# Estimate Australian employee pay-run cost

Work out what one employee costs each pay: PAYG withholding, super guarantee with Payday Super timing, a national minimum-wage check and the date super must reach the fund.

Canonical: https://aroai.com/tools/au_employee_cost/

## Tool reference

MCP tool ID: `au_employee_cost`. Availability: Live. Country: Australia.

Credit use: 1 credit.

## Input schema

```json
{
  "$schema": "https://json-schema.org/draft/2020-12/schema",
  "type": "object",
  "properties": {
    "tax_year": {
      "type": "string",
      "const": "2026-27"
    },
    "gross_pay": {
      "type": "number",
      "minimum": 0,
      "maximum": 100000000
    },
    "pay_frequency": {
      "type": "string",
      "enum": [
        "weekly",
        "fortnightly",
        "monthly"
      ]
    },
    "payday": {
      "type": "string",
      "pattern": "^\\d{4}-\\d{2}-\\d{2}$"
    },
    "hours_worked": {
      "type": "number",
      "minimum": 0.01,
      "maximum": 1000
    },
    "tax_free_threshold_claimed": {
      "type": "boolean"
    },
    "casual": {
      "default": false,
      "description": "Set true to check the adult casual National Minimum Wage including loading.",
      "type": "boolean"
    },
    "state": {
      "description": "Optional employee location context; it does not affect the national Payday Super deadline.",
      "type": "string",
      "enum": [
        "ACT",
        "NSW",
        "NT",
        "QLD",
        "SA",
        "TAS",
        "VIC",
        "WA"
      ]
    },
    "region": {
      "description": "Optional employee location context; regional holidays do not affect the national Payday Super deadline.",
      "type": "string",
      "minLength": 1
    },
    "qualifying_earnings_this_pay": {
      "description": "Qualifying earnings for this pay. Defaults to gross_pay.",
      "type": "number",
      "minimum": 0,
      "maximum": 100000000
    },
    "ytd_qualifying_earnings_before_pay": {
      "description": "Year-to-date qualifying earnings before this pay, for the SG maximum base.",
      "type": "number",
      "minimum": 0,
      "maximum": 100000000
    }
  },
  "required": [
    "tax_year",
    "gross_pay",
    "pay_frequency",
    "payday",
    "hours_worked",
    "tax_free_threshold_claimed",
    "casual"
  ],
  "additionalProperties": false
}
```

## Example input

```json
{
  "tax_year": "2026-27",
  "gross_pay": 2615.38,
  "pay_frequency": "fortnightly",
  "payday": "2026-11-19",
  "hours_worked": 76,
  "tax_free_threshold_claimed": true,
  "casual": false,
  "state": "NSW"
}
```

## Usage notes

- The super deadline counts whole-state public holidays only.
- Annual super projects this pay across the year and applies the maximum contributions base.
- Awards, enterprise agreements, leave accrual and study-loan adjustments are outside this estimate.