Enter your taxable income and the page works out your compulsory HELP repayment for the 2026-27 year using the ATO’s thresholds. Add your debt and it shows how indexation moves your balance, and how many years it takes to clear.
Work out your repayment
Everything is worked out in your browser. Nothing you type is sent anywhere.
What you repay
Your repayment shows up here once you enter your taxable income.
What to enter
- Taxable income
- Your taxable income for the year, from your tax return. The page adds the other items below to it to get your repayment income.
- Other income that counts
- Reportable fringe benefits, reportable super contributions, net investment losses and exempt foreign employment income all go into repayment income. Leave them empty if you have none.
- Your HELP debt
- Optional. With a debt, the page runs the loan forward year by year, taking off your repayment and adding indexation.
- Income rise and indexation
- Optional. A yearly income rise speeds up repayment. Indexation starts at the latest rate the ATO published, and you can change it.
What you repay at different incomes
The same debt repaid at different incomes. The repayment does not depend on how much you owe.
| Repayment income | Repayment | A month | Share of income |
|---|---|---|---|
| $60,000 | $0 | $0 | 0% |
| $80,000 | $1,571 | $131 | 2% |
| $100,000 | $4,571 | $381 | 4.6% |
| $130,000 | $9,076 | $756 | 7% |
| $150,000 | $12,476 | $1,040 | 8.3% |
| $186,051 | $18,605 | $1,550 | 10% |
A worked example
Here is a made-up graduate with a taxable income of $80,000 and a HELP debt of $40,000. Their repayment income is $80,000, which is above the $69,528 minimum, so they repay 15 cents for each dollar over $69,528. That is $1,571 this year, or $131 a month.
Taking off each year’s repayment and adding 2.8% indexation to what is left, the debt clears in about 43 years, and the graduate repays $67,285 in total, of which $27,285 is indexation. If their income rises 4% a year, it clears in about 12 years and the total is $47,558.
Because the repayment is a percentage of income, someone on a higher income clears the same debt sooner. The page shows the debt year by year for your own numbers.
Two of the ATO’s own examples for 2026-27 give these results, and the page reproduces them: a taxable income of $118,450 plus $18,614 of reportable super makes a repayment income of $137,064 and a repayment of $10,277; a taxable income of $227,123 plus $27,657 of reportable super makes a repayment income of $254,780 and a repayment of $25,478.
Recent indexation rates
Indexation is applied each 1 June. These are the rates for the last five years.
| Year | Rate |
|---|---|
| 2026 | 2.8% |
| 2025 | 3.2% |
| 2024 | 4% |
| 2023 | 3.2% |
| 2022 | 3.9% |
How the repayment is calculated
- Your repayment income is your taxable income plus reportable fringe benefits, net investment loss, reportable super contributions and exempt foreign employment income.
- If it is $69,528 or less, you make no compulsory repayment in 2026-27.
- Above that you pay 15 cents for each dollar over $69,528, up to $129,717. Between $129,718 and $186,050 you pay $9,028 plus 17 cents for each dollar over $129,717.
- From $186,051 you pay 10% of your whole repayment income.
- With a debt, each year the page takes off that year’s repayment and then adds indexation to what is left.
Repayment = rate × (repayment income – band start), plus the fixed amount for the band
Assumptions to keep in mind
- The thresholds are the ATO’s 2026-27 figures, last updated on 30 June 2026. They are indexed each year, and the projection keeps them fixed.
- The default indexation rate is the 2.8% applied on 1 June 2026, which is the lower of CPI or WPI. Future rates will differ.
- In real life indexation is applied each 1 June to the part of the debt that has been unpaid for more than 11 months. The page applies it once a year after the repayment, which is an approximation.
- Your income stays the same unless you add a yearly rise.
- The page does not include voluntary repayments, and a debt can be reduced by them. It also assumes you have no other study or training loans.
Mistakes that give the wrong repayment
Using the old percentage tables
Until 2024-25 the repayment was a single percentage of your whole income. From 2025-26 it is worked out on the slice above the threshold, so old calculators give different answers.
Using taxable income only
Repayment income also includes reportable fringe benefits, super contributions, net investment losses and exempt foreign income. If you have any, your repayment is higher than taxable income alone suggests.
Forgetting that the debt grows
Indexation is added every year, even in years when you are under the threshold and repay nothing. A debt that is not being repaid grows.
Thinking the repayment depends on the debt
It depends on your repayment income. A bigger debt only means you take longer to clear it.
Missing the top band
From the top threshold the repayment is 10% of your whole repayment income. That is why the amount steps up at that point.
Questions students ask
How much HECS-HELP do I repay?
For 2026-27 you repay nothing up to $69,528. Above that, 15 cents for each dollar over $69,528, then $9,028 plus 17 cents for each dollar over $129,717 once you pass $129,717, and 10% of your whole repayment income from $186,051.
Is HECS-HELP the same as HELP?
HELP is the loan program, and HECS-HELP is the HELP loan that covers your student contribution if you are in a Commonwealth supported place. The same repayment thresholds apply to every HELP loan.
What is indexation?
Indexation adjusts your debt for the cost of living. Each 1 June it is applied to the part of your debt that has been unpaid for more than 11 months, at the lower of the Consumer Price Index or the Wage Price Index. On 1 June 2026 it was 2.8%.
What counts as repayment income?
Your taxable income plus reportable fringe benefits, total net investment loss, reportable super contributions and exempt foreign employment income. The page lets you add each one.
Where do I find my HELP debt?
Your HELP balance is in your myGov account linked to the ATO. If you also want to see what a year of study costs, the university cost calculator adds tuition and living costs, and the WAM calculator works out your weighted average mark.
