Medicare Levy Surcharge calculator 2026–27

Work out your Medicare Levy Surcharge for 2026–27

Enter your income for MLS purposes for the 2026–27 financial year. This is the surcharge, not the 2% Medicare levy, which everybody pays and cover never removes. Everything is calculated in your browser using the Australian Taxation Office rates below, and nothing is sent anywhere. Every figure the calculator produces also appears in the tables further down this page, so you can check the arithmetic by hand.

What does the surcharge cost in dollars in 2026–27?

Percentages hide the money, so this table converts them. Each figure is the full-year surcharge for an Australian resident with no hospital cover for the whole of the 2026–27 financial year, calculated from the ATO rates checked on 17 September 2026.

The step at each threshold is the part people do not expect. A single on A$105,000 in 2026–27 pays nothing. A single on A$105,001 pays A$1,050.01, because the rate applies to the whole of income for MLS purposes rather than to the amount above the line.

Which thresholds does the calculator use?

These are the 2026–27 thresholds and rates published by the ATO, checked on 17 September 2026. The family threshold rises by A$1,500 for each dependent child after the first, which the calculator applies automatically.

If you are amending a return for the year that ended on 30 June 2026, the thresholds were lower. These are the 2025–26 figures, from the same ATO page checked on the same date.

A single on A$119,000 was in tier 2 for 2025–26 and is in tier 1 for 2026–27 on the same income. That is a A$1,487.50 surcharge becoming A$1,190.

Is the cover cheaper than the surcharge?

This is the calculation the other surcharge calculators in the Australian market do not perform. Avoiding the surcharge is not a matter of comparing a percentage to a sticker price: the premium is reduced by the Australian Government Rebate and increased by any Lifetime Health Cover loading, and only the net figure is comparable to the tax.

The arithmetic runs in four steps. First, the surcharge: income for MLS purposes multiplied by the tier rate. Second, the loading: the base premium plus 2% for each year past your base day, capped at 70%. Third, the rebate: your tier and age percentage applied to the base premium only, never to the loading. Fourth, the comparison: surcharge minus net premium.

On these figures the break-even for a single under 65 buying a A$2,400 policy in 2026–27 falls at about A$160,000 of income. Below that the surcharge is cheaper than the premium and you are buying cover for the cover, not for the tax. Above it the cover is the cheaper of the two and you get a policy as well. A cheaper compliant policy moves the break-even down; a Lifetime Health Cover loading moves it up.

How do all four rules hit one person at once?

Every rule here is usually explained on its own page. They apply to the same person on the same day, so here they are together.

Noor, 34, Sydney, income for MLS purposes A$118,000 in 2026–27, no children, took out her first hospital cover eight years after her base day.

• Tier 1 for 2026–27, because A$118,000 sits between A$105,001 and A$123,000. Surcharge if she stays uninsured: 1% of A$118,000 = A$1,180.
• Her Lifetime Health Cover loading is 2% × 8 years = 16%. On a A$2,400 base premium that is A$384, taking the gross premium to A$2,784.
• Her rebate is the tier 1, under-65 rate of 16.079%, applied to the A$2,400 base premium only, not to the loading. That is A$386.
• Net premium: A$2,784 − A$386 = A$2,398. Against a A$1,180 surcharge, the cover costs her A$1,218 more than the tax.
• Had she taken cover at 31, the loading would be nil and her net premium A$2,014, still more than the surcharge, but A$384 less. The delay costs her A$384 every year until the loading drops off after ten continuous years.

What does the calculator not know?

It uses the figure you type in, and the figure most people type in is wrong in a predictable way. Income for MLS purposes is not the taxable income on your notice of assessment: it adds back reportable fringe benefits, reportable employer super contributions, net investment losses and certain trust distributions. A salary-packaged car or a large voluntary super contribution can push someone over a threshold they thought they were comfortably under.

It also assumes cover for the full financial year. The surcharge is worked out day by day, so a policy that starts on 1 January 2027 removes the surcharge for roughly half of 2026–27 and leaves it payable on the rest. And it uses the base premium you enter. Plain Cover does not assume a price for you, because premiums vary by fund, state, tier, excess and age.

Finally, it is a tax calculation, not a clinical one. It cannot tell you whether the policy covers the procedure you are likely to need, which is the question that usually matters more than the A$300.

How do I check the maths against the ATO?

Every number in the calculator is reproducible by hand, which is the point of publishing the formula rather than only the answer.

1. Multiply your income for MLS purposes by the tier rate in the 2026–27 table above. That is the surcharge.
2. Multiply the base premium by 2% for each year of Lifetime Health Cover loading, capped at 70%, and add it to the premium.
3. Multiply the base premium, not the loaded premium, by the rebate percentage for your tier and age.
4. Subtract the rebate from the loaded premium, then compare that to the surcharge.

The ATO publishes its own Medicare levy surcharge calculator, and PrivateHealth.gov.au publishes the Lifetime Health Cover rules our loading step follows. If our figure and the ATO’s disagree, the ATO’s is the one that counts. Tell us and we will correct this page and record it in the changelog.