Free, and nothing changes on this page. One email, then only if the rates change or a deadline is close. Unsubscribe in one click.
Every jurisdiction is unlocked. Move a wage bill between states, add a business to the group, or price the position without the contractor payments — as many times as you like. Nothing is deducted and nothing expires.
Two businesses. One threshold between them.
If the same people control two businesses, or one bookkeeper does both sets of books, the revenue office treats them as one employer. They share a single tax-free threshold instead of getting one each — and it happens by operation of the Act, whether or not anybody has ever mentioned it to you.
Each revenue office has a free calculator for its own state. None of them can see the other seven, and none of them knows there is a second business in your group. We do all eight in three minutes — with the threshold split the way the Acts actually split it.
A rough guide only, on one state. The full calculator asks about all eight and works out every option.
If this is you
Payroll tax is eight separate state taxes that behave like one, and the rule that joins your businesses together is not written on any form you have ever filled in. Nothing is issued to tell you it has happened.
That letter is usually the first anybody hears of it, and by the time it arrives the position is years old. Revenue offices match payroll data against company and trust records and against each other, and grouping is the thing those matches are looking for.
Grouping, tracing of interests, relevant contracts, deemed employees, apportioned thresholds, designated group employers, annual reconciliation. Every one of them is a real rule with a real dollar figure behind it, written in words nobody outside a revenue office uses.
Both can be right. These are eight Acts, and they differ on thresholds, rates, phase-outs, surcharges and contractors — and one of them, Western Australia, does not have the contractor rules at all. An answer that is correct in Perth can be wrong in Brisbane.
Five years is the ordinary reassessment limit, and there is no limit at all where a revenue office finds fraud or evasion. Penalty tax and interest are charged on each of those years separately, from the day that year's tax fell due.
You type in the wages. We apply all eight published schedules at once, split every threshold the way the Acts split it, add the surcharges, work out every lawful way of dealing with the gap, and put them in order. No appointment, no jargon, and nobody rings you.
Three questions, thirty seconds, and you will know roughly where you stand. It costs nothing.
The loss
Both run a shop in Sydney and a trade business in Brisbane. Both pay the same wages. One found out what grouping meant; the other found out five years later.
Both families are invented and neither is a customer. What is real is everything else: the thresholds, the rates, the apportionment, the penalty rates and the interest rate are all published by the eight revenue offices, and every figure above was produced by the same engine that runs the calculator. See all thirteen worked examples.
The alternatives
| Guess What most businesses do |
The eight revenue office calculators One per state, all free |
Payroll Tax Grouping This calculator |
|
|---|---|---|---|
| What it costs | Nothing now, five years later |
Free, eight times | $249 |
| How long it takes | An afternoon of worrying | Eight forms, eight sets of rules | Under 3 minutes |
| Threshold split across states | |||
| The whole group in the wage base | |||
| Penalty tax and interest priced | |||
| Working shown | |||
| Is the figure that binds you |
The clock
None of them is ours. Payroll tax runs on a financial year and a reassessment window, and every one of these dates decides something about your position whether you act on it or not.
Rates, thresholds, phase-outs and surcharge lines are set for a financial year and every jurisdiction moves at once. A calculation run against the old schedules is not slightly out in one state — it is out in all eight. These figures are the — schedules, and New South Wales alone is — at —. Every rate and threshold, state by state.
Every registered employer trues up the year, and the return asks directly about group members and interstate wages. It is the moment the apportionment is applied properly, and the moment a grouping nobody mentioned becomes visible. Thresholds run from — to —, and the surcharges start at — of group wages. What the reconciliation asks for.
The ordinary limit under the harmonised administration Acts, and no limit at all where a revenue office finds fraud or evasion. Interest runs at — a year on each of those years separately, and the highest rate any jurisdiction charges is —. Penalties, interest and what disclosing early saves.
The report
The free estimate tells you roughly how big this is. This is the part that works it out in every jurisdiction, shows the threshold split line by line, and puts every lawful way out of it in order. Up to twelve sections and eighteen charts, on your own wage figures, with every working shown so you can check it against the revenue office's own calculator.
See a real one, free — an invented group run all the way through, with the open half exactly as a customer sees it, and the assistant live on it for two questions.
