Retirement Budget & Income Calculator

This tool models a typical retiree's position for the selected financial year. It's deliberately transparent so you can sanity-check every figure.

Superannuation

• If you're 60 or over, income from a taxed super fund is tax-free and isn't counted as taxable income — this is the default assumption.
• If you enter an age under 60, super pension income is generally taxable at marginal rates with a 15% tax offset. That case is flagged but not modelled here — treat results as indicative only.

UK / English pension

• As an Australian tax resident, your UK pension is assessable foreign income and taxed in Australia (under the UK–Australia tax treaty it's generally taxable only here, not in the UK).
• The UPP deduction reduces the assessable portion. The ATO commonly accepts about 8% for many UK pensions, but it depends on the pension type — confirm your own figure.
• If you enter the pension in GBP, it's converted to AUD using your exchange rate. The ATO expects amounts converted to AUD (typically using an average annual rate).

Tax offsets & levies

• SAPTO (Seniors & Pensioners Tax Offset): applied automatically if you're 67 or over. Maximum offset $2,230 (single) or $1,602 (each member of a couple), shading out at 12.5c per dollar of rebate income above $34,919 (single) / $30,994 (couple), and cutting out entirely at $52,759 / $43,810. It's non-refundable — it can reduce income tax to nil but isn't paid as a refund and doesn't reduce the Medicare levy.
• LITO (Low Income Tax Offset): up to $700, phasing out above $37,500 and gone by $66,667.
• Medicare levy: 2% of taxable income, with a low-income shade-in. SAPTO-eligible seniors get a higher threshold (no levy below ~$43,020 single), so most low-income retirees pay little or none.
• For couples, the Medicare levy and SAPTO are assessed on each person individually here — the tool models one person, so it uses individual (single-style) Medicare thresholds as an approximation.

Resident tax rates used

• 2025–26: nil to $18,200; 16% to $45,000; 30% to $135,000; 37% to $190,000; 45% above.
• 2026–27: as above but the second bracket drops to 15% (legislated).
• 2027–28: second bracket drops to 14% (legislated).

Projections — how long your money lasts

• Each year, the projection draws from your balance to cover the gap between your living costs and your after-tax other income (UK pension + any other income). Super drawdowns are tax-free at 60+, so the balance funds the remainder.
• The balance earns your nominated return each year, and your living costs grow with inflation. The "runs out" age is the year the balance can no longer cover that year's drawdown.
• Returns are assumed smooth and constant — real markets are volatile. A run of poor returns early in retirement (sequencing risk) can shorten how long money lasts well beyond what a flat average implies.
• Tax brackets and offset thresholds are held at the selected year's levels across the whole projection (no bracket creep or future indexation modelled).
• Minimum pension drawdown rules (e.g. 5% of balance from age 65) are not enforced — the projection draws only what's needed to meet your costs.
• Not included: the Age Pension (which may top up income as your assets fall under the means test), aged-care costs, one-off or lumpy expenses, downsizing, or changes in spending through retirement.

Not modelled: Age Pension entitlements and means testing, Medicare Levy Surcharge, franking credits, capital gains, HELP debt, and part-year residency. Add any of these via the "Other taxable income" field if you want to approximate them.