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Salary Sacrifice Calculator
Super vs ETFs vs Offset — find your best move
Enter your details and click Calculate to compare your options.
| Year | Age | Super | ETFs (pre-CGT) | ETFs (after CGT) | Offset | Best |
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Compare three ways to put extra money to work: salary sacrifice into super, investing after-tax in ETFs, or directing funds into a mortgage offset account. The calculator models full Australian tax rules including Division 293, Division 296, the 15% super earnings tax, 2026-budget CGT indexation rules on ETFs, and franking credit offsets.
Results depend on your salary, marginal rate, super balance, mortgage terms, and assumed investment returns. Use this to understand the trade-offs before speaking with a licensed financial adviser.
For most people, yes. Even with Division 293 tax (30%), super contributions are still taxed far less than investing after-tax at your marginal rate of up to 47%. Long-term, the lower tax on super earnings (15%) compounds faster than a taxable ETF account, making salary sacrifice attractive for almost all income levels.
Division 293 is an extra 15% tax applied to concessional super contributions (salary sacrifice + employer contributions) when your combined income and contributions exceed $250,000. This brings the total tax on those contributions to 30% — still well below the 47% marginal rate that would apply if you invested the same money after-tax.
Division 296 is an additional annual tax — effective 1 July 2026 — that applies to super earnings on balances above $3 million. Earnings on the portion of your balance between $3M and $10M are taxed at an extra 15% (30% total); earnings above $10M are taxed at an extra 25% (40% total). The ATO assesses it each financial year based on the growth in your Total Superannuation Balance. If your projected balance crosses $3M, this calculator applies Division 296 automatically and the projected balance already reflects it.
It depends on your mortgage interest rate, marginal tax rate, and years to retirement. A guaranteed mortgage rate saving of 6% can beat a volatile ETF expected return — especially after tax. But super's tax-sheltered compounding often wins over longer horizons. This calculator models both directly so you can compare with your own numbers.
Yes. Every dollar in your offset account reduces the interest charged that month, which means more of each repayment goes to principal. The calculator shows exactly how many years earlier your mortgage is paid off and the payoff year — so you can see the concrete timeline benefit alongside the wealth comparison.
The interest saving each year equals your offset balance multiplied by your mortgage interest rate. Because your offset balance grows as you keep contributing, the saving compounds over the life of the loan. The calculator totals this up and shows the lifetime interest saved — often tens of thousands of dollars for a typical mortgage.
Once the mortgage is gone, you choose how to redeploy the money: either invest in ETFs after tax, or continue salary-sacrificing into super. A mode selector appears in the Offset insights card when your loan is cleared before retirement. The final wealth figure reflects both the interest-saving phase and the chosen reinvestment phase.
The $30,000 cap applies to all concessional contributions combined — your salary sacrifice plus employer super. If you exceed it, the ATO includes the excess in your assessable income and taxes it at your marginal rate. A 15% tax offset applies (because the fund already paid 15% contributions tax on the excess), so the net extra tax is your marginal rate minus 15%. For example, at a 47% marginal rate the excess is effectively taxed at 32% instead of 15%. The calculator models this correctly: only contributions within the cap receive the concessional 15% tax rate, and the excess reduces what ends up in super.
The calculator uses the 2026–27 income tax brackets (effective 1 July 2026): 17% up to $45,000; 32% up to $135,000; 39% up to $190,000; 47% above $190,000 — all including the 2% Medicare levy. Super contributions are taxed at 15% (or 30% if Division 293 applies). Super earnings are taxed at 15% on income and 10% on capital gains, plus any Division 296 surcharge for large balances. For ETFs and the offset post-payoff phase, the 2026 budget rules apply: the 50% CGT discount is replaced by cost-base indexation at 2% p.a., and a minimum 30% tax rate applies to the indexed gain (regardless of marginal rate).
Super earnings are taxed at a lower rate than personal income, which is why they compound faster. The calculator splits your expected return into two components you enter:
For example, with an 8% expected return and 4% dividend yield, super earns 4% × 0.85 + 4% × 0.90 = 7.0% after tax — compared to a higher personal tax rate on the same investment held outside super. This difference compounding over decades is the core advantage of super salary sacrifice.
If your Total Superannuation Balance (TSB) was below $500,000 at the previous 30 June, you can use any unused concessional cap space from the past five financial years on top of the standard $30,000 annual cap. For example, if you only used $20,000 of your cap last year, the $10,000 unused amount rolls forward and can be contributed this year — giving you an effective cap above $30,000. The unused amounts accumulate on a rolling five-year basis: amounts older than five years drop off. This is a one-time boost, not a recurring uplift — once you use carry-forward amounts, those years' unused space is consumed.
Log in to your ATO account via MyGov, then navigate to: Super → Manage → Carry-forward concessional contributions. The ATO pre-calculates your available carry-forward balance based on your reported contributions. Enter that total figure in the "Carry-forward cap available" field. If your TSB is $500,000 or above, you are not eligible and the calculator will ignore the field and show a warning.
Yes — completely free, no sign-up required, and no data is sent to any server. All calculations run entirely in your browser. Nothing you enter is stored or transmitted.