Individuals

Find out about:

• Individuals summary tables and charts – the data most users want
• Individuals 100 People statistics – key data represented as 100 people
• Individuals detailed tables – more complex data
• Individuals postcode maps – for selected items
• Individuals sample files – for advanced users

Individuals summary tables and charts

• Chart 4: Individuals – returns by lodgment type
• Chart 5: Individuals – returns by gender over five years
• Chart 6: Individuals – returns by state or territory
• Infographic 1: Individuals – top 10 postcodes, by average taxable income
• Infographic 2: Individuals – top 10 occupations, by average taxable income
• Table 3: Individuals – selected income items
• Table 4: Individuals – selected deductions
• Table 5: Individuals – selected tax offsets and levies
• Chart 7: Individuals – rental income and deductions over five years
• Table 6: Individuals – interest in a rental property, by overall net rent outcome
• Chart 8: Individuals – gifts or donations by state
• Chart 9: Number of individuals and net tax, by tax bracket, 2015–16 income year
• Chart 10: Proportion of HELP debtors by size of debt over five years
• Table 7: Individuals – workplace giving programs
• Chart 11: Median super balance by age and gender
• Chart 12: Super balance by state/territory and gender
• Table 8: Super balance by taxable income

Data for each income year includes data processed up to 31 October of the following year. For example, data for the 2015–16 income year includes data processed up to 31 October 2017.

Chart 4: Individuals – returns by lodgment type, 2015–16 income year

The data for the above chart, as well as similar data back to the 2009–10 income year, is available at data.gov.auExternal Link.

Chart 5: Individuals – returns by gender, 2011–12 to 2015–16 income years

The data for the above chart, as well as similar data back to the 2009–10 income year, is available at data.gov.auExternal Link.

Chart 6: Individuals – returns by state or territory, 2015–16 income year

The data for the above chart, as well as similar data back to the 2009–10 income year, is available at data.gov.auExternal Link.

Infographic 1: Individuals – top 10 postcodes, by average taxable income

The data for the above infographic is available at data.gov.auExternal Link.

Infographic 2: Individuals – top 10 occupations, by average taxable income

The data for the above infographic is available at data.gov.auExternal Link.

Table 3: Individuals – selected income items, 2014–15 to 2015–16 income years

Income item	2014–15			2015–16
	Individuals (no.)	Average ($)	Median ($)	Individuals (no.)	Average ($)	Median ($)
Salary or wages	10,469,919	57,576	47,502	10,655,497	58,827	48,636
Gross interest	7,659,362	1,622	138	7,799,548	1,396	109
Dividends – franked amount	2,849,504	7,776	549	2,888,043	7,753	537
Dividends – franking credit	2,843,250	3,338	237	2,883,230	3,326	231
Allowances, earnings, tips, director’s fees etc	2,344,140	3,778	453	2,350,523	3,717	446
Net rent	2,077,235	-1,749	-1,624	2,116,755	-1,683	-1,565
Partnerships and trusts - net non-primary production amount	1,786,937	28,582	4,927	1,778,895	29,623	5,088
Net income or loss from business – non-primary production	1,122,260	26,192	12,221	1,165,174	26,571	12,413
Dividends - unfranked amount	1,064,264	942	84	1,009,691	970	70
Australian Government allowances and payments like Newstart, Youth Allowance and Austudy payment	966,709	5,906	5,178	986,562	6,032	5,266
Assessable foreign source income	712,235	7,126	288	739,285	7,584	346
Australian Government pensions and allowances	676,083	10,318	10,368	683,487	10,771	10,855
Net capital gain	672,484	25,944	2,137	661,564	27,371	1,634
Total income or loss	13,213,814	60,714	45,471	13,508,101	61,465	46,108

Note
Total income or loss: components do not add to the total number of taxpayers because taxpayers may declare more than one type of income. Some components of total income are not listed in this table. The count, average and median for total income or loss are calculated including zeroes.

