Tax planner for locums

The planner takes income included in its reserve calculation for the Australian financial year you select, deducts your configured expense assumptions, and estimates a reserve for the supported business structure. Current-year results annualise from the date span of included income. A historical year uses the income recorded inside that complete financial-year window.

Realised income means non-cancelled shifts marked Delivered, Invoice ready, Invoiced, or Paid. Offered and confirmed shifts are not treated as earned income and do not enter the tax estimate. A percentage-of-billings shift with no billing revenue contributes nothing until the revenue is recorded.

Income classified as PAYG is excluded from the reserve and shown separately as PAYG income (out of scope) when there is a positive amount. Agency income uses the recorded payment amount when available. Paid cancellation-fee invoice lines also contribute, using their settlement date. Check these records before relying on Realised gross.

Offered and confirmed shifts that have not ended in the selected current financial year appear in an Upcoming shift forecast. It shows the value included in the reserve model and the count of offered or confirmed shifts, but it is excluded from realised gross, annualisation and the tax estimate. This keeps work that might change or be cancelled from being presented as income already earned.

After a shift is marked Delivered, reload the planner to include it in the realised calculation, subject to its income source and recorded revenue. Historical financial years show realised work only. The forecast is a planning aid, not a promise of payment, and percentage-of-billings work with no revenue figure contributes no forecast amount.

For the Sole trader setting, the planner calculates:

• Income tax: applied in the ATO resident brackets above the tax-free threshold, at the marginal rates for the selected financial year, with the low income tax offset applied.
• Medicare levy: the model uses a 2 per cent rate for 2025-26 and 2026-27, with a low-income threshold and phase-in calculation.
• Medicare levy surcharge: an extra charge for higher earners without an appropriate level of private hospital cover. The planner can flag this as a possible additional reserve based on your private-cover setting.

Your expense-rate assumption and fixed annual expenses are removed before the model works out taxable income. It also deducts planned personal super up to its estimated remaining cap. These assumptions do not establish your entitlement to a deduction.

If you select Pty Ltd, the preferred reserve uses a fixed base-rate company tax assumption on modelled profit, plus the GST estimate. It does not test eligibility for that rate or switch to the full company rate. It does not model salary payments, dividends or franking credits.

The tax breakdown still shows personal income-tax calculations; it is not a separate company comparison table. Use the Business structure setting only for the structure you actually operate through, then select Save. Discuss the company assumption and any money you draw from the company with your accountant.

Trust income, distributions and tax outcomes depend on facts the current planner does not model. Choose a supported structure only if that matches how you actually operate. Otherwise, keep the trust on your profile and use your registered tax agent's calculation. Sessional shows the unsupported-structure notice so a plausible-looking but wrong sole-trader estimate cannot be mistaken for your trust position.

Review these areas separately from the headline reserve:

• Personal Services Income (PSI): the tax planner does not decide your PSI position. Use the PSI diagnostic guide or public PSI self-assessment to prepare questions for your registered tax agent. The guide explains ITAA 1997 s84-5's test of income mainly rewarding personal efforts or skills and the PSB tests in s87-18, s87-20, s87-25 and s87-30, subject to s87-15(3).
• GST and BAS: the planner's GST estimate treats all included revenue and assumed expenses as GST-inclusive when GST registered is selected. It does not classify individual supplies. Review the BAS guide for the separate invoice-and-expense view, and ask your tax agent about registration and the treatment of your work. The guide explains the GST Act s38-7 medical service test and exclusions, and the s38-10 conditions for other health services, including the pharmacy limitation.
• Super: the planner compares planned personal contributions with an estimated remaining cap after modelled employer super. The separate super tracker compares expected amounts with payments you record. Neither view confirms your fund balance or prevents excess contributions.

Tune the model in Settings, then select Save:

• Expense rate: a percentage of gross income deducted in the model. Use your expense log and your accountant's advice to inform this assumption; the planner does not import your expense ledger.
• Extra expenses (annual): a fixed dollar amount added to the expense-rate assumption.
• Monthly super contribution: the planner annualises this and limits its modelled deduction to the estimated remaining cap.
• GST registered: controls the simplified GST estimate.
• Have hospital-cover private health insurance: controls whether the model includes a Medicare surcharge estimate.

This is a limited estimate. Take the following to your registered tax agent alongside the planner output:

• PAYG instalments: bring your notices and payment records; the planner does not reconcile them.
• Study and training loans: the planner does not calculate loan repayments.
• Other income and super adjustments: the model does not calculate Division 293 or excess-contribution tax, combine PAYG income with the reserve calculation, or import property, investment or external trust income.

The full tax planner is available on the Plus and Pro plans. For a quick public estimate without an account, use the locum tax calculator.