How it works
If you can read a payroll summary, you can use this. Simple mode asks six questions. Advanced adds contractors, the penalty basis and the regional rates.
What connects the businesses, how many there are, the wages in each of the eight jurisdictions, what you pay contractors, and what has already been declared. We do not ask for an ABN, a bank detail, a client number or any employee's name, and we could not use them if you gave them to us.
How much threshold the group has lost to the apportionment, how many jurisdictions it is liable in, which surcharges have switched on, and the shortfall a year as a band. Every option named, with the first half of what each one involves.
$249 opens the full report: every jurisdiction to the dollar, every year separately, every option ranked on total cost, and the whole position priced at every published penalty rate. PDF included, ready to send to your accountant.
Revenue NSW, the State Revenue Office Victoria, the Queensland Revenue Office, RevenueWA, RevenueSA, the State Revenue Office Tasmania, the Territory Revenue Office and the ACT Revenue Office. Every rate, threshold, phase-out and surcharge is theirs.
Nothing is a black box. Every figure in the report carries the arithmetic that produced it, including what each threshold was before it was split and what it became after.
We are not licensed to tell you what to do, and we cannot rule on whether your businesses are grouped — that is decided by each revenue office on your own arrangements. What was missing was the arithmetic.
If the report does not apply to your circumstances, tell us what went wrong within 14 days and it is refunded in full.
Included with the report
Every report comes with an assistant that has read your report — your wage figures, your eight jurisdictions, your options — and answers questions about it in plain English. Not a search box and not 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.
Pricing
One payment, no expiry, nothing to renew, and we never keep your card. It opens the whole report and lets you redo the sums as often as you like, for as long as you like.
Prices in Australian dollars. Paid securely through PayPal — card or PayPal balance, no account needed. See a sample report before you decide.
Questions
If the same people control two businesses, or staff work across both, or one holds an interest in the other, the revenue office treats them as one employer. The two businesses then share a single tax-free threshold instead of getting one each. Nobody has to tell you this has happened, and it applies whether or not anyone has registered.
It depends on where the wages are paid, not just how much. Thresholds run from $1,000,000 in Victoria and Western Australia up to $2,500,000 in the Northern Territory, and ordinary rates from 4.00% to 8.75%. Every one of those thresholds is then cut down in proportion to how much of your total Australian payroll was paid in that state. This calculator does all eight at once on the 2026-27 schedules.
five years is the ordinary reassessment limit under the harmonised administration Acts, and there is no limit at all where there has been fraud or evasion. On top of the tax, penalty tax runs from 5% for something disclosed before any investigation to 25% for a failure to take reasonable care and 75% for intentional disregard, and interest runs at 12.43% a year.
In seven of the eight jurisdictions, a payment under a relevant contract is wages unless one of eight exemptions applies — ninety days or fewer, services the business does not ordinarily need, a contractor who engages other people, and five more. Having an ABN makes no difference to that test. Western Australia never adopted these provisions and assesses contractors on the ordinary common law test instead.
No. This is an information service: it applies the eight published payroll tax schedules to the wage figures you enter and shows what they produce, with every working visible. It ranks options on one stated arithmetic measure and does not recommend one. Whether your businesses are in fact grouped is a question of law about your own arrangements, and only a revenue office or a registered tax agent can settle it.
A grouping shortfall does not sit still. Another year of tax goes onto it, another year of interest goes onto every year before it, and the penalty rate for something found on audit is five times the rate for something disclosed first. Nothing about that is a deadline we made up — it is how the harmonised Acts work, and it is the reason three minutes now is the cheapest three minutes of the whole process.
No card. No sign up. Your answer on the next screen.
You will not be told you are grouped. You will be assessed as though you always knew.
Each revenue office has a calculator for its own state. None of them knows about the other seven — so none of them can show you the one thing grouping changes: eight thresholds becoming one, split between the states by where the wages were paid.
Rates and thresholds as at —.
Your estimate
The payroll tax the eight schedules produce over and above what has been declared, with penalty tax and interest on every year a revenue office can reach back to.
You can provide a different email to use as your login - or the 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 back to this estimate, with your wage figures still in it, so you can open it on a laptop or forward it to your accountant instead of typing it all again.
