Practical Australian budgeting and tax templates — free to download, no signup required. Print them, or edit the spreadsheet version with automatic totals.
Plan and track your income and spending each month. Three formats so you can print it, edit it in Excel with automatic totals, or open it anywhere.
Related tool: Budget Calculator
A tick-box checklist of common Australian tax deductions for individuals. Confirm eligibility with the ATO or your tax agent, and keep your records.
Related tool: Tax Return Calculator
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The budget planner comes in three versions because people track money in very different ways, and the format you will actually keep using matters more than which one is technically best.
| Format | Best if you | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Prefer pen and paper, or want it on the fridge | Fixed layout, prints cleanly on A4. Nothing calculates — you total it yourself | |
| Excel (.xlsx) | Want the maths done for you | Section totals and your leftover amount update as you type. Opens in Excel, LibreOffice or Google Sheets |
| CSV | Use a different app, or want to import it somewhere | Plain text, opens anywhere. No formulas — it is the structure, not the calculations |
The printed version is not the lesser option. A budget you fill in by hand on the kitchen table and look at every week does more than a spreadsheet you open once and forget. Research on budgeting consistently finds that the habit matters more than the tool. If a printout is what you will actually use, take the PDF.
The planner separates income, fixed costs, variable spending and savings, because those four behave very differently when money gets tight.
| Section | What goes in it | How adjustable it is |
|---|---|---|
| Income | Take-home pay, government payments, side income | Use the amount that actually lands in your account, not gross |
| Fixed costs | Rent or mortgage, insurance, school fees, subscriptions | Hard to change quickly, but worth reviewing yearly |
| Variable costs | Groceries, fuel, power, eating out | Where most short-term adjustment happens |
| Savings | Emergency fund, goals, extra loan repayments | Best treated as a fixed cost, not what happens to be left |
Two things make a budget survive past the first month. First, use net pay rather than gross — budgeting from your salary before tax and super produces a plan that never balances. Second, list the annual bills. Car registration, insurance renewals and council rates arrive as a single large hit, and dividing them by twelve into a monthly line is what stops them derailing an otherwise sound budget.
If your pay is fortnightly rather than monthly, be careful converting. Multiplying a fortnightly amount by two understates your annual income, because there are 26 fortnights in a year rather than 24. The correct monthly figure is the fortnightly amount times 26, divided by 12 — roughly 2.17 times, not 2. Two extra pay cycles a year is a meaningful difference.
A tick-box list of deductions Australian individuals commonly claim, organised so you can work through it while gathering records rather than trying to remember at lodgement time.
A checklist tells you what to consider, not what you can claim. Eligibility depends on your circumstances, your occupation and how an expense was actually used. The ATO's three rules are the test worth remembering: you must have spent the money yourself and not been reimbursed, the expense must directly relate to earning your income, and you must have a record to prove it. Anything on the list that fails one of those is not deductible for you, whatever it says on the page.
The ATO also publishes occupation-specific guides covering what is and is not claimable for particular jobs — nurses, teachers, tradespeople, drivers and many others. Those are more precise than any general checklist and worth reading alongside it.
Records are the part people skip. A deduction you cannot substantiate is a deduction you may have to repay, with interest, if reviewed. Keep receipts for five years from lodgement. The ATO app has a built-in record tool that photographs and stores receipts, which is considerably easier than a shoebox in June.
| Use this | With |
|---|---|
| Budget planner | Budget Calculator — the same structure, calculated live |
| Working out take-home pay | Income Tax Calculator — current ATO rates |
| Deduction checklist | Tax Return Calculator — estimate a refund or bill |
| Planning extra repayments | Mortgage Calculator |
| Building an emergency fund | Compound Interest Calculator |
Do I need to sign up to download these?
No. There is no email gate, no account and no payment. Click a download link and the file saves. The newsletter on this page is entirely optional and separate.
Will the Excel planner work in Google Sheets?
Yes. Upload the .xlsx to Google Drive and open it with Sheets — the formulas carry across. It also opens in LibreOffice Calc and Numbers on a Mac.
Is the deduction checklist tax advice?
No. It is a prompt list of commonly claimed items to help you gather records. Whether any of them applies to you depends on your circumstances and how the expense related to earning your income. Confirm with the ATO or a registered tax agent.
How do I budget on fortnightly pay?
Multiply the fortnightly amount by 26 and divide by 12 — about 2.17 times, not 2. There are 26 fortnights in a year, so simply doubling understates your income by two pay cycles.
How long should I keep receipts?
Five years from the date you lodge your return, in most cases. If a deduction is questioned and you cannot substantiate it, you may need to repay the amount with interest, so records matter as much as the claim itself.
ATO — Deductions you can claim · ATO — Occupation and industry specific guides · Moneysmart (ASIC) — Budgeting · Services Australia — Payments and support