Act 1992. An employer discharges the liability entirely by contributing enough, to the right fund, by the deadline. Miss the deadline and the liability that arises is a different thing with a different formula.
That distinction is the source of most of the surprise. A business that discovers a shortfall and pays the super across to the fund has not paid the charge. It has made a late contribution, which may be able to be offset against the charge on an approved election, but the charge is what it owes.
For every quarter up to and including the one ending 30 June 2026, the charge has three components.
| Component | How it is worked out | Why it hurts |
|---|---|---|
| The shortfall | The charge percentage applied to salary and wages | Salary and wages is a wider base than ordinary time earnings, so the shortfall exceeds the contribution that would have discharged it |
| Nominal interest | 10% a year, from the first day of the quarter to the day the statement is lodged or the due date, whichever is later | It runs from the start of the quarter, not from the due date, so a quarter is already carrying interest before the deadline passes |
| Administration fee | $20 per employee per quarter | Small per head, and it multiplies. Twelve workers over five years is 240 quarters |
And none of it was deductible. Section 26-95 of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 denied a deduction for the whole of the charge, which meant a company at a 25% tax rate needed a third more pre-tax profit to fund it than it would have needed to fund the contribution.
Payday Super restructured it. From the first qualifying earnings day on or after 1 July 2026 the charge is made up of the individual final shortfall, notional earnings, an administrative uplift and, where the choice of fund rules were not followed, a choice loading.
The full mechanics of the seven business day rule are in the Payday Super guide.
Yes, the new one is. Section 26-95 was repealed from 1 July 2026, so the new super guarantee charge is deductible. The general interest charge and the late payment penalty are not - the general interest charge and shortfall interest charge stopped being deductible for anybody on 1 July 2025 under separate legislation.
For a business looking at a five-year exposure this produces an odd shape: the older quarters are entirely non-deductible and the newer ones are largely deductible. It matters more than it sounds. A non-deductible dollar takes $1.33 of pre-tax profit at a 25% company tax rate and $1.43 at 30%, so the cash figure understates the older years and overstates the newer ones relative to each other.
pre-tax profit needed = deductible amount + non-deductible amount ÷ (1 − company tax rate)
Part 7 of the super guarantee Act allows the Commissioner to impose an additional charge of up to 200% of the super guarantee charge. It is remittable, and remission is where a voluntary disclosure made before the Commissioner begins an examination does most of its work.
This calculator applies 0% by default, and says so, because a report that assumed a penalty nobody had imposed would be quoting a figure the reader could not check. What it does instead is print the statutory ceiling beside every super figure so the size of what is being left out is visible.
One contractor, $88,000 a year, engaged for the 2023-24 year, where nothing was contributed. The super guarantee rate for that year was 11%.
shortfall $9,680 + nominal interest at 10% for about 2.9 years ≈ $2,783 + admin $80 = about $12,543
Interest here runs from the start of each quarter to October 2026. Paying $9,680 on time would have settled it. The charge is around 30% more than that, none of it is deductible, and it grows by roughly $968 for every further year it stays outstanding. Multiply by the number of workers and the number of years and the shape of the problem is obvious: it is not the super that gets big, it is the time.
The general process is: work out which quarters or qualifying earnings days are affected and for which workers; prepare a super guarantee statement for each; decide whether to lodge before anybody asks, which is what puts remission on the table; and take advice on the election to offset late contributions against the charge, which is available in some circumstances and not in others.
The thing not to do is pay the super across to the fund quietly and assume the matter is closed. It does not discharge the charge, it does not stop the interest, and since 1 July 2026 the payment itself is visible to the ATO through Single Touch Payroll within days.
The report builds it year by year - shortfall, interest, administration fee, uplift and penalties - at the rate and under the regime that applied in each one.
Sign in to see your saved reports and your full report access.
It is free. Your reports are saved, so you never have to type your figures in again.
We will email you a link to set a new password. It works once and lasts an hour.
Pick something you will remember.
Get the full report to see what every option costs you, in order.
About us
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.
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.
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.
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.
Information you give us
Information collected automatically
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:
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
What is not sent
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
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.
We use the following, and nothing else:
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Write to support@calculatedchoices.com.au. We will:
We will respond within 30 days and will not charge you for making a request. We may need to verify your identity first.
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.
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.
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.
Privacy Officer
XTO Pty. Ltd. (ACN [ACN NOT SET])
Level 1, 457 Elizabeth Street, Surry Hills NSW 2010
support@calculatedchoices.com.au
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
You should obtain independent, licensed advice before acting. Any decision you make is yours.
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:
Always confirm before you act.
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.
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.
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.
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.
You must not:
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.
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.
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.
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.
Subject always to section 15, and to the maximum extent permitted by law:
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.
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.
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.
Our Privacy Policy forms part of these terms and explains how we handle personal information.
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.
XTO Pty. Ltd. (ACN [ACN NOT SET])
Level 1, 457 Elizabeth Street, Surry Hills NSW 2010
support@calculatedchoices.com.au