One email, then only if the figures change or a deadline is close. Unsubscribe in one click. We never sell your address.
Before a revenue office works it out for you
A shortfall nobody has noticed keeps growing, and penalty tax and interest are charged on every year of it. The full report prices what your group actually owes in all eight jurisdictions, splits each threshold the way the Acts split it, and ranks every lawful way of dealing with the gap on one stated measure.
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 a Medicare number, tax file number or bank detail — 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 even see your card number.
No, and nothing can except a revenue office. Grouping is a question of law about your own arrangements, decided separately by each of the eight offices, and they can disagree with each other. What the report does is price the position if you are — in every jurisdiction, for every reachable year, at every published penalty rate — which is the number nobody has ever put in front of you.
Payroll Tax Grouping provides information, not financial product advice. We are not licensed to give personal financial advice and we never tell you which option to pick. What we do is apply the published rules to the figures you enter and show you what they produce, with every working visible. Your actual liability is assessed by each state and territory revenue office under its own Act, and whether your businesses are grouped is decided by those offices on your own arrangements — not by any calculator. Confirm your position with the revenue office in each state and consider advice from a registered tax agent before acting.
Pay once and the full report opens on this screen — all eight jurisdictions, every option ranked, and nothing to renew.
You can provide a different email to use as your login - or the PayPal one
Worked examples
A café and a plumbing business under one family. A medical centre with fifteen doctors. A franchise group with six stores and one director. Every figure on this page is worked out live, on the current schedules of all eight revenue offices, by the same engine that runs the calculator — none of it is typed in, and none of it is invented.
Two businesses under the same control are one employer for payroll tax. Between them they get a single tax-free threshold. It happens by operation of the Act: nothing is issued to say it has, and it applies from the day the connection existed rather than the day somebody notices.
Every jurisdiction reduces its threshold in proportion to the wages paid outside it. Pay two thirds of your wages in New South Wales and a third in Queensland, and you get two thirds of the New South Wales threshold and a third of the Queensland one — not both in full.
Five years is the ordinary reassessment limit. Penalty tax and interest are charged on each of those years from the day that year's tax fell due, so the oldest year has been running the longest and five years of interest is fifteen years' worth between them.
Everything below is those three facts in real dollars, for thirteen different businesses. Worked out on the current schedules.
Your own figure turns on four things none of these businesses can tell you: which states the wages are actually paid in, how many businesses belong in the group, what has already been declared, and how long it has been running. Change any one of them and the answer moves in every jurisdiction at once.
Prepared for Kowalski Family Group
On these figures this position is worth $542,478 if it is found rather than dealt with. Below is every lawful way of dealing with it, and what each one costs all in. Same wages, same four years behind, same eight schedules — the difference is only in when it is dealt with and what changes afterwards. Open Show Details on any of them — those panels are live on this page.
$878,522carry on as you are
$403,448apply to be excluded from the group, then disclose what is left
On the same wages, in the same states, under the same schedules. None of that difference is payroll tax — the tax is very nearly the same on every row. It is penalty tax, premium interest, and the years of shortfall that go on accruing while nothing is done. Every one of the 7 rows below is lawful and open to you.
$3,350,000 of wages across 3 jurisdictions, assessed as one group.
Apply to be excluded from the group, then disclose what is left. That is $475,075 less than carrying on as you are, and section 01 sets out what it involves step by step. This report does not recommend it — it is simply the row that costs least on the one measure everything here is ranked by.
Where that threshold went. Every jurisdiction publishes a tax-free threshold and then reduces it in proportion to the wages paid outside it. On $3,350,000 spread across New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland, the published thresholds in those jurisdictions come to $3,032,143 and this group can use $1,074,179 of it.
The whole working, one row per state. The two threshold columns are the point of this table: what that office publishes, and what is left of it once the wages paid elsewhere are counted.
| Where | Wages | Share | Published threshold | Threshold you get | Rate | Surcharge | Tax a year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NSW Revenue NSW |
$1,750,000 | 52.2% | $1,200,000 | $626,866 | 5.45% | — | $61,211 |
| VIC State Revenue Office Victoria |
$620,000 | 18.5% | $825,000 | $152,687 | 4.85% | — | $22,665 |
| QLD Queensland Revenue Office |
$980,000 | 29.3% | $1,007,143 | $294,627 | 4.75% | — | $32,555 |
New South Wales. It is then multiplied by 52.2% — this jurisdiction's share of the group's Australian wages — which leaves $626,866.
