Is an extra day's work worth it?
Jess adds a fourth day at $40 an hour, with two children in day care. Of the extra $16,640 of pay, the family keeps $4,452. Tax, lost Family Tax Benefit and more child care take the rest.
Australia · 2026-27 rules · videos recorded 18 October 2026
When your income changes, your tax, your family payments and your child care costs all change with it, and not by the same amount. The Net Income Modeller works them out together, so you can see what is left.
Here it is on four made-up families, in four short videos. Pick one to play it. The figures on screen are the tool's own, and the captions are in the video.
Jess adds a fourth day at $40 an hour, with two children in day care. Of the extra $16,640 of pay, the family keeps $4,452. Tax, lost Family Tax Benefit and more child care take the rest.
A single parent on $80,000 is offered a $2,000 raise. The end-of-year Family Tax Benefit supplement stops at a family income limit, and she ends up $982 a year worse off.
Mick's wife Tash does the books, quotes and diary, unpaid. Put on the books at $30,000 plus 12% super, she leaves the family $4,683 a year better off, and she gets $3,600 of super. Family Tax Benefit Part B stops, and the child support he pays falls.
A year off gives up $57,693 of pay but costs the family $24,215 once tax and payments are counted. When the paid weeks run out, the tightest month is $3,147. Back three days at $36 an hour, the third day keeps $13 an hour.
You put in your household: who earns what, your children and their ages, your rent, your child care. It works out the year's money, line by line:
Then it lets you change something and see what moves: a pay rise, an extra day, a year off with a baby, a salary package, a wage for a partner who works in the business, a work purchase for a sole trader.
It works from the published rules for 2026-27. The figures are estimates, not a Centrelink or tax office assessment, and not advice. It doesn't cover every payment or every rule, and it can't know your whole situation. Check the figures that matter with Services Australia, the tax office or an adviser before you act on them.
What you enter about your household stays in your browser. Your account holds your email, when you accepted the terms and when your access ends.
$10 for 12 months' access. One payment, nothing recurring.
You create an account with your email, accept the terms, pay, and the tool opens. It's for your own household. Accountants, advisers and others using it for clients need a professional licence: contact us. Signing in on a second device signs out the first.
The single-topic calculators on this site are free to use. This is the one that puts it all together.
The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) limits the deduction for wages paid to a relative to what would be a reasonable payment for the service performed: the amount an employer would pay an unrelated person with similar skills and experience in the same role. The wage in the video assumes that test is met for the work actually done, with 12% super paid on top. A sole trader can't pay themselves a wage, and the payments need to comply with the usual PAYG withholding and reporting. Child support is assessed on the income the formula counts, and a lower income can lead the other parent to ask for a review. Talk to your accountant first.
This is general information, not personal advice. The families in the videos are made up. The figures are the Net Income Modeller's own, worked from the 2026-27 rules on 18 October 2026, and will change as the rules do.