27 Fortnights in a Year: Why PAYG Can Look Short in Australia (2025-26)

General information only. This is not tax or financial advice.

If you are paid fortnightly, some financial years can produce 27 pays instead of the usual 26. When that happens, the practical problem is not that the tax table is “wrong”. It is that the ordinary fortnightly table is built around a 26-pay year.

That can leave too little PAYG withheld across the full year, especially once the extra pay lands.

Why the extra pay matters

The ATO fortnightly tax table says that in some years you may have 27 pays instead of 26. Because the table is based on 26 pays, the extra pay can result in insufficient amounts being withheld.

That is why a fortnightly worker can finish the year with:

• payslips that looked normal all year
• PAYG withholding that still felt reasonable each fortnight
• but a year-end shortfall because the extra pay was not fully offset

What the ATO says to do

The ATO publishes an additional withholding table for 27-pay years. The published extra amounts are:

• $12 if fortnightly earnings are $1,700 to $5,199
• $27 if fortnightly earnings are $5,200 to $7,249
• $48 if fortnightly earnings are $7,250 or more

This is not a new tax rate. It is a practical top-up to reduce the risk of a year-end shortfall. For the wider picture of how the ATO builds its withholding tables — and why doubling weekly tax never quite equals the fortnightly figure — see Weekly vs fortnightly tax tables: why they differ (2025-26).

Why employees often notice this late

The problem usually appears only after someone sees:

• an extra fortnightly pay in the calendar
• a payroll note about a 27th pay
• a larger-than-expected tax bill at lodgment

The extra pay does not automatically mean payroll made a mistake. It means the normal withholding assumptions may not line up with the real number of pays in that financial year.

What to check on your own payslip

If you think the 27th pay is the issue, check:

1. Whether your employer has identified the year as a 27-pay year.
2. Whether any extra withholding has been applied.
3. Whether HELP or other study-loan withholding also applies.
4. Whether this is your only job or one of several income sources.

If those settings are not right, the shortfall risk can be larger than the ATO’s base table suggests.

The practical decision

Use this rule:

• if you only need a quick employee-side check, compare the fortnightly amount against the ATO-style fortnightly tax table page
• if you need to test whether the withholding still looks light for your actual pay, use the PAYG Calculator
• if the real question is “what does this do to my take-home pay across the year?”, move to the Pay Calculator

Sources

• ATO: Fortnightly tax table
• ATO: Schedule 1 formula guidance

Next step

If your concern is “why does the tax on my fortnightly pay still look short even though payroll is using the table?”, check whether this is a 27-pay year before assuming the withholding logic is broken.