Victoria. The threshold is phased out in a straight line between $3,000,000 and $5,000,000 of Australian wages. It is then multiplied by 18.5%, which leaves $152,687.
Queensland. The threshold is reduced by $1 for every $7 of Australian wages above $1,300,000. The rate is set by the group's Australian wages, not by QLD's. It is then multiplied by 29.3%, which leaves $294,627.
Almost nobody expects the order. The state with the most wages is often not the state with the most tax, because no two of the eight charge the same rate above the same threshold.
The same wages, worked out twice: once with every business sharing one set of thresholds, and once as though each were assessed on its own. Nothing else moves.
That is what the grouping provisions cost this set of businesses, before a dollar of penalty tax or interest is added, and on wages nobody is disputing. It is the figure the exclusion order and the restructure rows in section 01 are aimed at.
How the separate figure is worked out. Nothing in a wage total says how it is split between the members, so this divides the group's wages evenly between the 3 businesses and assesses each on its own with the same mix of states. A group whose second business is a tenth the size of the first would get a different figure, and the direction of the difference is the same either way.
What being grouped does NOT change. The rate, the surcharge lines and the rules about what counts as wages are identical. Grouping changes one thing only: how many tax-free thresholds there are between you.
Ranked on one measure and one only: what the whole course of action costs — the years behind, the penalty, the interest and the next two years. The top row costs the least.
Ranked on total cost over the 4 years behind and the next two. Not a recommendation.
| # | Option | Back tax | Penalty | Interest | Next two years | All in | Behind the leader |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Apply to be excluded from the group, then disclose what is left | $347,575 | 5% | $38,494 | $0 | $403,448 | — |
| 2 | Claim the regional rates the group is entitled to, then disclose | $252,166 | 5% | $27,927 | $126,083 | $418,785 | −$15,337 |
| 3 | Separate the businesses, then disclose the years behind | $347,575 | 5% | $38,494 | $86,894 | $490,342 | −$86,894 |
| 4 | Disclose to every revenue office before anyone asks | $347,575 | 5% | $38,494 | $173,788 | $577,236 | −$173,788 |
| 5 | Disclose, and pay it by arrangement | $347,575 | 5% | $73,251 | $173,788 | $611,993 | −$208,545 |
| 6 | Wait, and be assessed this year | $347,575 | 25% | $108,009 | $173,788 | $716,266 | −$312,818 |
| 7 | Carry on as you are | $521,363 | 25% | $226,819 | $0 | $878,522 | −$475,075 |
The one assumption in this report that is not arithmetic. Which penalty rate applies is a revenue office's judgement about conduct, and it runs from 5% to 90% on identical tax — so every published rate is priced here rather than one being defended.
| Basis | Penalty rate | Penalty tax | All in |
|---|---|---|---|
| Disclosed before any investigation The base 25% for failing to take reasonable care, reduced by 80%. |
5% | $17,379 | $472,963 |
| Disclosed after an investigation started The base 25%, reduced by 20% only. |
20% | $69,515 | $525,099 |
| Found on audit — failure to take reasonable care The ordinary base rate where a taxpayer has not disclosed. |
25% | $86,894 | $542,478 |
| Found on audit — intentional disregard Clear evidence of intentional disregard of the law. |
75% | $260,681 | $716,266 |
| Intentional disregard, plus concealment The 75% base increased by 20 percentage points. |
90% | $312,818 | $768,402 |
None of it is tax. It is entirely the penalty and the premium component of the interest, and the published guidelines put both of them within reach of a disclosure made before an investigation starts. That is the single largest controllable number in this report.
Everything above is real arithmetic on a fictional group. Run yours and this half opens on your own wage figures.
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.
