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    The Glossary

    Negotiation & Career Finance

    Above-Award Pay

    Above-award pay is any rate or condition your employer offers beyond the modern award minimum, making the award your legal floor rather than your actual deal. Market rate, enterprise agreement or contract can all lift you above it.

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    Leave & Time

    Annual Leave

    Annual leave is the four weeks of paid holidays full-time employees in Australia earn each year under the National Employment Standards. It stacks up quietly in the background from your very first shift and gets paid out in full when you resign.

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    Leave & Time

    Annual Leave Loading

    Annual leave loading is an extra payment, most commonly 17.5%, paid on top of your base rate while you are on annual leave. It is not guaranteed by law and only exists where your modern award or enterprise agreement says so.

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    Job Structure & Classification

    Apprentice Pay Rates

    Apprentice pay rates are award-based percentages or scales that rise each year of your apprenticeship, set as a fraction of the qualified tradesperson rate or by age and year level. Adult apprentices get their own higher scale, because the law remembers you have rent.

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    Payslip & Tax

    Australian Business Number (ABN)

    An ABN is the free 11-digit identifier you need to invoice as a sole trader or contractor in Australia. Without one quoted on your invoice, clients must withhold 47% of your payment and send it straight to the ATO.

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    Payslip & Tax

    Bracket Creep

    Bracket creep is inflation pushing your nominal pay into higher tax brackets while your purchasing power goes nowhere. Your average tax rate quietly rises, and the tax office collects the difference without changing a single rate.

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    Payslip & Tax

    Business Activity Statement (BAS)

    The BAS is the quarterly or monthly form where GST-registered businesses report the GST they collected, claim GST credits, and settle PAYG withholding and instalments. Lodged through myGov or accounting software, it is due 28 days after each quarter, and spending the GST in the meantime is the classic trap.

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    Banking, Debt & Day-to-Day

    Buy Now Pay Later

    Buy now pay later splits a purchase into instalments, charges late fees instead of interest, and quietly counts against your borrowing capacity like a credit card. Since June 2025, it is regulated as credit in Australia.

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    Banking, Debt & Day-to-Day

    Card Surcharge

    A card surcharge is the extra percentage a merchant adds when you tap a card or phone instead of paying cash or debit eftpos. Australian law caps it at the merchant's actual cost of accepting that card, and anything beyond that is banned.

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