Basic formula

1
Work out each parent’s child support income

We calculate each parent’s child support income. This is a parent’s adjusted taxable income minus a self-support amount and any relevant dependant allowance. For more information about relevant dependant allowances, go to child support assessments and second families.

A parent may be able to estimate their income. Read more about income used in calculating a child support assessment.

Income

2
Work out the parents’ combined income

We add both parents' incomes to work out a combined child support income.

Income

3
Work out each parent’s income percentage

Income

4
Work out each parent’s percentage of care

We calculate each parent's percentage of care.

Care

5
Work out each parent’s cost percentage

We work out each parent's cost percentage using the care and cost table.

Care

6
Work out each parent’s child support percentage

We subtract the cost percentage from the income percentage for each parent. We call this the child support percentage. The result will determine if a parent pays or gets child support.

If it’s a negative percentage, we assess that parent as the parent to get child support. This is because their share of costs for the child is more than met by the amount of care they provide.

If it’s a positive percentage, we assess that parent as the parent to pay child support. This is because they’re not meeting their share of the costs for the child directly through care.

If you have different care arrangements for various children, you might have different child support percentages for each child.

We go on to steps 7 and 8 using only the positive child support percentage.

Child support percentage

7
Work out the costs of children

We work out the costs for each child based on the parents' combined total income using the costs of children table.

Costs of children

8
Work out the child support amount

Child support to pay

Income over $187,785

Costs don’t go up past this cap

$0 to $37,557

23c for each $1

29c for each $1

32c for each $1

$37,558 to $75,114

$8,638 plus 22c for each $1 over $37,557

$10,892 plus 28c for each $1 over $37,557

$12,018 plus 31c for each $1 over $37,557

$75,115 to $112,761

$16,901 plus 12c for each $1 over $75,114

$21,408 plus 25c for each $1 over $75,114

$23,661 plus 30c for each $1 over $75,114

$112,762 to $150,228

$21,408 plus 10c for each $1 over $112,761

$30,797 plus 20c for each $1 over $112,761

$34,928 plus 29c for each $1 over $112,761

$150,229 to $187,785

$25,164 plus 9c for each $1 over $150,228

$38,308 plus 13c for each $1 over $150,228

$45,820 plus 20c for each $1 over $150,228

Income over $187,785

Costs don’t go up past this cap

$28,544

$43,190

$53,331

26.5c for each $1

29.5c for each $1

$9,953 plus 25.5c for each $1 over $37,557

$11,079 plus 28.5c for each $1 over $37,557

$19,530 plus 22.5c for each $1 over $75,114

$21,783 plus 27.5c for each $1 over $75,114

$27,980 plus 19c for each $1 over $112,671

$32,111 plus 26.5c for each $1 over $112,671

$35,116 plus 11.5c for each $1 over $150,228

$42,064 plus 19c for each $1 over $150,228

Income over $187,785

Costs don’t go up past this cap

$39,435

$49,200