Table 4: Individuals – selected deductions, 2014–15 to 2015–16 income years

Deduction	2014–15			2015–16
	Individuals (no.)	Average ($)	Median ($)	Individuals (no.)	Average ($)	Median ($)
Work-related expenses	8,624,669	2,531	1,040	8,627,122	2,548	1,123
Cost of managing tax affairs	6,202,558	378	165	6,087,224	371	170
Gifts or donations	4,569,010	674	105	4,511,057	634	110
Other deductions	667,328	2,749	1,550	705,091	2,840	1,557
Low value pool deduction	304,728	448	179	302,859	456	183
Interest deductions	309,744	2,426	127	275,884	2,648	139
Dividend deductions	252,122	4,307	934	262,835	3,860	817
Personal superannuation contributions	206,952	21,205	25,000	208,111	21,764	26,500
Total deductions	13,213,814	2,693	708	13,508,101	2,638	711

Notes
Other deductions: this is the label on the return form and does not include all other deductions from the income tax return not listed in this table.Total deductions: components do not add to the total number of taxpayers claiming deductions because taxpayers may claim more than one type of deduction. Some components of total deductions are not listed in this table. The count, average and median for total deductions are calculated including zeroes.

Table 5: Individuals – selected tax offsets and levies, 2014–15 to 2015–16 income years

Offset/levy	2014–15			2015–16
	Individuals (no.)	Average ($)	Median ($)	Individuals (no.)	Average ($)	Median ($)
Medicare levy	9,278,155	1,475	1,137	9,385,453	1,510	1,166
Low income tax offset	6,616,419	315	364	6,627,045	314	360
Small business income tax offset	na	na	na	785,593	309	165
Seniors and pensioners tax offset	602,151	1,193	1,198	611,607	1,188	1,188
Foreign income tax offset	565,459	1,689	25	588,387	1,602	30
Zone or overseas forces tax offset	614,545	435	338	496,049	327	143
Commonwealth of Australia benefits and payments tax offset	413,099	583	576	429,488	611	605
Temporary budget repair levy payable	398,190	3,248	1,161	415,597	3,315	1,168
Employment termination payment tax offset	352,388	4,041	391	342,816	3,801	388
Australian superannuation income stream tax offset	234,913	2,877	2,198	232,871	2,963	2,290
Medicare levy surcharge	164,535	1,331	1,028	188,629	1,280	1,008

Chart 7: Individuals – rental income and deductions, 2011–12 to 2015–16 income years

The data for the above chart, as well as similar data back to the 2009–10 income year, is available at data.gov.auExternal Link.

Table 6: Individuals – interest in a rental property, by overall net rent outcome, 2014–15 to 2015–16 income years

Property interests	2014–15			2015–16
	Overall Net rent loss	Overall Net rent neutral/ profit	Total individuals	Overall Net rent loss	Overall Net rent neutral/ profit	Total individuals
1	912,356	556,245	1,468,601	917,287	577,221	1,494,508
2	235,937	147,686	383,623	242,300	153,737	396,037
3	70,465	48,026	118,491	72,750	49,946	122,696
4	24,922	18,375	43,297	26,051	19,187	45,238
5	10,445	7,806	18,251	10,776	8,104	18,880
6 or more	10,823	8,431	19,254	11,310	8,713	20,023
Total	1,264,948	786,569	2,051,517	1,280,474	816,908	2,097,382

Note
An interest in a property means the property is solely owned, jointly owned or part-year owned – for example, bought or sold a property during the year.

Table 7: Individuals – workplace giving programs, 2013–14 to 2015–16 income years

Employees/donations	2013–14	2014–15	2015–16
Total number of employees employed by workplace giving employers	3,173,802	3,319,105	3,601,066
Number of employees using workplace giving	156,289	162,573	169,714
Total donations given using workplace giving ($m)	31	43	35
Average donation ($)	201	261	206
Median donation ($)	na	76	75

Chart 8: Individuals – gifts or donations, by state or territory, 2015–16 income year

The data for the above chart, as well as similar data back to the 2014–15 income year, is available at data.gov.auExternal Link.

Chart 9: Number of individuals and net tax, by tax bracket, 2015–16 income year

The data for the above chart, as well as similar data back to the 2012–13 income year, is available at data.gov.auExternal Link.

Chart 10: Proportion of HELP debtors by size of debt, 2012–13 to 2016–17 financial years

The data for the above chart, as well as similar data back to the 2010–11 income year, is available at data.gov.auExternal Link.

Chart 11: Median super balance, by age and gender, 2015–16 financial year

Note: Only individuals with an account balance greater than zero were included in this chart.

The data for the above chart, as well as similar data back to the 2013–14 income year, is available at data.gov.auExternal Link.

Chart 12: Super balance, by state/territory and gender, 2015–16 financial year

Note: Only individuals with an account balance greater than zero were included in this chart.

