A payslip has to include specific information under the Fair Work Act, but different payroll systems lay it out differently. Once you know what each section means, though, every payslip in Australia is telling you the same underlying story.
Gross Pay
Gross pay is your total earnings for the period, before any deductions. For a salaried employee it's usually a fixed number each pay; for an hourly or casual employee, it's hours worked multiplied by your rate, plus any penalty rates, allowances or overtime. This is the number the rest of the payslip works from — income tax and the Medicare levy are calculated on gross pay (or an annualised version of it), not on what you take home.
PAYG Withholding (Tax Withheld)
Pay As You Go (PAYG) withholding is the income tax your employer takes out and sends to the ATO on your behalf, based on ATO withholding schedules and what you declared on your Tax File Number declaration — including whether you claim the tax-free threshold and whether you have a HELP debt. It's designed to roughly match your expected tax for the year, spread evenly across each pay, but it's an estimate: your tax return settles the exact amount at year end.
Medicare Levy
Most payslips fold the Medicare levy into the PAYG withholding figure rather than showing it as a separate line, since it's withheld the same way. If you want to see it broken out on its own, our Income Tax Calculator Australia shows income tax and the Medicare levy separately.
HECS-HELP or Other Study Loan Repayments
If you've declared a HELP debt, extra tax is withheld to cover your expected compulsory repayment once your income is high enough. This usually shows either as its own line or folded into the total tax withheld, depending on the payroll system.
Superannuation
Your payslip should show the super guarantee contribution your employer is paying — at least 12% of your ordinary time earnings in 2026–27 — into your nominated fund. This amount is paid on top of your gross pay, not deducted from it, so it shouldn't reduce your net pay unless you've also arranged to salary sacrifice extra super voluntarily.
Salary Sacrifice and Other Deductions
Anything you've arranged to have deducted before tax — extra super, a novated lease, union fees — will typically appear as a separate line, reducing your taxable gross pay before PAYG withholding is calculated. After-tax deductions, like a workplace giving program, come out after tax and don't affect your taxable income.
Allowances
Allowances (for travel, tools, uniforms, or working in a particular location) are usually listed separately from ordinary pay. Some are taxable and included in your assessable income; others are tax-free reimbursements for money you've already spent on the employer's behalf. Your payment summary (income statement) at year end will show which is which.
Net Pay
Net pay — what actually lands in your bank account — is gross pay minus PAYG withholding, any HELP repayment withheld, and any after-tax deductions. It's the bottom-line figure, but every other line on the payslip explains how it was arrived at.
Year-to-Date (YTD) Figures
Most payslips include a YTD column next to each figure, totalling that amount from the start of the financial year. This is handy for sanity-checking your annual numbers against a calculator, or for estimating your tax position before your income statement is finalised at year end.
What a Payslip Must Legally Include
Under the Fair Work Act, every payslip has to include your employer's name and ABN, your name, the pay period and payment date, your ordinary hourly rate (if applicable), and the gross and net amount of your pay. It must be given to you within one business day of payment, whether as a printed copy or electronically. Any deduction has to be itemised — a generic "Deduction: $45" line without saying what it was for and where it went isn't compliant.
Overtime, Penalty Rates and Casual Loading
If you're paid overtime, weekend penalty rates, or an award allowance (like a first-aid or laundry allowance), these must be shown as separate line items from your ordinary pay rate, not folded into a single blended hourly figure. This matters most for casual employees: casual loading — the extra percentage paid instead of leave entitlements — has to appear as its own line, so you can confirm you're actually being paid it rather than a flat rate that happens to be similar.
Leave Balances
Many payslips show your accrued annual leave and personal (sick) leave balances, often in hours, even though these don't affect your pay for the period unless you've taken leave. Checking this periodically is worthwhile — leave accrual errors are common when hours or employment type change, and they're much easier to fix soon after they happen than years later.
Superannuation Fund Details
Beyond the contribution amount, your payslip (or your super fund's own statements) should confirm which fund your super is being paid into and your member number. It's worth checking this matches the fund you actually chose, particularly after starting a new job or if you haven't nominated a fund and a default or stapled fund has been used instead.
If Something Looks Wrong
Start by raising it directly with your employer or payroll team — most discrepancies are honest payroll errors, not deliberate underpayment, and are usually fixed quickly once flagged. If it isn't resolved, the Fair Work Ombudsman provides free advice and can investigate unpaid wages or entitlements. For unpaid or incorrect super specifically, you can report it to the ATO, which can pursue employers for unpaid super guarantee on your behalf.
To check whether your payslip figures line up with expected tax and take-home pay, try our Take Home Pay Calculator Australia, or see a full bracket-by-bracket breakdown with our Income Tax Calculator Australia.
Sources: Fair Work Ombudsman — record-keeping and pay slips.