Should I compare job offers on salary or total package?

Neither on its own. Salary ignores super differences and package figures hide that super isn't spendable. Comparing after-tax take-home puts every offer on the same footing, with the super gap shown separately so you can weigh cash today against retirement savings.

How is a sign-on bonus taxed?

It's ordinary income, taxed at your marginal rate in the year you receive it. We add it to year-1 income and tax the total, which is what your annual assessment does. A $10,000 sign-on bonus is typically worth $6,000–$7,000 in hand for a middle-income earner.

What raise percentage should I use?

If the employer has a stated review cycle or band progression, use that. Otherwise Australian wages have grown roughly 3–4% a year recently, so 3% is a sensible floor for a flat role; use more only where there's a concrete promotion path. The point of the field is to test how sensitive the winner is to growth — try both a low and high case.

Does a higher-super offer beat higher salary?

Dollar for dollar, super above the guarantee is usually worth more than salary because it's taxed at 15% going in rather than your marginal rate — but you can't touch it until preservation age. If the offers are close on take-home, the higher-super offer is often the better total deal for anyone not needing the cash now.

Does this include HELP/HECS repayments?

Yes — tick the HELP debt box and each offer's repayment is calculated from its own income, including bonuses. A higher offer can push you into a higher repayment band, which is part of why after-tax gaps are smaller than gross ones.

Job Offer Comparator

Compare job offers by what actually lands in your pocket — not the headline salary

Put two or three offers side by side with their super, sign-on bonus and expected raises. We resolve each to after-tax take-home and project the trajectories, so you can see when a lower offer with faster growth overtakes a higher one.

Your situation

Year

Residency

HELP/HECS debt

Private hospital cover

Project

Base salary ($/yr)

Super (%)

Raise (%/yr)

Sign-on bonus ($)

Other cash ($/yr)

Enter the base salary to see this offer's take-home pay.

Base salary ($/yr)

Super (%)

Raise (%/yr)

Sign-on bonus ($)

Other cash ($/yr)

Enter the base salary to see this offer's take-home pay.

Enter a base salary on at least two offers to compare them — or see it in action first:

How to Use This Calculator

1Enter the base salary from each offer letter (before tax, excluding super)
2Add each offer's super rate if it's above the 12% guarantee, plus any sign-on bonus or recurring cash benefits
3Set an expected annual raise for each role — ask in the interview, or use CPI (~3%) as a floor
4Set your shared situation once: financial year, residency, HELP debt and hospital cover
5Read the verdict, then check the trajectory chart to see whether the ranking holds over time

Why compare offers on take-home pay?

Two offers that look $5,000 apart on paper can be much closer after tax — or further apart once super, bonuses and raises are counted. Because income tax is progressive, each extra dollar of a higher offer is taxed at your top marginal rate, so headline gaps always shrink after tax. Meanwhile a higher super rate adds value you can't spend today, and a sign-on bonus is one-off cash that's fully taxed.

This tool resolves every component to a single comparable number — after-tax cash in your pocket — and then projects each offer forward with its own raise assumption. That trajectory view matters: a role that starts $6,000 lower but grows 9% a year overtakes a flat role surprisingly fast, and the crossover year is exactly the kind of thing worth knowing before you accept.

What moves the answer

Marginal tax on the gap: The difference between offers is taxed at your highest rate — a $10,000 gross gap can be worth as little as $5,300 in hand.
Super above the guarantee: An employer paying 15% instead of 12% on $100k adds $3,000 a year to your retirement — invisible in take-home but real money.
Raise trajectory: Compounding raises dominate after a few years. A 3% versus 8% raise assumption changes the 5-year winner more often than a $5k starting gap.
Sign-on bonuses fade: A bonus only boosts year 1 and is taxed at your marginal rate. Don't let a $10k sweetener decide a 5-year question.

Tips

•Ask each employer about their review cycle and typical increase — it turns the raise field from a guess into data
•Check whether bonuses and allowances attract super; we assume super is paid on base salary only
•Weigh the non-cash factors separately: commute, flexibility, learning and job security don't fit in a calculator but often decide the question

Frequently Asked Questions