Australia self-employed net income calculator (sole trader)
Your net income as an Australian sole trader is profit minus income tax at the ordinary individual rates — nothing on the first 18,200 AUD — plus the 2% Medicare levy.
Worked example: with Annual profit after expenses of 90,000, this model computes Net income / year 70,412. See the full breakdown.
⚠ Illustrative rates Updated for 2026 · sources checked 2026-08-22
How sole trader in Australia is calculated
A sole trader in Australia is not taxed as a business at all. Profit is simply added to your personal income and run through the same rate scale an employee faces, which is why there is no separate business rate to look up and why the tax-free threshold does the work that a deduction would do elsewhere.
What differs from a salary is everything around the tax: there is no employer paying superannuation on your behalf, no PAYG withheld through the year, and the whole liability including the Medicare levy arrives at once unless you enter PAYG instalments. The offsets that soften the bill — the low income tax offset and the small business income tax offset — are claimed at lodgement rather than deducted as you go.
Worked example
| Annual profit after expenses (AUD) | 90000 |
|---|---|
| Income tax ✓ | 17788 |
| Medicare levy (2%) ✓ | 1800 |
| Net income / year ✓ | 70412 |
Every row is computed by the engine from the inputs above. Rows marked ✓ are additionally pinned by a published self-test vector.
Frequently asked questions
How much tax does a sole trader pay on 90,000 AUD?
About 17,788 AUD of income tax plus 1,800 AUD of Medicare levy, leaving roughly 70,412 AUD before any offsets. The low income tax offset and small business income tax offset can reduce that further.
Is there a separate business tax rate for sole traders?
No. Sole traders pay individual income tax rates on their business profit. A company pays a flat company rate instead, which is why the sole trader structure stops being efficient at higher profits for some people.
Do I have to pay super as a sole trader?
It is not compulsory to pay super for yourself as a sole trader, but personal contributions are tax-deductible up to the concessional cap. This model does not deduct them.
Sources
- ATO — Individual income tax rates · checked 2026-08-22
- Sole trader tax in Australia 2025–26: rates, thresholds and the Medicare levy · checked 2026-08-22
Estimate. Not tax advice. The rates in this calculator are illustrative: they reproduce the shape of the charge through 3 self-test cases, but they are not the official schedule, so the amount shown will not match your bill. Use the official source above for that.
Check the arithmetic yourself: how this calculator is verified — the formula behind every derived value, the 3 test cases the engine reproduces, and what the badge does and does not claim. Also available as machine-readable JSON.
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Also for Australia: Australia take-home pay · Australia registration
All Australia calculators · All calculators
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