A FIFO worker earning $150,000 gross in 2025–26 pays about $36,838 in income tax and $3,000 in Medicare levy, leaving roughly $110,162 before deductions or offsets. That answers the headline question of how much tax FIFO workers pay in Australia, but the real number in your pocket depends on your taxable income, whether you have private hospital cover, any HECS-HELP debt, and how much you salary sacrifice. FIFO income is taxed at the same resident rates as any other job. The difference is that shift loadings, overtime, and bonuses push most FIFO workers into the 37% or 45% brackets faster than they expect.
The Brackets That Apply to FIFO Pay
Australia’s resident tax system is progressive. The first $18,200 is tax-free, then rates step up through four brackets:1Australian Taxation Office. Tax Rates – Australian Resident
- $18,201 – $45,000: 16c for each dollar over $18,200
- $45,001 – $135,000: $4,288 plus 30c for each dollar over $45,000
- $135,001 – $190,000: $31,288 plus 37c for each dollar over $135,000
- $190,001 and above: $51,638 plus 45c for each dollar over $190,000
Only the income within each bracket is taxed at that bracket’s rate. Crossing into 37% doesn’t mean your whole salary is taxed at 37%. Just the dollars above $135,000.
Worked Example at $150,000
Nothing on the first $18,200. Then $4,288 up to $45,000. Then $27,000 on the slice from $45,001 to $135,000 at 30%. Then $5,550 on the final $15,000 at 37%. Total income tax: $36,838. Add the 2% Medicare levy of $3,000, and the combined bill is $39,838, leaving about $110,162.1Australian Taxation Office. Tax Rates – Australian Resident
Worked Example at $200,000
At $200,000, you cross into the top bracket. Income tax is $51,638 up to $190,000, plus $4,500 on the remaining $10,000 at 45%, totalling $56,138. The Medicare levy adds $4,000. Combined tax is about $60,138, leaving around $139,862.1Australian Taxation Office. Tax Rates – Australian Resident
What Actually Gets Taxed
Taxable income is more than your base rate. Every earnings component on your payment summary counts:
- Weekend, night, and public holiday loadings are fully taxable.2Australian Taxation Office. List of Payments That Are Ordinary Time Earnings
- Every overtime hour is taxed as ordinary income.
- Production, retention, and safety bonuses are assessable in the year you receive them.
Camp accommodation and meals your employer provides are handled through Fringe Benefits Tax, which your employer pays. They don’t show up as taxable income on your return. They can still appear as a “reportable fringe benefits amount” on your payment summary, and that figure feeds into income tests like the Medicare Levy Surcharge even though you don’t pay income tax on it.3Australian Taxation Office. Accommodation and Location Related Fringe Benefits
Living Away From Home Allowance
Where the employer pays a Living Away From Home Allowance instead of providing accommodation directly, FIFO workers are specifically recognised under the FBT rules. Your employer can reduce the taxable value of the benefit by what you spend on accommodation and reasonable food. LAFHA can end up partly or fully tax-free in your hands, which makes it one of the more valuable pieces of a FIFO package.4Australian Taxation Office. Living-Away-From-Home Allowance Fringe Benefits
Medicare Levy and the Surcharge Trap
The Medicare levy is a flat 2% of taxable income with no cap. On $150,000, that’s $3,000.5Australian Taxation Office. What Is the Medicare Levy
The Medicare Levy Surcharge is a separate charge on higher earners who don’t hold private hospital cover. For singles in 2025–26:6Australian Taxation Office. Medicare Levy Surcharge Income, Thresholds and Rates
- $101,000 or less: no surcharge
- $101,001 – $118,000: 1%
- $118,001 – $158,000: 1.25%
- $158,001 or more: 1.5%
Most FIFO salaries sit well above $101,000, so skipping private cover is a real cost. On $150,000, the Tier 2 surcharge adds $1,875. A basic hospital policy often costs less than that. Run the numbers against the thresholds before assuming private cover isn’t worth it.
Why FIFO Workers Usually Cannot Claim the Zone Tax Offset
The Zone Tax Offset is a credit for people who live in remote parts of Australia, with the top rate worth $1,173 for Special Areas. If you fly into a remote site but your home is in Perth, Brisbane, Townsville, or anywhere else outside a zone, you are not eligible.7Australian Taxation Office. Zone Tax Offset
The ATO puts it in plain words: “You’re not eligible if you work in a qualifying remote or isolated area but don’t live there. For example, if you’re a fly-in-fly-out worker.” Eligibility turns on your usual place of residence being in a qualifying zone for at least 183 days in the income year. Two-weeks-on, one-week-off at a mine site doesn’t count when your address is elsewhere. If you genuinely live in a remote town within a zone and happen to work FIFO to another site, the offset can still apply. The test is where you live, not where you work. Offshore oil and gas rigs are excluded from the zone list.8Australian Taxation Office. Australian Zone List
Deductions That Reliably Reduce a FIFO Tax Bill
Deductions cut your taxable income before the ATO calculates tax, so each dollar claimed saves tax at your marginal rate. A $500 deduction is worth $185 to someone in the 37% bracket. FIFO work throws up a handful of reliable categories.
