Loading…
Estimate your redundancy pay under the National Employment Standards (NES)
Based on years of continuous service and your weekly base rate of pay. Fair Work rules.
You need at least 12 months of continuous service to be entitled to NES redundancy pay.
Your base rate for ordinary hours (before overtime or penalties). Use your gross weekly pay if you work standard hours.
Small business employers are not required to pay NES redundancy pay.
Based on National Employment Standards (NES)
A genuine redundancy payment is tax-free up to $13,598 plus $6,801 for each completed year of service (2026–27 ATO limits).
Your whole $10,500 sits under the tax-free limit, so none of it is taxed as income — provided it is a genuine redundancy.
The tax-free limit applies only to a genuine redundancy: your job must be abolished and you must be under Age Pension age. It does not cover unused annual leave or long service leave paid out on termination, which are taxed separately. Leaving voluntarily, reaching retirement age or dismissal for cause is a non-genuine redundancy and gets no tax-free amount.
This is an estimate. Your actual entitlement may depend on your award, agreement or contract. Redundancy pay may be taxed; see the ATO on leaving your job. For official guidance use the Fair Work Notice & Redundancy Calculator.
This calculator is not intended to be relied on for the purposes of making a decision in relation to a financial product. Before you make a financial decision, consider obtaining advice from someone who holds an Australian Financial Services Licence. We do not, and we cannot advise you.
Redundancy pay (also called severance pay) is a lump sum paid to employees whose job is no longer required. Under the National Employment Standards (NES), eligible employees receive between 4 and 16 weeks' pay depending on their length of service.
Redundancy occurs when an employer decides a job no longer needs to be done by anyone, usually due to business changes, restructuring or economic conditions. It's not the same as being fired for performance.
A genuine redundancy payment is tax-free up to $13,598 plus $6,801 for each completed year of service in 2026–27 — the calculator above shows your own limit and splits your payment into its tax-free and taxable parts. Anything above the limit is an employment termination payment (ETP), taxed at a concessional rate that depends on your age relative to your preservation age, up to the $270,000 ETP cap. Above that cap the excess is taxed at the top marginal rate.
The ATO treats a redundancy as genuine when your employer decides the job itself no longer needs to be done by anyone and you are under Age Pension age on the day you are dismissed. If you leave voluntarily, reach normal retirement age, come to the end of a contract or are dismissed for performance or misconduct, it is a non-genuine redundancy — the whole payment is taxed as an ETP with no tax-free component.
No. Lump sum payouts of unused annual leave, leave loading and long service leave are excluded from a genuine redundancy payment and taxed under their own rules, as are wages and allowances still owing to you. The tax-free limit applies only to the redundancy or severance component itself.
Redundancy occurs when the job itself is no longer needed. Termination can happen for various reasons including performance. Only genuine redundancy attracts special tax treatment.
Small businesses are exempt. Employers may also apply to the Fair Work Commission to reduce redundancy pay if they can't afford it or if they find you suitable alternative employment.
Estimates only. Not financial or tax advice. Full disclaimer for your rights and our limitations of liability.
This calculator exists to show you the arithmetic. It applies published Australian rates, thresholds and formulas to the numbers you enter and shows the working, so you can check it. That is all it does — it produces a number and describes what the number is. It does not recommend anything and it holds no opinion about any financial product.
What can move this result
This calculator is not intended to be relied on for the purposes of making a decision in relation to a financial product. Before you make a financial decision, consider obtaining advice from someone who holds an Australian Financial Services Licence. We do not, and we cannot advise you.