About LeaseWiz

Why it exists

I built this for myself. I was weighing up a novated lease, found the decision much harder than it looked, and could not get a straight answer to what it would actually cost me — so I worked it out properly and put the working on a page. Friends who were in the same position asked to use it, which seemed like a good reason to make it available to everyone.

Almost every novated lease calculator online is run by a company that earns a commission on the lease. Their numbers are not necessarily wrong, but they are built to make the answer look good, and the two figures that decide whether a lease is actually worth it — the interest rate and the residual — are usually the two that are hardest to find. This tool has no provider relationships and sells nothing. It shows the mechanism, then shows your numbers.

How it's paid for

It isn't a business. There are no ads, no commissions, no referral fees and nothing to buy, and your figures are not sold or passed to a provider. It costs a domain and a small server, which I pay for, and that is the entire budget. If that ever changes it will be said here first — an independence claim is worth nothing if it is quietly allowed to go stale.

How the numbers are worked out

• Tax relief is measured, not assumed. Rather than multiplying by a headline marginal rate, the model calculates your whole tax position with and without the packaged amount and takes the difference — so bracket crossings, the low income tax offset taper, the Medicare levy shade-in and HELP repayment steps are all handled correctly.
• FBT is modelled explicitly. The statutory formula, the gross-ups, the employee contribution method and the electric vehicle exemption each appear as their own step, so you can see which one is doing the work.
• Comparisons are like for like. The lease, the car loan and the cash purchase all fund the same car for the same term and all leave the same residual owing, so only the funding differs.
• Everything is in today's dollars. Nothing is indexed across the term, so a saving shown is a saving in money you recognise now.

Where the rates come from — FY2026-27

Every rate is stored as dated reference data with a citation, reviewed on a schedule, and editable without a code change. These are the sources behind the current figures.

• Default market offer / residential electricity pricesAustralian Energy Regulator

  Residential electricity price used to budget home charging for an EV.

• Weekly petrol prices reportAustralian Institute of Petroleum

  National average retail fuel price used to budget the fuel component.

• Vehicle running costs surveyAustralian motoring clubs (RACV / RAA / NRMA)

  Servicing, tyres, registration, insurance and roadside benchmarks by vehicle class.

• Car fringe benefits — statutory formula methodAustralian Taxation Office

  The flat 20% statutory percentage, base value rules, and how an employee contribution reduces the taxable value.

• Electric vehicles exemptionAustralian Taxation Office

  Eligibility for the FBT exemption on zero and low-emissions vehicles, including the end of plug-in hybrid eligibility on 1 April 2025.

• FBT concessions for not-for-profits — capping thresholdsAustralian Taxation Office

  The $17,000 grossed-up cap for public and non-profit hospitals and public ambulance services, the $30,000 cap for public benevolent institutions and health promotion charities, and the 47% rebate for rebatable employers. The caps are legislated as grossed-up amounts and tested using the type 2 factor, which is why staff know them as $9,010 and $15,900.

• FBT rates and gross-up ratesAustralian Taxation Office

  FBT rate, type 1 and type 2 gross-up rates, and the reportable fringe benefits threshold.

• GST and motor vehicles — car limitAustralian Taxation Office

  GST rate and the car limit, which caps the GST credit a financier can claim on the vehicle.

• Income Tax Ruling IT 2509 — luxury car leases and residualsAustralian Taxation Office

  The minimum residual value the ATO accepts at the end of a lease, by term. Financiers quote these as standard.

• Individual income tax ratesAustralian Taxation Office

  Resident marginal rate scale and the low income tax offset — what a pre-tax salary deduction is relieved at.

• Luxury car tax rate and thresholdsAustralian Taxation Office

  LCT rate and the two thresholds. The fuel-efficient threshold also sets the price cap for the EV FBT exemption.

• Medicare levy and thresholdsAustralian Taxation Office

  Medicare levy rate, low-income threshold and shade-in rate.

• Study and training loan repayment thresholdsAustralian Taxation Office

  Marginal HELP/HECS repayment scale. Reportable fringe benefits count towards repayment income, so a lease can change what's repaid.

• Super guarantee rate and maximum contribution baseAustralian Taxation Office

  The rate an employer must contribute, and the earnings ceiling above which no contribution is owed. A novated lease reduces the earnings both are measured on, which is the only reason they are here.

• Novated lease quote sampleCollected quotes (internal)

  Anonymised sample of real provider quotes, used to benchmark finance rates, management fees, insurance and running-cost budgets. Providers are never named in published ranges — a provider is identified only to the user whose own quote it is.

• Green Vehicle GuideDepartment of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications

  Official fuel consumption (L/100km) and electric energy consumption (kWh/100km) figures used for the running-cost benchmarks.

• Novated lease market termsIndustry survey (internal)

  Representative financier interest rates, management fees and establishment fees, sampled across the major novated lease providers.

• Australian vehicle resale and depreciation dataPublished market data (Redbook, Datium, industry reporting)

  How fast a car loses value, by fuel type. The softest numbers in the reference data and the only ones that are a forecast rather than a published rule: the spread between individual models is wider than the difference between the classes, so every figure derived from these is shown as a range.

• Vehicle registration and CTP schedulesState and territory road authorities

  Combined registration and compulsory third-party premium for a private passenger vehicle, per state. CTP is bundled into registration in some states and bought separately in others; these are the combined figure, which is what a lease budgets.