This report is an information service. It applies the payroll tax rates, thresholds, phase-outs, surcharges and grouping rules published by the eight Australian revenue offices for 2026-27 to the wage figures entered, and shows what those rules produce. It is not tax advice, it is not a recommendation, and it is not a ruling on whether any businesses are grouped. Payroll Tax Grouping is not a registered tax agent, does not know your full circumstances, and does not tell you which option to choose. Options are ranked on a single arithmetic measure — total cost over the years behind you and the next two — and that measure deliberately ignores everything a number cannot capture.
What this measure cannot see. What any of these courses of action would cost in professional fees, or how long they would take. Whether a revenue office would agree that the businesses are grouped, or would grant an exclusion order if asked. Whether a contractor exemption applies to a particular engagement. Whether the wage figures include everything the Acts treat as wages, or include things they do not. And what any of it would do to the businesses themselves.
Two assumptions this report makes, stated plainly. It assumes the same wages in every year of the look-back period, and it assumes every business in the group employed for the whole financial year. An employer who started or ceased employing part way through a year has its threshold pro-rated for the days it employed, on top of the interstate apportionment, and this calculator does not model that. It also spreads wages recorded as declared across the states in the same proportions as the group’s own wages, because nothing in a declared total says where it was paid.
Grouping is decided by each revenue office, separately. These are eight taxes, not one. An exclusion order granted in one state has no effect in another, a private ruling binds only the office that gave it, and two offices can reach different conclusions about the same businesses. Confirm your position with the revenue office in each state and consider obtaining advice from a registered tax agent or a lawyer before acting.
Prepared using the 2026-27 rates and thresholds of Revenue NSW, the State Revenue Office Victoria, the Queensland Revenue Office, RevenueWA, RevenueSA, the State Revenue Office Tasmania, the Territory Revenue Office and the ACT Revenue Office, with interest at 12.43% a year (4.43% market plus a fixed 8% premium) and penalty tax under the harmonised Taxation Administration Acts. The figures on this page belong to a fictional group and are shown to demonstrate the format.
That is somebody else's answer. Yours takes about three minutes and costs nothing.
The link may have already been used. If you are still getting emails, write to us and we will stop them by hand.
Guides
Written for the person who runs the business rather than for the person who administers the Act. Every rate and threshold is this year's, every rule is named with the section that creates it, and the working is shown — because the official page for your state answers for your state, and nobody else's page answers for the other seven.
Reading is useful. Knowing what your own group owes in all eight states is better.
Thresholds and rates
Victoria charges two payroll tax surcharges and Queensland one levy, and all three start once the employer's — or the group's — Australian wages pass $10 million. Like every other threshold in payroll tax, the line is apportioned by the share of wages paid in that state, so an interstate group reaches it on far less local payroll than a single-state employer would.
All three charges follow the same shape. The test of whether they apply at all is the employer's or the group's Australian taxable wages. What they are charged on is the wages paid in that state, above that state's apportioned share of the line.
Your surcharge line = $10,000,000 × (wages in that state ÷ total Australian wages)
Surcharge = (wages in that state − your surcharge line) × the rate
So a group with $30,000,000 of Australian wages, of which $6,000,000 is paid in Victoria, does not reach the Victorian surcharge at $10,000,000 of Victorian wages. Its line is $10,000,000 × 20% = $2,000,000, and the surcharge is charged on the $4,000,000 above it.
Victoria charges two separate surcharges that happen to sit on the same thresholds, which is why they are usually described as a single loading.
| Charge | Above $10m | Above $100m | Ends |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mental Health and Wellbeing Surcharge | 0.5% | a further 0.5% | No end date |
| COVID-19 Debt Temporary Surcharge | 0.5% | a further 0.5% | 30 June 2033 |
| Combined | 1.0% | 2.0% |
The Mental Health and Wellbeing Surcharge has applied since 1 January 2022 and funds the mental health system. The COVID-19 Debt Temporary Surcharge began on 1 July 2023 and is legislated to run for ten years. They are separate charges with separate purposes, and the second one is scheduled to end while the first is not.
On top of Victoria's ordinary 4.85% rate, that takes the effective Victorian rate to 5.85% on wages above the apportioned $10 million line, and 6.85% above the $100 million one. Wages that are exempt from payroll tax are exempt from the surcharges as well.
Queensland charges a mental health levy of 0.25% on Queensland taxable wages above the apportioned $10 million line, and a further 0.5% above the apportioned $100 million line. The structure is identical to Victoria's; only the rates differ.
