On this page (7 sections)
The short answer
There's no set tutoring rate for teachers. Work back from what you want to keep: on most teacher salaries, each extra dollar of tutoring profit is taxed at 32%, or 47% while you're repaying HECS. To keep $50 for an hour with HELP, you'd need about $94 of profit per hour, before allowing for preparation, travel and fees.
- Tutoring income is taxable from the first dollar when you already earn a salary. There's no second tax-free threshold.
- Get an ABN if you tutor as a sole trader. You don't need to register for GST until your turnover reaches $75,000.
- NSW public school teachers need written approval each year for paid private tutoring, and paid tutoring of your own students is a conflict of interest that must be declared.
- Keep records: your costs are deductible against tutoring income.
What tutoring pays: how to set your rate
Market rates for tutoring vary widely by city, subject, year level and whether you tutor online, at your home or travel to students. Qualified teachers, and especially senior secondary specialists in subjects like maths, chemistry and physics, usually charge more than university-student tutors. Rather than rely on a figure from us, check what local tutors with similar experience advertise, then test the rate against the method below.
Work out a rate that's worth your time
- 1
Decide what you want to keep per hour
Pick an after-tax amount that's worth your evening or weekend. Your teaching pay is a fair benchmark: a NSW Step 5 teacher earns $115,972, about $59 an hour across a 38-hour week paid all year.
- 2
Gross it up for tax
Divide by 0.68 if you have no HELP debt (32% marginal rate), or by 0.53 with HELP (47%). Most classroom teachers sit in these brackets. Above $135,000 the tax rate is 39% including Medicare.
- 3
Add your unpaid time
Count preparation, marking, messages with parents and travel. If every tutoring hour takes 20 minutes of extra work, multiply by 1.33.
- 4
Add costs and fees
Platform or agency commission, travel, resources, insurance and payment fees. Express them per hour.
- 5
Sense-check against the market
If your number is well above local rates, look at cutting unpaid time (group sessions, online, fewer travel hours) rather than undercharging.
Rate calculation: keep $50 an hour, with a HELP debt
- Target after tax and HELP
- $50
- Gross up at 47% (÷ 0.53)
- $94.34
- Add 20 minutes unpaid prep per session (× 1.33)
- $125.47
- Less if you'd tutor online with no travel
- No travel cost added
Illustration only. Without HELP: $50 ÷ 0.68 × 1.33 = about $98 with prep, or $74 with no prep. Deductible costs reduce your taxable profit, so they're partly offset by tax savings.
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⚙Your details
Salary
Working from home
70c is the rate for 2024–25 and 2025–26. The ATO hasn't published the 2026–27 rate yet, so update this when it does.
Fees and courses
NESA: $100 per calendar year.
Working With Children Check: $112 for paid workers (from 1 July 2026), free for volunteers, valid 5 years. A first check isn't deductible.
Things you bought
Not home-office stationery if you use the fixed WFH rate (it already covers that).
Leave at 0 if the school supplies your device.
Car and other
88c is the 2025–26 rate reported by secondary sources (91c reported for 2026–27). Neither is confirmed on the ATO site, so check before you lodge. Max 5,000 km.
Tax your deductions save in 2026–27
$429
Your actual claims
$1,340
4 items
Standard deduction
$1,000
Automatic, no receipts
You claim
$1,340
Itemised (records needed)
Extra vs $1,000
$109
Tax saved by itemising
What this means
Your claims add up to $1,340, which is $340 more than the standard deduction. Itemising cuts your tax by about $429, which is $109 more than the $1,000 standard deduction alone would save. Because you're claiming more than $1,000, you need records for every item, not only the ones over $1,000.
Each extra $100 you can legitimately claim above $1,000 is worth about $32 to you. A deduction never gives back more than the tax on it: $100 of expenses doesn't become $100 back.
Where each dollar goes
- Working from home$140 (10%)
- Union and registration$950 (71%)
- Resources and other$250 (19%)
- Courses and first aid$0 (0%)
- Laptop and car$0 (0%)
Records checklist
- Working from home: A record of the actual hours you worked from home all year (timesheet, roster or diary), plus one bill for each running expense the rate covers.
- Union fees: Annual statement from your union, or bank/payroll records of the deductions.
- Teaching resources for your class: Receipts showing what, when and how much. Note why each item was for work.
- Registration renewal: Receipt or invoice from the registration body.
You're claiming more than $1,000, so keep written evidence for every item. Keep records for 5 years from lodging.
Estimates for an Australian resident for 2026–27 with salary as the only income, using 2026–27 tax rates. The $1,000 standard deduction became law on 26 June 2026 and applies from 2026–27 returns (lodged from July 2027), not 2025–26 returns. Expenses must be work-related, paid by you and not reimbursed. The WFH rate and car rate are editable because the 2026–27 figures aren't confirmed by the ATO yet. This isn't tax advice: check the ATO's guide for teachers or a registered tax agent. Pay data: Crown Employees (Teachers in Schools and Related Employees) Salaries and Conditions Award 2024, verified 16 October 2026.
