# Annual Leave and Leave Loading: How They Show Up in Your Pay > How annual leave builds up, what leave loading is and who gets it, how a week off appears on your payslip, and what happens to tax, super and unused leave. Canonical HTML: https://getclova.com/blog/leave-loading Clova is an Australian budgeting app. [Join the waitlist](https://getclova.com/) [Home](https://getclova.com/) → [Guides](https://getclova.com/blog) → [Life costs](https://getclova.com/blog/topic/life-costs) → [Annual Leave and Leave Loading: How They Show Up in Your Pay](https://getclova.com/blog/leave-loading) - Author: Marnix - Published: 2026-10-08 You've booked your first proper holiday since starting the job, and now you're wondering what your pay will look like while you're away. There might even be a line on a payslip called leave loading that nobody has explained. Annual leave gives you paid time off, usually at your base rate. Leave loading, if your job includes it, is a little extra on top. Both follow rules you can check, so the pays around your holiday don't have to be a guess. ## How much annual leave you build up Full-time and part-time employees get at least 4 weeks of paid annual leave a year, based on their ordinary hours, the hours they're normally rostered to work. Someone working 20 hours a week builds up 80 hours over a year, which is 4 weeks for them. Casuals don't get paid annual leave; the casual loading in their hourly rate is paid instead, and [casual or part-time](/blog/casual-vs-part-time) compares the two over a year. Leave starts building from your first day, including during probation. It builds up a little each week rather than arriving in one go, and whatever you don't use carries over to the next year. Meet Ellie, a **made-up example**: she works 38 hours a week, full time, and earns a base wage of $1,200 a week. She wants two weeks off six months after starting. Ellie (made up) works 38 ordinary hours a week, full time. She builds up 152 hours of annual leave a year, about 2.9 hours each week. After 6 months she has 76 hours of leave, enough for two weeks off. Your current balance is often on your payslip, though it doesn't have to be. Your employer must tell you if you ask. If your payslip has a lot of lines to decode, [your payslip explained](/blog/payslip-explained) goes through them one by one. ## What leave loading is The minimum is your **base rate**, the ordinary hourly rate before extras such as [overtime](/blog/overtime-pay); your award or agreement may pay more. If you usually work Saturdays or evenings, a week of leave can pay less than a normal working week. **Leave loading** is an extra amount some employees get on top of their annual leave pay. It isn't part of the minimum rules every employee gets. It comes from your [award](/blog/award-rates), which sets minimum pay and conditions for an industry or job, or from your enterprise agreement. Where it applies, it's commonly 17.5% of your base pay for the leave. Some awards give shiftworkers the higher of the 17.5% loading or the shift penalties they'd normally have earned, rather than both. To check yours, Fair Work's [payment for annual leave](https://www.fairwork.gov.au/leave/annual-leave/payment-for-annual-leave) page lets you look up what your award says. Its [Pay and Conditions Tool](https://calculate.fairwork.gov.au/) also finds the award that covers you. ## How leave shows up on your payslip Ellie's award gives her 17.5% leave loading. For her two weeks away, her payslip shows the leave and the loading as separate lines. | Ellie's pay for two weeks of annual leave | Amount (AUD) | | --- | ---: | | Annual leave, 76 hours | $2,400 | | Leave loading, 17.5% | $420 | | **Gross pay, before tax** | **$2,820** | Leave is paid at Ellie's base wage of $1,200 a week. Simplified; real payslips show more. That's more than Ellie would earn by working those two weeks. Someone whose normal pay includes weekend penalties might see a smaller difference, or none. Leave can be paid in your normal pay cycle, or all at once before you go if your employer agrees. Payroll spreads advance pay over the leave weeks when calculating withholding. The pays you'd normally get during those weeks have already arrived, though, so there's no deposit while you're away. That's the part worth planning for. Money for the rent due while you're on holiday is sitting in your account before you leave, alongside your holiday spending. Give it its own amount the day it lands, so a good week away doesn't use next fortnight's rent. Our [holiday budget guide](/blog/holiday-budget) covers the trip itself. We are building Clova, a budgeting app that plans each pay around the bills due before the next one, including an advance leave payment. Clova is an Australian budgeting app. Join the waitlist and we’ll be in touch. [Join the waitlist](https://getclova.com/) ## Super, public holidays and unused leave Your employer's 12% super is paid on annual leave and, in most cases, on leave loading too. The exception is loading that clearly makes up for overtime you'd have worked. Our guide to [super in your first job](/blog/super-first-job) explains where that contribution goes. If a public holiday falls during your leave on a day you'd normally work, it's paid as a public holiday and doesn't come out of your leave balance. Our guide to [public holiday pay](/blog/public-holiday-pay) has the details. Leave you never take isn't lost. When a job ends, your employer must pay out every hour of unused annual leave at what you'd have received for taking it, including any leave loading. That payout doesn't attract super, and payroll uses a different tax table for it. Before you book, you can check your balance and when the money lands. ## A note from us A first paid holiday is a change from casual work: time away can still be paid time. ## Common questions ### Is leave loading paid when I resign? Yes, if you'd have received it when taking the leave. When your job ends, unused annual leave must be paid out at the same amount you'd have got if you'd taken it, including any leave loading your award or agreement gives. ### Is leave loading taxed? Yes. Leave loading is part of your taxable income, so tax is withheld from it like the rest of your pay. When leave is paid in advance, the loading is added to the leave payment before payroll works out the tax. ### Do I keep building up leave while I'm on annual leave? Yes. Annual leave keeps building up while you're on paid leave, including paid annual leave and paid sick leave. It usually stops during unpaid leave. ### Can I cash out my annual leave instead of taking it? Sometimes. Most awards allow it, but you need a signed written agreement with your employer, at least 4 weeks of leave left afterwards, and no more than 2 weeks cashed out in any 12 months. Your employer can't pressure you into it. ## Sources 1. [Annual leave](https://www.fairwork.gov.au/leave/annual-leave) · Fair Work Ombudsman 2. [Payment for annual leave](https://www.fairwork.gov.au/leave/annual-leave/payment-for-annual-leave) · Fair Work Ombudsman 3. [Taking annual leave](https://www.fairwork.gov.au/leave/annual-leave/taking-annual-leave) · Fair Work Ombudsman 4. [Cashing out annual leave](https://www.fairwork.gov.au/leave/annual-leave/cashing-out-annual-leave) · Fair Work Ombudsman 5. [Withholding from leave payments for continuing employees](https://www.ato.gov.au/businesses-and-organisations/hiring-and-paying-your-workers/payg-withholding/payments-you-need-to-withhold-from/payments-to-employees/withholding-from-leave-payments-for-continuing-employees) · Australian Taxation Office 6. [What payments are qualifying earnings](https://www.ato.gov.au/businesses-and-organisations/super-for-employers/paying-super-on-payday/what-payments-are-qualifying-earnings) · Australian Taxation Office ## Related reading - [Your first payslip, explained line by line](https://getclova.com/blog/payslip-explained) - [How to Budget for a Holiday Without Spending Your Rent Money](https://getclova.com/blog/holiday-budget) - [Public Holiday Pay for Casual and Part-Time Workers](https://getclova.com/blog/public-holiday-pay) [Report a correction](https://getclova.com/contact) This guide explains a budgeting method in general terms; it doesn't consider your circumstances.