The data for the above chart, as well as similar data back to the 2013–14 income year, is available at data.gov.auExternal Link.

Table 8: Super balance, by taxable income, 2014–15 to 2015–16 financial years

Taxable income	2014–15			2015–16
	Individuals (no.)	Average account balance ($)	Median account balance ($)	Individuals (no.)	Average account balance ($)	Median account balance ($)
Less than or equal to $18,200	1,938,506	103,525	15,107	1,974,350	108,884	15,584
$18,201 to $37,000	2,784,607	77,930	19,739	2,772,218	80,239	18,894
$37,001 to $80,000	4,757,215	102,179	51,012	4,818,100	101,187	49,234
$80,001 to $180,000	2,209,799	212,569	120,104	2,363,753	212,081	120,714
$180,000 or more	377,034	523,248	247,652	396,982	532,278	254,273
No income tax return	4,038,118	59,447	7,703	4,037,426	63,598	8,817
Total	16,105,279	112,738	36,820	16,362,829	115,945	37,473

Notes
Only individuals that had a member contribution statement with an account balance greater than zero were included in the calculation of averages and medians in this table.
The sum of those with taxable income ranges does not equal the total shown in other tables as some individuals lodging income tax returns do not have member contribution statements.

Individuals 100 People statistics

There were 13.5 million individuals who sent their tax returns to us for the 2015–16 income year. Below we represent these tax returns as 100 people. The figures for other income years are available in our individuals detailed tables section.

We received 52 tax returns from males and 48 from females.

These people sent their tax returns to us from all over Australia:

• 31 from New South Wales

• 25 from Victoria

• 20 from Queensland

• 11 from Western Australia

• 7 from South Australia

• 2 from Tasmania

• 2 from the Australian Capital Territory

• 1 from the Northern Territory

• 1 from overseas or an unknown address.

We received tax returns from five different generations:

• 18 from generation Z

• 26 from generation Y

• 27 from generation X

• 23 from baby boomers

• 6 from seniors.

People lodged their tax returns in different ways:

• 73 through a tax agent

• 25 using MyTax

• 2 by paper.

We received tax returns from people in all sorts of occupations:

• 23 were blue collar workers

• 39 were white collar workers

• 16 came from the service sector

• 22 didn't specify their occupation or had no occupation.

33 people donated to charities and then claimed deductions.

Five people declared capital gains.

64 people claimed work-related expenses, of these:

• 20 claimed under $500

• 10 claimed between $500 and $1,000

• 34 claimed over $1,000.

16 people earned rental income:

• 10 had a net rental loss

• 6 had a net rental profit.

After we assessed the tax returns:

• 77 people received a refund

• 16 people owed tax

• 7 balanced perfectly.

Nine people operated a business in their own name:

• 2 made a loss

• 7 made a profit.

And if we rank our 100 people by their taxable incomes:

• People with the top three taxable incomes paid 30% of all net tax.

• The next six paid 19% of all net tax.

• The next 30 paid 40% of all net tax.

• The next 36 paid 11% of all net tax.

• The last 25 didn't pay any tax.

See also:

• Individual detailed table 29 – 100 People statistics, for selected income years

Individuals detailed tables

Table indexExternal Link
Individuals detailed tables index

Lists the different items shown in the individuals detailed tables and specifies in which table they appear.

Table 1External Link
Selected items for income years 1978–79 to 2015–16

Shows most items from the individual tax return (including items calculated by the ATO). Table 1B shows counts, averages and medians for most items for the 2014–15 and 2015–16 income years.

Table 2External Link
Selected items for the 2015–16 income year, by:

• lodgment method
• gender
• taxable status
• state/territory
• age range
• income years 2010–11 to 2015–16 (2B).

Table 3External Link
Selected items for the 2015–16 income year, by:

• gender
• taxable status
• age range
• taxable income range
• income years 2010–11 to 2015–16 (3B).

Table 4External Link
Selected items for the 2015–16 income year, by:

• gender
• taxable status
• state/territory
• taxable income range.

Table 5External Link
Selected items for the 2015–16 income year, by:

• gender
• state/territory
• broad industry.

Table 6External Link
Selected items for the 2015–16 income year, by:

• taxable status (6A)
• state/territory
• postcode
• taxable income range – tax brackets (6C).

Table 7External Link
Average taxable income, for the 2015–16 income year, by:

• top and bottom 10 postcodes, Australia wide (7A)
• top and bottom 10 postcodes, for each state/territory (7B)
• state/territory for all postcodes (7C).

