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Two jobs · the tax-free threshold · 2026-27

Two jobs, one tax-free threshold

A second job is not taxed at a higher rate.

FY 2026-27 tax tables · verified

Withholding scales verified against the official sources — how we check.

Job 1 — usually your main job
Job 2

Each pay before tax, as it appears on the payslip.

Where you claim the tax-free threshold

Left to pay at tax time

$677

$5,928 withheld over the year, against $6,605 of tax on $52,000.

Withheld over the year $5,928Not covered, left to pay $677

How it’s made up

Job 1 over a year$41,600
Withheld by job 1 (threshold claimed)$4,316
Job 2 over a year$10,400
Withheld by job 2 (no threshold)$1,612
Tax and Medicare on both jobs together$6,605
Left to pay at tax time$677

Per pay: job 1 withholds $166, job 2 withholds $62.

Withheld under each choice, against the year’s tax

Enter your details above to see this.

General information, using the ATO’s 2026-27 withholding formulas and assuming every pay is the same. Withholding variations, declared offsets and study loan withholding are not included.

All four choices, side by side
Where you claim itWithheld a yearAt tax time
Claim from job 1$5,928$677 to pay
Claim from job 2$9,568$2,963 back
Claim from both$4,316$2,289 to pay
Claim from neither$11,180$4,575 back

Your income is added up and taxed once, at tax time. What changes is how much each employer takes along the way — and that depends on which one you claim the tax-free threshold from.

Why the second job seems to be taxed so hard

Each employer only sees its own pay. The one you claim the threshold from withholds nothing until you earn about $365 a week. Every other employer withholds from the first few dollars, because it assumes the threshold has already been used elsewhere. On the ATO’s own weekly tax table, pay of $563.60 has $33 withheld with the threshold and $108 without it.

That gap is withholding, not tax. At the end of the year the ATO adds both jobs together, works out one bill on the total, and compares it with everything that was withheld. Too much comes back as a refund; too little is a bill.

Which job to claim it from

  • Usually the one that pays more. That is the ATO’s guidance. The table of all four choices above shows, for your own figures, which one lands closest to your bill.
  • Only one, once your total passes $18,200. If your income from every payer together will be $18,200 or less, you can claim it from all of them, since no tax is due at all. If it later rises above that, give one employer a withholding declaration to stop claiming it there.
  • Centrelink counts as a payer. A taxable pension or allowance alongside a job is the same question as two jobs.
  • Changing jobs is not two jobs. Once the old employer stops paying you, claim it from the new one. The year is settled on your total either way.

When the withholding is still wrong

Even with the threshold in the right place, two jobs can leave you short. A payer withholds as if its pay were spread across a whole year at that rate, and the second job’s scale has no idea how much the first one pays. If the calculator shows a bill at tax time, you can ask one employer to take more out of each pay with a PAYG withholding variation, which can also lower it if you get a large refund every year.

A study loan adds its own withholding on top, worked out separately by each payer. The STSL guide explains why a second job can have it withheld while the main job does not. What each employer takes from a single pay, with or without the threshold, is in the PAYG withholding calculator, and your take-home on one salary is the pay calculator.

What this does not work out

Pay that changes from one period to the next, a year with 53 weekly or 27 fortnightly pays, declared tax offsets, Medicare levy adjustments, foreign and part-year residents, and anyone who has not given a payer their tax file number. Each of those changes the withholding, and some change the bill. The bill itself assumes a full-year resident whose only income is these two jobs, with the $1,000 standard deduction and no other deductions.

Frequently asked questions

Is a second job taxed at a higher rate?
No. There is one set of rates and it applies to your total income for the year, however many jobs it came from. What makes a second job look heavily taxed is the withholding: without the tax-free threshold your second employer starts taking tax from almost the first dollar, on the assumption that your main job has already used the threshold. On $300 a week that is $52 a pay. Whatever of it your year's tax does not need comes back when you lodge.
What happens if I claim the tax-free threshold from two jobs at once?
Both employers withhold as though their pay were your only income, so too little comes out across the year. Two jobs paying $1,200 a fortnight each, both claiming it, withhold $4,368 over the year against a bill of $10,089 — leaving $5,721 to pay at tax time. The ATO's guidance is to claim from both only if your total from every payer will be $18,200 or less; otherwise tell the second employer you are not claiming it.
Do I tick yes or no for the tax-free threshold on a new job?
On the tax file number declaration the question asks whether you want to claim it from that payer. If this is your only job, or your main one, the usual answer is yes. If you already claim it from another employer or from Centrelink and your total will be more than $18,200, the ATO's guidance is no for this one. Changing jobs is different: once the old employer stops paying you, you can claim it from the new one even though you claimed it earlier in the year.
What happens if I do not claim the tax-free threshold anywhere?
Usually more is withheld than you owe, and the excess comes back as a refund when your return is assessed — you do not lose the threshold, you get it later. The "Claim from neither" row in the table above shows it for your own figures. Two well-paid jobs are the exception: each employer withholds as though its pay were your only income, so neither reaches the higher brackets the two together do. Two equal jobs paying $85,500 a year or more each leave tax to pay even with the threshold claimed from neither. A PAYG withholding variation can raise or lower what is taken from each pay.

Where these rules come from

How we check sets out how every figure on this site is verified.