It sits on top of Queensland's ordinary rate, which is itself 4.75% or 4.95% depending on whether the group's Australian wages exceed $6.5 million. A group above both lines is therefore paying 5.20% in Queensland before the second levy tier is reached.
This is the part worth reading twice. A single-state Victorian employer reaches the surcharge when it pays $10 million of Victorian wages. A national group with a fifth of its payroll in Victoria reaches it when the group pays $10 million nationally — which is when its Victorian payroll is only $2 million.
Two employers with identical Victorian operations can therefore be on completely different footings, because one of them has wages elsewhere and the other does not. Nothing about the Victorian business has changed.
A group pays $20,000,000 of Australian wages: $12,000,000 in New South Wales, $5,000,000 in Victoria and $3,000,000 in Queensland.
| Victoria | Queensland | |
|---|---|---|
| Wages in that state | $5,000,000 | $3,000,000 |
| Share of Australian wages | 25% | 15% |
| Apportioned $10m line | $2,500,000 | $1,500,000 |
| Wages above the line | $2,500,000 | $1,500,000 |
| Rate | 1.0% | 0.25% |
| Charged | $25,000 | $3,750 |
$28,750 a year on top of the ordinary payroll tax, and neither state's own calculator would have shown it, because neither can see the wages paid in the other two.
No other jurisdiction charges a payroll tax surcharge. New South Wales, Western Australia, South Australia, Tasmania, the Northern Territory and the ACT all levy their ordinary rate and nothing on top — though the ACT's rate ladder and the Northern Territory's large-employer rate do something similar by raising the rate itself as national wages rise. Every rate, state by state.
Both offices calculate the surcharge automatically from the wage figures declared on the monthly and annual returns, so there is no separate lodgement. What matters is that the return declares the group's Australian wages correctly — because that figure, not the local one, decides whether the surcharge applies and where its line falls. What the reconciliation asks for.
The calculator works out each surcharge line from your own wage split and shows what is charged above it, jurisdiction by jurisdiction.
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About
Somebody at a barbecue mentions grouping, or a letter arrives asking about related entities, and a business owner who has done everything asked of them for six years discovers that two companies they always thought of as separate have been one employer for payroll tax the whole time. There is no notice, no registration, no form: it happens by operation of the Act, from the day the connection existed. Five years of tax, penalty tax and interest can be assessed at once, and the first anybody knows about it is usually the assessment.
None of this is secret. The grouping provisions are in the Payroll Tax Act 2007 and its equivalents in each state and territory — related corporations, common control, common employees and the tracing of interests through trusts and companies. The relevant contract provisions and their eight exemptions are in section 32. Penalty tax and the reassessment window are in the harmonised Taxation Administration Acts. Every rate, threshold, phase-out and surcharge is published by the eight revenue offices and reset on 1 July. What almost nobody sees is their own figures, because payroll tax is eight separate taxes and each office answers only for itself.
Payroll Tax Grouping does one thing: it applies all eight published schedules to your wage figures at once, splits each tax-free threshold the way the Acts split it, adds the surcharges and levies, and shows you in full what they produce — every jurisdiction priced, every lawful way of dealing with a shortfall ranked on one stated measure, and every working visible so you can check it, argue with it, or take it to somebody who can.
We do not tell you what to do. We are not licensed to, and we cannot rule on whether your businesses are grouped — that is a question of law about your own arrangements, and it is answered by each revenue office separately. The arithmetic is the part people are missing, not the opinion. What an exclusion order involves if you decide the grouping question is worth arguing.
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, ABNs, client identification numbers, bank account details or any individual employee's name, 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, revenue offices, the Australian Taxation Office, accountants or tax agents, 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, bookkeepers and accountants working out whether a group of businesses is liable for payroll tax. 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 payroll tax rates, thresholds and grouping rules of the eight Australian revenue offices only. If you use it from outside Australia you do so on your own initiative and are responsible for local compliance.
Payroll Tax Grouping is an information and calculation service. It applies the published payroll tax rates, thresholds and grouping rules of the eight Australian revenue offices 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 tax 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 a state or territory revenue office. 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