Table 8External Link
Median and average taxable income, 2003–04, 2013–14, 2014–15 and 2015–16 income years, by:

• state/territory
• postcode.

Table 9External Link
Selected items for the 2015–16 income year, by:

• broad industry
• fine industry.

Table 10External Link
Selected items for the 2015–16 income year, by:

• taxable income range
• total income or loss range
• income years 2010–11 to 2015–16 (10B).

Table 11External Link
Selected items for the 2015–16 income year, by:

• residency status
• lodgment method.

Table 12External Link
Selected items for the 2015–16 income year, by:

• taxable status
• residency status
• taxable income range.

Table 13External Link
Selected items for the 2015–16 income year, by:

• age range
• residency status
• gender
• tax assessment range.

Table 14External Link
Selected items for the 2015–16 income year, by:

• occupation
• gender
• taxable income range – tax brackets (14A, 14C)
• income years 2010–11 to 2015–16 (14C).

Table 15External Link
Average and median taxable income and salary and wages, for the 2015–16 income year, by:

• occupation
• state/territory
• top 10 based on average taxable income (15B).

Table 16External Link
Percentile distribution of taxable individuals, for the 2015–16 income year

Shows the totals, averages and medians for selected items by

• percentile distribution on taxable income
• gender.

Table 17External Link
Selected items for the 2015–16 income year, for individuals with total business income or loss, by:

• entity size
• broad industry.

Table 18External Link
Selected deductions for the 2015–16 income year, by:

• deduction claimed range
• state/territory (18A)
• occupation and gender (18B).

Table 19External Link
Selected rental property schedule items, for the 2015–16 income year, by:

• state/territory of property
• net rent position
• income years 2012–13 to 2015–16 (19B).

Table 20External Link
Number of HELP debtors, as at 30 June 2017, by:

• HELP repayment income
• state/territory.

Table 21External Link
Outstanding HELP debt, by size of outstanding balance, 2005–06 to 2016–17 financial years

Table 22External Link
Outstanding HELP debt, by state/territory of residence, 2005–06 to 2016–17 financial years

Table 23External Link
Selected member contribution statement items, for APRA funds, 2010–11 to 2015–16 financial years

Table 23B shows averages and medians for most items on the member contribution statement for the 2012–13 to 2015–16 income years.

Table 24External Link
Selected member contribution statement items, for SMSFs, 2010–11 to 2015–16 financial years

Table 24B shows averages and medians for most items on the member contribution statement for the 2012–13 to 2015–16 income years.

Table 25External Link
Super fund contributions, for the 2015–16 financial year, by:

• super total accounts balance range
• taxable income range – tax brackets
• age range.

Table 26External Link
Super fund contributions and account balance, for the 2015–16 financial year, by:

• age range
• gender
• taxable income range – tax brackets.

Table 27External Link
Super fund contributions and account balance, for the 2015–16 financial year, by:

• state/territory
• gender
• age range.

Table 28External Link
Count, average and median of selected items, by postcode, for the 2015–16 income year:

• taxable income or loss
• salary and wages
• net rent
• total income or loss
• total deductions
• total business income
• total business expenses
• net tax
• super total accounts balance.

Table 29External Link
100 People statistics, for selected income years:

• 2008–09 income year
• 2012–13 to 2015–16 income years.

Individuals postcode maps

Taxation statistics data for the 2015–16 income year is available on NationalMapExternal Link.

NationalMap provides a common web platform for the visualisation and exploration of open spatial data released by all levels of government.

For the 2015–16 income year, the map will show the average and median of:

• taxable income or loss
• salary and wages
• net rent
• total income or loss
• total deductions
• total business income
• total business expenses
• net tax
• super total accounts balance.

Also available on NationalMap is similar data for the 2011–12 to 2014–15External Link income years.

See also:

• About NationalMapExternal Link
• 2015–16 data in text format (table 28)

Individuals sample files

A series of sample files of individual tax return information is available for more advanced users. These files are de-identified in order to protect the identities of individual taxpayers.

For income years 2003–04 to 2010–11, files containing a 1% sample of records are available. From the 2011–12 income year onwards, these files contain a 2% sample of records.

To find out what items are included in the 2015–16 individual sample file, view the Individuals sample file indexExternal Link on data.gov.au.

To request access to the individual sample files, you can email us at taxstats@ato.gov.au.