Protective clothing is deductible when your employer doesn’t provide or reimburse it. That covers steel-capped boots, high-vis, hard hats, and similar gear, plus laundering of protective and occupation-specific clothing. Ordinary clothes you wear to and from work don’t qualify.9Australian Taxation Office. Clothing, Laundry and Dry-Cleaning Expenses
Tools and equipment costing $300 or less and used mainly for work can be claimed in full immediately. Anything above $300 is depreciated over its effective life. Mixed-use items get claimed only for the work portion.10Australian Taxation Office. Tools and Equipment To Perform Your Work
Union fees are fully deductible, as are subscriptions to trade or professional associations related to your work.11Australian Taxation Office. Union Fees, Subscriptions to Associations and Bargaining Agents Fees
Self-education is deductible when the training maintains or improves the skills you use in your current job. A boilermaker completing an advanced welding certification qualifies. A boilermaker studying accounting to change careers doesn’t. The course has to connect to what you do now, not what you want to do next.12Australian Taxation Office. Self-Education Expenses
p>Travel is where FIFO workers most often get it wrong. The flight from your home city to the mine site is commuting, and commuting is never deductible, however long the flight. The ATO’s view is that you incur the cost to get to work, not doing your work. Travel becomes deductible when you move between two workplaces during a shift, or when you have to transport bulky tools that can’t be stored on site. If your employer pays for the flights, you can’t claim them anyway.13Australian Taxation Office. Trips You Can and Can’t Claim
Super and Salary Sacrifice
Your employer must pay 12% of your ordinary time earnings into super for 2025–26, up to a maximum contribution base of $62,500 per quarter. On $150,000, that’s roughly $18,000 per year going into your fund. Those contributions are taxed at 15% inside the fund rather than at your marginal rate, which is substantially less than the 30% to 45% most FIFO workers pay on their wages.14Australian Taxation Office. Super Guarantee
Salary sacrifice is the biggest lever FIFO workers have. You redirect some pre-tax pay into super, reducing your taxable income. The redirected amount is taxed at 15% in the fund instead of your marginal rate. For someone on 37%, every dollar sacrificed saves 22 cents in tax.
The concessional contributions cap is $30,000 per year, and that includes your employer’s 12%. If the employer is already putting in $18,000, you have $12,000 of headroom for salary sacrifice. Go over the cap and the excess gets added back to your taxable income at your marginal rate, so track the running total.15Australian Taxation Office. Concessional Contributions Cap
HECS-HELP Under the New Marginal System
If you carry a study loan, compulsory repayments come out of your tax return once repayment income exceeds $67,000. From 2025–26, the system switched to marginal rates:16Australian Taxation Office. Study and Training Loan Repayment Thresholds and Rates
- $0 – $67,000: no repayment
- $67,001 – $125,000: 15c for each dollar over $67,000
- $125,001 – $179,285: $8,700 plus 17c for each dollar over $125,000
- $179,286 and above: 10% of total repayment income
Previously, crossing a threshold applied the higher rate to your entire income, which could cost thousands from a small pay rise. Now the higher rate applies only above each threshold, the same way income tax works. On $150,000, the compulsory repayment is $8,700 plus 17c on each dollar above $125,000, totalling $12,950.
The Combined Picture on $150,000
For a FIFO worker on $150,000 with no private hospital cover and a HECS-HELP debt, the deductions from gross pay stack up roughly like this: $36,838 income tax, $3,000 Medicare levy, $1,875 Medicare Levy Surcharge at Tier 2, and about $12,950 in HECS repayments. That’s around $54,663 before any work-related deductions or salary sacrifice. The employer separately puts about $18,000 into super on top of the salary.1Australian Taxation Office. Tax Rates – Australian Resident
The most reliable ways to bring that number down are salary sacrificing into super, holding private hospital cover to sidestep the surcharge, and claiming every legitimate work-related deduction. Keep receipts for gear, tools, union fees, and training as you go, not at tax time. A tax agent who genuinely understands FIFO pay structures often pays for themselves several times over.