How tutoring income is taxed on top of your salary
Tutoring profit is added to your salary and taxed at your marginal rate. Because your teaching job already uses the tax-free threshold, there's no tax-free amount for tutoring. If you have a HELP debt, it also raises your HELP repayment income, so your compulsory repayment goes up.
NSW Step 5 teacher ($115,972) with $10,000 of tutoring profit
- Tax and Medicare on salary alone
- $27,631
- Tax and Medicare on $125,972
- $30,831
- Extra tax and Medicare
- $3,200
- Extra HELP repayment (if you have a debt)
- $1,500
Calculated with our 2026–27 engine. The extra HELP reduces your debt; it isn't lost, but it is cash you don't get this year.
From 2026–27 ATO rates and HELP thresholds. Crossing $186,050 makes your whole HELP repayment jump to 10% of total income, a one-off cliff. Most full-time classroom teachers are in the first band. Part-time teachers below $69,528 pay no HELP on the first dollars of tutoring profit.
Tax isn't withheld from tutoring you invoice yourself, so set aside money as you go. A simple rule for most teachers is to move 35% of every payment (or 50% if you have HELP) into a separate account. If you tutor as an employee of a tutoring company, they'll withhold tax. On that second job's tax file number declaration, answer no to claiming the tax-free threshold.
ABN, GST and PAYG instalments
- ABN. If you tutor privately as a sole trader, apply for an Australian Business Number through the Australian Business Register. It's free. As a sole trader you use your personal tax file number and report business income in your individual return.
- GST. You only need to register for GST when your annual turnover from the business reaches $75,000. Few teachers tutoring part-time get near this.
- PAYG instalments. Once your latest return shows business and investment income of $4,000 or more, tax payable of $1,000 or more and estimated tax of $500 or more, the ATO will put you into PAYG instalments. You then pay quarterly toward next year's tax, so you don't face one big bill.
- Agency or platform work. If a tutoring company employs you, you don't need an ABN; you're paid wages. If a platform treats you as a contractor, you'll need an ABN and handle your own tax.
- Super. As a sole trader you don't have to pay yourself super. You can make personal contributions and claim a deduction, but your employer's teaching super counts toward the same $32,500 concessional cap.
Keep your records for five years: invoices, payments received and receipts for costs. A simple spreadsheet or bank account just for tutoring makes tax time easy.
Deductions against tutoring income
Costs you incur to earn tutoring income are deductible against it. Keep them separate from your teaching work-expense claims, which from 2026–27 compete with the new $1,000 standard deduction.
General information. See teacher tax deductions for the rules behind each, and ask a registered tax agent if you're unsure.
Your employer's rules: approval and conflicts of interest
This is where teachers get into trouble. Government school employers treat paid tutoring as secondary employment. In NSW, the Department of Education's private and secondary employment policy says full-time employees need written approval for paid work outside the department, must re-apply each year, and must not do the work in department time or use department premises or resources.
- Tutoring your own students for payment is listed by the NSW department as a conflict of interest example. It must be declared and managed, and approval is only granted where the conflict is managed. Many schools simply don't allow it.
- Casual, part-time and short-term temporary NSW employees (temporary full-time engaged for less than 10 weeks) don't need approval for outside paid work in their own time, but conflict of interest rules still apply.
- Other states have their own conflict of interest and outside employment policies. Check your department's policy and ask your principal before you advertise.
- Catholic and independent schools set rules in your contract or staff policies. Many restrict tutoring students from the school.
- Don't use school email, platforms or student contact details to find clients.
Is tutoring worth it, or is extra relief teaching better?
Private tutoring
- You set the rate and hours
- Evenings, weekends and holidays
- No tax withheld: you manage tax and records
- Unpaid prep, admin and travel
- Employer approval and conflict rules apply
Casual relief teaching in the holidays or on leave
- Set daily rate, e.g. NSW casual teachers from $480.43 a day
- Only possible on school days, so not in holidays
- Tax withheld and super paid
- Usually only an option on leave, part-time or after leaving
- See casual relief teacher tax
For full-time teachers, the honest answer is often about energy, not money. A few hours a week at a good rate can add several thousand dollars a year, but it comes out of the time you'd use for marking and rest. If you're part-time, tutoring can be a flexible way to top up. If you're thinking of leaving the classroom, a tutoring business is one path; see jobs for ex-teachers.
Frequently asked questions
How much should a teacher charge for tutoring?
Do teachers pay tax on tutoring income?
Do I need an ABN to tutor?
Do I need to register for GST as a tutor?
Can NSW teachers tutor privately?
Can I tutor my own students?
Can I claim tutoring expenses on tax?
Sources we checked · last verified 2026-10-17
About this page
Written and fact-checked by the TeacherPay AU Editorial Team against the enterprise agreements, awards and official pages listed in the sources. It is general information, not personal financial, tax or legal advice. Spotted something out of date? Tell us and we'll fix it, usually within a day. See our editorial policy and how we calculate.
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