Redact a PayslipBefore You Send It
Prove you can pay the rent without handing over your TFN, your bank account or your super member number. Nothing is uploaded. It all happens in your browser.
Free daily redaction, no signup required
You are not being difficult. The regulator agrees with you.
In April 2026 the Privacy Commissioner determined that 2Apply, a rental application platform used by agents across Australia, collected personal information that was not reasonably necessary and did so by unfair means. The determination found breaches of Australian Privacy Principles 3.2 and 3.5.
“Renters often lack real choice when making rental applications. Either they hand over personal and private information, including ID documents and payslips, or risk housing precarity or even loss.”Privacy Commissioner Carly Kind
On tax file numbers the OAIC is blunt: if a document you have been asked to supply includes your TFN, you are allowed to cross out or remove your TFN before you hand the document over.
NSW Fair Trading goes further on bank statements, saying applicants should be encouraged to redact the daily transaction history and provide only evidence of savings. In South Australia, agents are prohibited from requesting financial statements unless the account number and outgoing transactions have been redacted or removed.
Redacting before you apply is not an obstacle to your application. In several states it is what the rules already expect.
What to Cover on a Payslip
Hide the identifiers. Keep the income.
Cover these
- Tax file number (TFN)
- BSB and bank account number
- Superannuation fund member number
- Your home address
- Employee or payroll ID
- Date of birth, if shown
Leave these visible
- Your name
- Your employer name
- Pay period dates
- Gross pay
- Net pay
- Year to date totals
How It Works
Under a minute, and the file never leaves your device.
Open your payslip
Drop in the image or PDF. Your browser does the work, not our servers.
Draw over the details
Cover the TFN, bank account and super member number. Leave the income figures alone.
Download and attach
Export as PNG or PDF and send that copy with your application.
Your documents never leave your browser
The reason rental applications are risky is not any single agent. It is the number of copies. Your payslip goes to a platform, then an agency, then a landlord, and every copy is a place it can leak from. The Privacy Commissioner made exactly this point about the volume of personal information held across the real estate sector.
RedactID does not add another copy. There is no upload step, because the redaction runs in the page you are already looking at. We do not receive your file, so we cannot lose it.
How that actually worksCommon Questions
Can I remove my TFN from a payslip before giving it to an agent?
Yes. The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner states that if a document you have been asked to supply includes your tax file number, you are allowed to cross out or remove your TFN before you hand the document over. Only a short list of organisations may ask for your TFN at all, including your employer once you are hired, your bank, your super fund, your registered tax agent and Centrelink. A real estate agent is not on that list.
What should I redact on a payslip for a rental application?
Cover your tax file number, the BSB and bank account number your wages are paid into, your superannuation member number, your home address and your employee or payroll ID. Leave your name, your employer name, the pay period and the gross, net and year to date figures visible, because those are what demonstrate your income.
Is a real estate agent allowed to ask for all of this?
Not necessarily. In April 2026 the Privacy Commissioner determined that the 2Apply rental application platform, operated by InspectRealEstate, collected personal information that was not reasonably necessary and did so by unfair means, in breach of Australian Privacy Principles 3.2 and 3.5. Privacy Commissioner Carly Kind noted that renters often lack real choice: they either hand over personal information including ID documents and payslips, or risk housing precarity. Several states also legislate limits on what may be requested.
Will my application be rejected if I redact my payslip?
Redacting a TFN or a bank account number does not remove anything an agent needs to assess your application. Identity, contact details, ability to pay the rent and likelihood of looking after the property are the recognised purposes, and none of them require your TFN or your account number. Keep the income figures and employer details clearly readable so the assessment can still be made.
Does RedactID upload my payslip anywhere?
No. The redaction happens in your browser on your own device. The file is not sent to our servers, not stored and not seen by us. That matters especially here, because the whole problem with rental applications is how many copies of your documents end up on other people’s systems.
Are the black boxes actually permanent?
Yes. RedactID flattens the redaction into the exported image or PDF, so the covered area is gone from the file rather than being a layer someone can drag away. This is the difference between real redaction and drawing a rectangle in a PDF viewer.
Applying for a rental this week?
Redact the payslip first. It takes less time than filling in the form.
Redact My Payslip