How the calculations are made

The calculator applies the rules published by the Department of Social Services in its Guides to Social Policy Law, read on 11 October 2026: the Social Security Guide (version released on 21 September 2026, after the indexation of 20 September 2026), the Family Assistance Guide (rates of the 2026-27 income year) and the Paid Parental Leave Guide. All figures sit in a single parameter file; no page types a rate. The calculations run in your browser and nothing is sent anywhere.

The rates used

Family Tax Benefit

Part A is worked out twice, as the Family Assistance Guide requires. Method 1 starts from the maximum rate of each child plus the Part A supplement (when family income is $80,000 or less) plus Rent Assistance, and removes 20 cents for each dollar of family income between $69,131 and $123,078, then 30 cents above. Method 2 starts from the base rate and removes 30 cents for each dollar above $123,078. The family receives the higher of the two (<a href="https://guides.dss.gov.au/family-assistance-guide/3/1/4/40" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">FA Guide 3.1.4.40</a>, <a href="https://guides.dss.gov.au/family-assistance-guide/3/1/8/20" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">3.1.8.20</a>). For one child under 5, Part A falls to the base rate at about $89,973 of family income and stops at about $129,648.

Part B pays a single parent in full up to the primary earner limit. For a couple, the higher earner must be at or under $124,327; the lower earner's income above $7,154 reduces it by 20 cents in the dollar; it stops when the youngest child turns 13 (<a href="https://guides.dss.gov.au/family-assistance-guide/3/1/9/10" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">3.1.9.10</a>). If either parent receives an income support payment, both parts are paid without the income test. Annual amounts become fortnightly ones at 14 days out of 365: $6,139.30 a year is $235.48 a fortnight.

Rent Assistance

Gross Rent Assistance is 75 cents for each dollar of rent above the threshold, capped at the maximum. With children it is computed on annual figures inside FTB Part A Method 1 and is the first part of the rate to go when income reduces Part A; without children it is added to the pension or allowance before that payment's income test (<a href="https://guides.dss.gov.au/family-assistance-guide/3/1/4/30" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">FA Guide 3.1.4.30</a>, <a href="https://guides.dss.gov.au/social-security-guide/5/1/7/10" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">SS Guide 5.1.7.10</a>).

Child Care Subsidy

The standard percentage is 90% up to $88,520 of combined family income, then one point less for each $5,000 or part of it. A second or younger child aged 5 or under gets the higher rate while family income is under $370,727. The percentage applies to the lower of the hourly fee and the hourly cap, for at most 72 hours a fortnight, or 100 with more than 48 hours of activity. 5% is withheld (<a href="https://guides.dss.gov.au/family-assistance-guide/3/5/4" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">FA Guide 3.5.4</a>).

Pensions and allowances

Allowances (JobSeeker, Youth Allowance, Austudy, Parenting Payment partnered) use the benefits income test of <a href="https://guides.dss.gov.au/social-security-guide/4/2/2" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">SS Guide 4.2.2</a> on the maximum rate including the Energy Supplement, plus a partner income test at 60 cents above the partner's own cut-out, rounded up to $1,440 a fortnight. They are not paid when assets exceed the free area. Parenting Payment single tapers at 40 cents above a free area that rises with each child. The Age Pension and Carer Payment are computed under the income test (50 cents in the dollar, 25 cents each for a couple, deemed income included) and under the assets test ($19.50 a year for each $250), and the lower rate is paid (<a href="https://guides.dss.gov.au/social-security-guide/4/2/1/10" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">SS Guide 4.2.1.10</a>, <a href="https://guides.dss.gov.au/social-security-guide/4/2/3" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">4.2.3</a>).

Tested against the official examples

• FA Guide 3.1.8.20, Method 2 worked example (two children, family income of $102,000 on the 2019-20 parameters): $125.70 under Method 1, $2,286.50 under Method 2, reproduced to the cent.
• FA Guide 3.5.4, Child Care Subsidy example (income of $288,520): 50% standard and 74% higher rate, $5.00 and $7.40 an hour on a $10 fee, 42 subsidised hours left in the second week.
• FA Guide 3.5.3, hourly cap examples: subsidy on the fee below the cap, on the cap above it.
• Pension income cut-offs derived from the free areas and rates: $2,701 single, $4,128 combined for a couple.
• Rent Assistance reaches its maximum exactly at the minimum rent printed in SS Guide 5.1.7.10 for singles, sharers and couples.
• Parental Leave Pay: 7.6 times the national minimum wage, rounded, equals the published daily rate.

In all, 38 engine tests run before every release, next to a test suite that checks every page; a drift of more than a cent fails the build.

What the calculator does not do

Shared care percentages, the FTB maintenance income test on child support received, the parental income test of dependent Youth Allowance, the Work Bonus, Pharmaceutical Allowance, Remote Area Allowance, the Energy Supplement inside FTB (closed to new families since 20 March 2017), transitional pension rates, the care receiver tests of Carer Payment, and the work test of Paid Parental Leave (asked as a question, not computed). Where these apply, the estimate is approximate and the page concerned says so. Services Australia decides on verified income and circumstances.

Method last reviewed on 11 October 2026.