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Taxable vs. Tax-Deferred vs. Tax-Free Calculator
Taxable vs. Tax-Deferred vs. Tax-Free Calculator
Tax Rates
Taxable-Account Efficiency
Best After-Tax Outcome
Personally Held Shares/ETFs
Account Analysis
Your current 24% rate exceeds the 22% rate you expect at withdrawal, which favors the Super Accumulation: you take the hit to contributions at the high rate now and pay tax at the low rate later, ending with $21,063.61 after tax — though Personally Held Shares/ETFs edges it out here. The Super Pension Phase (60+) ($27,004.62) pays today's higher rate first, and the taxable account ($37,205.89) leaks tax on distributions every year.
*Compares equal after-tax dollars across three wrappers using your stated return and rate assumptions. Super accumulation is modelled with a flat 15% contributions tax and 15% on earnings; pension-phase outcomes assume withdrawal at age 60 or later. Does not model contribution caps, Division 293, CGT discount timing or franking credits precisely. Educational only, not financial or tax advice.
Three Wrappers, Three Different Tax Lives
Every investment dollar an Australian holds lives under one of three tax regimes, and the regime often matters more than the investment itself. Shares or ETFs held personally are taxed as they go: dividends and fund distributions land in your return each year at your marginal rate, and gains are taxed again on sale. Super during accumulation does most of its taxing up front - a flat 15% on concessional contributions and 15% on earnings along the way - and nothing more once you withdraw after 60. And the super pension phase taxes nothing at all: zero on investment earnings, zero on withdrawals. Because the three regimes tax at different points, identical portfolios finish decades apart purely because of where they sat. A growth portfolio paying 8% inside a 32% taxpayer's brokerage account compounds closer to 6.6% once annual tax is paid; the same portfolio in super runs at 6.8% and exits untaxed, while pension-phase money never loses a cent to tax. This calculator runs all three side by side on equal after-tax dollars so you can see the spread - the real price of leaving money in the wrong wrapper.
Same Dollars, Three Different Fates
Each wrapper applies its own tax timing to the same compounding maths. The personal brokerage account leaks every year: of each year's growth, the share you assume is realised or distributed (the turnover slider) is taxed at your effective rate, so the balance grows by growth minus growth x turnover x rate. The super accumulation path pays 15% on the way in, then compounds at 15% tax on each year's earnings - balance x (1 - 0.15) growing at return x 0.85 - and finally applies whatever withdrawal rate you set, which is genuinely 0% for most Australians drawing from 60. The pension-phase path simply compounds untouched: after-tax money in, tax-free forever. The comparison starts every wrapper with the same after-tax dollar, which keeps it apples-to-apples: salary sacrifice already reflects the 15% entry cost rather than your full marginal rate, so no double counting occurs. The winner is whichever regime finishes highest after tax - and because the gap compounds, moving the sliders a few points can shift tens of thousands over a working life.
Expert Insights
Super Is Not Just Deferred - It Is Cheaper at Every Stage
Australia's system beats the textbook deferral story. Contributions swap your marginal rate for a flat 15% on entry, earnings are taxed at 15% instead of your bracket rate throughout, and everything after 60 leaves tax-free. That three-stage advantage means even modest-income earners usually win by directing long-horizon money through super - the only real question is how much fits within the caps and when you can access it.
Franking Is the Outside Account's Best Weapon
A personally held ASX portfolio is not as raw as the headline rate suggests: fully franked dividends carry credits that can slash the effective tax on distributions to well below your bracket, and capital gains only crystallise when you sell - halved if held past twelve months. Model the honest effective rate on distributions rather than your full marginal rate, and note how much ground the outside account recovers before concluding the race is over.
Sequence Wrappers by Timeline, Not Just by Tax
Money inside super is preserved until your preservation age, so emergency funds, house deposits and pre-60 goals belong outside regardless of the arithmetic. The pattern most planners build: capture employer SG first, fill concessional caps with genuinely long-horizon money, then invest surplus through the brokerage account. Once retired, the pension phase becomes the final bucket - assets transferred there stop generating any tax at all.
Actionable Tips
- 1
Set the Withdrawal Rate to Zero Before Pension Planning
If your super will be drawn after turning 60, the exit tax on the accumulation path is genuinely 0% - leave the slider there rather than guessing a retirement bracket. Watching the result jump between a 15% and a 0% exit shows exactly what the pension phase is worth, and often settles whether extra salary sacrifice beats building wealth outside.
- 2
Price Your True Distribution Drag Honestly
Before accepting your bracket rate as the outside-account input, adjust for what the holdings actually generate: franked bank dividends, low-turnover index ETFs and long-held parcels all pull the effective annual rate down. Run the comparison twice - a pessimistic full-bracket drag and a feature-adjusted figure - and notice that super usually still wins under both; the margin just changes.
- 3
Check the Caps Before Redirecting Everything
Concessional contributions are capped at $30,000 a year (2024-25) plus any unused cap carried forward, and non-concessional caps limit large lump sums. The right mental model is a bucket order: employer SG, sacrifice up to the cap, then overflow back to the brokerage account. This calculator tells you what each redirected dollar earns; the caps tell you how many dollars can go.
Real-World Examples
Priya Priced Her Salary Sacrifice Properly
Priya, 38 on $105,000, wondered whether sacrificing $10,000 a year beat building an ETF parcel outside super. Running her numbers - roughly 32% effective drag outside against 15% inside and 0% from 60 - showed the sacrificed route projecting around six figures more over twenty-five years on the same gross outlay. She started sacrificing to the cap the next pay cycle, kept a liquid buffer outside, and stopped second-guessing the smaller payslip.
Tom Discovered Timing Beats Brackets
Tom retired at 58 planning to draw his super at 60 but assumed his share portfolio should feed the bridge years. The comparison showed his $180,000 of outside money compounding at effectively 5.4% while the same exposure inside super ran at 6.8% and would be untaxed from 60. He restructured: two years of spending cash outside, everything longer-term left compounding inside. The difference funded the caravan he had planned to postpone.
Amelia Gave the Brokerage Account Its Due
Amelia assumed all her investing should move into super until she modelled her actual holdings: fully franked bank shares and decade-old parcels barely taxed annually. With an honest 18% effective drag instead of her 32% bracket rate, the outside account closed much of the gap - and stayed accessible for the house deposit she wanted at 45. She split future savings between capped contributions and the brokerage account knowing precisely what each wrapper was worth.
Glossary of Terms
- Concessional Contribution
- Money entering super with a tax benefit - employer SG, salary sacrifice or deductible personal contributions - taxed at a flat 15% on entry rather than your marginal rate.
- Pension Phase
- The super stage after meeting a condition of release such as retiring from 60, where fund earnings and account withdrawals are entirely tax-free.
- Tax Drag
- The portion of investment return lost to taxes paid along the way - the gap between gross and after-tax compounding rates in a personally held account.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Ivy Sinclair-Wren
Financial Chaos Analyst
Ivy Sinclair-Wren is a Financial Chaos Analyst covering investing, AI, wealth psychology, and the emotional consequences of opening finance apps during market crashes. Based in Melbourne, she specializes in demystifying the Australian tax code and helping users navigate the intersection of spreadsheet logic and human irrationality.