This is the whole yearly picture for a rented property — what comes in, everything that goes out, and what the tax position does to the result.
The property economics and the tax effect are kept separate, because folding them together makes a property look cheaper to hold than it is.
Works out what an investment property costs or returns each year: rent after vacancy, every holding cost, the loan, and the tax effect computed from the statutory scale.
Which set applies depends on the jurisdiction and the date you enter. Sources last checked 2026-08-30.
Commonwealth — Income tax
1 July 2024 to 30 June 2026
Income Tax Rates Act 1986 (Cth), Schedule 7 Part I — Resident taxpayers
Commonwealth — Income tax
1 July 2026 to 30 June 2027
Income Tax Rates Act 1986 (Cth), Schedule 7 Part I — Resident taxpayers
Commonwealth — Income tax
1 July 2027 onwards
Income Tax Rates Act 1986 (Cth), Schedule 7 Part I — Resident taxpayers
Commonwealth — Medicare levy
1 July 2026 onwards
Vacancy
Weeks a year the property is empty. It reduces rent and the management fee together, since agents charge on rent collected rather than rent advertised.
Interest only
Interest-only payments are entirely cost. Principal and interest payments include a repayment of your own capital, which is not a cost — so the two are shown separately rather than lumped into one outgoing.
Depreciation claimed
A deduction that reduces taxable income without costing cash, which is why it changes the tax line and not the cashflow line. Work it out in the depreciation calculator first.
Your other taxable income
The income the property result sits on top of. It decides how much a loss is worth, which is why a negatively geared property is worth more to a higher earner.
Cashflow before tax is what the property does to your bank account. Cashflow after tax is what it does once the tax effect lands, and the two can differ by a lot on a geared property.
The line showing how much of the loan payment repays your own capital is worth attention. On a principal-and-interest loan a chunk of what looks like a cost is actually saving, and treating it as a cost makes the property look worse than it is.
The taxable result and the cash result are deliberately different figures. Depreciation sits between them, which is exactly why a property can lose money on paper and cost nothing to hold.
Every figure below is computed by the same calculator on this page, from the inputs described. Nothing here is typed in by hand, so an example cannot disagree with the tool.
The gap between cashflow before and after tax is what negative gearing is. Note how much of the loan payment is principal — that part is not a cost, and counting it as one is the most common mistake in this calculation.
Cashflow before tax is unchanged and cashflow after tax improves. That is depreciation working exactly as intended: a deduction that costs nothing in cash this year.
Without a loan the property is positively geared and the tax effect reverses: it adds to the tax bill rather than reducing it. Gearing changes the sign, not the underlying economics.
The taxable result is rent collected less operating expenses, less interest, less depreciation. Principal repayments are not deductible and are excluded from it.
The tax effect is then the difference between an assessment on your income with that result and one without it. It is not the loss multiplied by a marginal rate: a loss large enough to drop income across a bracket is worth less than the shortcut suggests.
Interest is the first-year figure on the balance entered. On an amortising loan it falls each year, so a property that is negatively geared now becomes less so over time without anything else changing.
How every calculator on this site is built · Regulatory sources
The property is genuinely available for rent
Deductibility depends on it. A property held off the market, or let to family below market rent, is treated differently and this calculation would not apply.
Your expenses are deductible
Repairs are deductible; improvements are capital and are not. The distinction is a common source of amended assessments, and nothing here can tell which is which.
No capital growth
This is a holding-cost calculation. Growth is the reason most investors accept a negative cashflow, and it is deliberately absent so the two are not confused.
One year, not a projection
Rent, costs and interest all move. This is the current year on current figures, and it is a starting point for a projection rather than one itself.
Land tax varies
Land tax depends on the total land you hold in a state and on how you hold it. Enter it in other costs if you know it; nothing here computes it.
Co-ownership is not split
A property owned with somebody else divides income and deductions between the owners. Running the whole property against one income will overstate the tax effect.
Works out gross and net rental yield on an investment property, allowing for vacancy and operating costs.
Works out the capital works and plant and equipment deductions on an investment property from the cost, rate, effective life and method you supply, apportioned by days held.
Works out what an investment property costs after tax, by comparing tax on your income with and without the property’s rental loss.
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