About AusTools
Type. Get answer. Close tab. That's the whole experience.
The headache we built this for
It started with a simple question. "How much stamp duty will I pay on a $650,000 unit in Brisbane?"
What followed was forty minutes of:
- A bank calculator that wanted an email before showing a number
- A comparison site that wanted a phone number and the best time to call
- A government calculator that worked, but only after three "Are you sure?" prompts
- An accountant's blog with the right answer buried under 3,000 words of SEO sludge
- Two pop-ups asking if I'd like a free quote
- An email that arrived an hour later: "Hi mate, just following up on your enquiry…"
The answer to "what's the stamp duty on $650,000 in QLD" exists. It's a number. State revenue offices publish it. The maths takes less time than the page you're sitting on takes to load.
Why is everything so complicated?
Because complexity is monetised. Every email captured is a lead sold. Every signup is a CRM entry. Every "free quote" funnels you into a sales call you didn't ask for. The complexity isn't a bug — it's the product.
AusTools doesn't work that way. We aren't complicated. Never will be.
What "never complicated" actually means
- No sign-up. No accounts. No "create a profile to continue".
- No email collection. Not for the calculator, not for the results, not for a follow-up.
- No phone number. Ever.
- No "premium" features locked behind a paywall. Everything you can see, you can use.
- The numbers you type stay in your browser. Calculations happen in JavaScript on your device. We don't have a database of your scenarios because we don't have a database.
- No retargeting ads following you around the internet because we don't tell anyone you were here.
- Type. Get answer. Close tab. That's the whole experience.
If we ever break any of these, we've lost the plot. Call us out at the feedback board and we'll fix it the same day.
Where the numbers come from
Every rate, threshold and bracket comes from an official Australian government source. The "last verified" date on each tool page tells you when we last cross-checked it.
- Income tax, HECS, super, CGT, depreciation — Australian Taxation Office (ato.gov.au)
- Stamp duty + land tax — each state revenue office (Revenue NSW, SRO Victoria, QRO, RevenueWA, RevenueSA, SRO Tasmania, ACT Revenue, NT Treasury)
- Borrowing power methodology — APRA Prudential Standard APS 220 (3% serviceability buffer)
- Public holidays — data.gov.au Australian Public Holidays dataset (CC BY 4.0), cross-checked against state gazettes
- Payroll tax — each state's published payroll tax schedule
- ABN lookup — direct queries against the Australian Business Register (ABR) public web service
- Cash rate — Reserve Bank of Australia
Our editorial rules
- Verify against worked examples. If the source publishes "tax on $X is $Y", our calculator must match to the dollar. We tested NSW, VIC and QLD land tax against published examples and matched all of them exactly before launch.
- Show the working. Every result includes a line-by-line breakdown. If you can't see how we got there, the calculator isn't doing its job.
- Link to the official calculator. Every tool page links to the equivalent government calculator so you can cross-check.
- Don't pretend to be advice. Calculators are a starting point. Every tool says so plainly.
- Update annually. Rates are reviewed each May/June for the new financial year.
- Flag legislated changes. If a future change is already law (e.g. the 1 July 2027 CGT property reform), we say so on the affected calculator.
Disclaimer
AusTools provides general information and estimates only. It is not financial, tax, legal, or credit advice. Your circumstances are unique and even an accurate calculator can give an answer that isn't right for you. Always check with a qualified professional — registered tax agent, financial adviser, mortgage broker, conveyancer — before making a decision.
Found a bug? Want a calculator?
The community feedback board is the fastest route. Submissions are public, get voted on by other users, and the most-requested ones get built first. No email required.
Sister sites with the same philosophy
AusTools is part of a small family of free tool sites built on the same principle: simple things should be simple.