Novated lease calculator (2026-27, EV exemption included).

Three separate ways, and it is worth keeping them apart. The lease payments and running costs come out of your pay before income tax, so you buy the car with pre-tax dollars. Your employer claims the GST, so you never pay the 10% on the car or on fuel, servicing, tyres and insurance. And if the car is an eligible electric vehicle it is exempt from fringe benefits tax, which is what makes EV leases so much stronger than petrol ones.

Packaging a car creates a fringe benefit, and under the statutory formula its taxable value is 20% of the car's base value. FBT on that would cost more than the packaging saves, so instead you pay an amount equal to that taxable value out of your post-tax pay. That reduces the FBT to nil. The consequence worth understanding: that post-tax slice gets no tax benefit at all, which is why a cheaper car packages proportionally better than an expensive one.

For now. A battery electric vehicle priced under the fuel-efficient luxury car tax threshold of $91,661 is exempt for the whole 2026-27 FBT year, which runs 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2027. From 1 April 2027 the exemption is legislated to apply only up to $75,000, with a 25% discount between there and the threshold, and from 1 April 2029 only that 25% discount remains. On a five-year lease signed today, the change lands inside your term.

Yes, and this catches people out. The exemption removes the FBT, not the reporting. The grossed-up value still appears as a reportable fringe benefits amount and counts as income for the Medicare levy surcharge, study loan repayments, child support and family payments. Some people are worse off on those tests even while they are ahead on tax.

The balloon payment owed at the end of the lease, set by ATO minimum values based on the term - roughly 46% of the price on a one-year lease down to about 28% on five years. It is a real cost you will face, by paying it out, refinancing it or selling the car. A calculator that shows you a monthly saving without mentioning it is not showing you the deal.

Yes. A novated lease is a three-way agreement between you, your employer and the financier, and like any salary packaging it has to be in place before the income is earned. If you change jobs the novation ends and the lease reverts to you personally unless the new employer takes it on - worth thinking about before a five-year term.