Child support calculator

Services Australia runs one formula nationwide. Each parent's income less a self-support amount gives their child support income; the two are added and each parent's share worked out. Nights of care across the year give each parent a care percentage, and the care bands turn that into the share of the children's costs they already meet. The combined income, the number of children and their ages set the cost of the children from the year's table. A parent whose income share is higher than their cost share pays that difference, applied to the cost of the children.

Nights with you across a year, divided by 365. Below 50 per cent the result rounds down to a whole number and above 50 it rounds up. Fifty-two nights a year, roughly every second weekend, is the first band at 14 per cent; 128 nights starts shared care at 35 per cent; 176 nights is the equal-care band. Services Australia can count hours instead of nights in unusual patterns.

The published values for child support periods starting in 2026: a self-support amount of $31,046, the costs-of-the-children table built on average weekly earnings of $93,137 a year, a minimum annual rate of $551 and a fixed annual rate of $1,825. The figures change each January.

Not automatically. Equal care gives each parent a 50 per cent cost share, so the parent with the higher income share usually still pays the difference. Equal care with roughly equal incomes is the case where little or nothing changes hands. Try it above: week about is 183 nights.

Usually when the child turns 18. If the child is still in secondary school at 18, an application can extend it to the end of that school year. It can also end earlier in some circumstances, for example if the child marries or becomes self-supporting.

No. Child support is a federal scheme, so the same assessment applies in Queensland, New South Wales and every other state. What varies by state is the protection-order and local-court side of a separation, not the child support formula.

Yes. Either parent can ask Services Australia to review an assessment when the standard formula does not fit the facts, for example where income is understated or the costs of care are unusual. Parents can also agree their own arrangement and have it registered. Which path fits depends on your situation, and that is what a strategy session is for.