Calculator
HECS-HELP Repayment Calculator
HECS-HELP Repayment Calculator
Reportable super contributions, fringe benefits and net investment losses are added back to reach repayment income.
Compulsory repayments apply only above the $54,435 repayment-income threshold, using the ATO's marginal-style 15%–25% schedule (2024–25 onwards). Indexation is applied once a year each June on the remaining balance, capped at the lower of CPI and wage price indexation from 2025.
Compulsory Repayment This Year
$4,222.55
Repayment Analysis
Your compulsory repayment is $4,222.55 a year ($162.41 a fortnight) — That is an effective 5.3% of repayment income, withheld through PAYG like tax. At 3% wage growth and 3% indexation the balance clears in about 6 years, costing roughly $29,036.72 in repayments plus $2,036.72 added by indexation along the way.
*Uses the ATO 2024-25 compulsory repayment schedule and assumes indexation is applied each June on the remaining balance. Thresholds, rates and indexation change over time. Educational only, not financial advice.
A Debt That Behaves Like an Extra Tax Bracket
HECS-HELP (and its siblings FEE-HELP, VET Student Loans and START) is unlike any other debt Australians carry. There are no monthly bills, no interest rate and no collections calls — instead the balance is indexed once a year each June to CPI (capped from 2025 at the lower of CPI and wage growth), and repaid automatically through the tax system once your repayment income crosses the ATO threshold. For most graduates it functions as a temporary extra tax bracket: roughly 15% of every dollar earned above $54,435 in 2024-25 terms, rising through marginal bands to 25% for very high incomes. That structure changes how the debt should be managed. Because compulsory repayments scale with income rather than the balance, a low-paid graduate pays nothing while a high earner clears the same debt quickly regardless of voluntary contributions. Indexation is the real enemy: during the 2022–23 inflation spike it added as much as 7.1% in one June, which is why balances seemed to grow despite years of work. This calculator applies the current ATO schedule to your repayment income — taxable income plus reportable super contributions, fringe benefits and net investment losses — then simulates year-by-year indexation against your expected salary growth so you can see when the debt actually clears and what it truly costs along the way.
The ATO Schedule, Then a Yearly Simulation
Repayment income starts with your taxable income and adds back reportable fringe benefits, reportable super contributions, total net investment losses and exempt foreign income — which is why salary-sacrificing into super does not reduce HELP repayments. Below the threshold ($54,435 for 2024-25) nothing is compulsory. Above it, the post-2024 marginal-style schedule charges each band's rate only on income within that band: 15% between $54,435 and $63,340, climbing band by band to 25% above $207,590. At a $80,000 repayment income that produces about $3,730 — an effective 4.7% of income, withheld by your employer through PAYG exactly like tax. The projection layer then replays the future: each June the remaining balance grows by your assumed indexation rate, each financial year your salary grows by your assumed rate, and the compulsory repayment recomputes from the new income until the balance reaches zero. The gap between indexation and wage growth decides everything. If your salary rises faster than indexation, repayments accelerate and the debt collapses; if indexation outpaces your pay rises — the trap low-income holders faced through 2022–23 — the balance can stagnate or grow despite full compliance. The simulation makes that race visible in years and dollars rather than leaving it abstract.
Expert Insights
Voluntary Repayments Are a Bet on Indexation
Every spare dollar has two competing uses: paying down HELP early or investing it. The arithmetic hinges on indexation versus what your money could otherwise earn. When indexation runs at 7% and a savings account pays 5%, prepaying HELP beats cash; when indexation sits near 3% and long-run diversified portfolios have returned 8–9%, investing usually wins — with the caveat that HELP 'returns' are risk-free and tax-free while market returns are neither. Decide deliberately using current indexation figures, not fear of the word 'debt'.
Salary Sacrifice Does Not Hide Income From HELP
A widespread workplace myth holds that sacrificing into super lowers HELP repayments. It does not: reportable super contributions are added back when the ATO computes repayment income, so the compulsory percentage still applies to your pre-sacrifice earnings. Salary sacrifice remains excellent tax planning for building super, but budget for HELP repayments on the grossed-up figure. The add-backs field in this calculator exists precisely so you can model that reality instead of discovering it at tax time.
Check the Balance Before Big Credit Events
Although HELP debts are not counted in serviceability the way personal loans are, APRA guidance expects lenders to include them when assessing borrowing capacity — many banks now deduct the annual compulsory repayment from your income before working out what you can borrow. Before applying for a mortgage, pull your myGov HELP balance and know your exact repayment figure; a $6,000 assessed repayment can shave tens of thousands off borrowing power. Some borrowers clear modest HELP balances just before a mortgage application precisely because the serviceability maths rewards it.
Actionable Tips
- 1
Reconcile Your Balance Against Your Payslips
Log into myGov linked to the ATO once a year, ideally after July when indexation lands and employers update withholding. Confirm your employer is actually withholding the right amount — under-withholding leaves a nasty lump at tax return time, while over-withholding simply refunds later without interest. Knowing the live balance also lets you sanity-check this calculator's inputs against reality rather than memory.
- 2
Model the Indexation-versus-Invest Race Honestly
Set this calculator's indexation slider to the latest published CPI figure and compare the outcome against investing the same amount at a realistic after-tax return. If indexation is high (as in 2023), voluntary repayment looks strong; if it is low, compounding investments usually win over long horizons. Revisit whenever inflation shifts regime — the right answer changed twice between 2022 and 2025.
- 3
Factor Repayments Into Job Offers, Not Just Take-Home
Comparing two offers? The higher salary carries a higher compulsory repayment rate, so the net difference is smaller than the headline suggests — but it is never negative: above-threshold, every extra dollar of income still leaves you ahead after HELP. Use the calculator to price both offers' true after-repayment income, especially where salary packaging, bonuses or reportable super change the repayment-income calculation between them.
Real-World Examples
Liam Priced His First Real Payrise
Liam, a junior engineer on $72,000, resented the $2,700-plus appearing on his payslip group certificate until he modelled a promotion to $95,000. The calculator showed his repayment jumping to roughly $7,300 — yet his after-HELP income still rose by more than $18,000. Seeing the numbers side by side killed the 'tax bracket trap' instinct that had made him hesitate about chasing raises, and he accepted the promotion the following week.
Amara Chose Investing Over Prepaying
Amara carried a $32,000 HELP balance and an inheritance windfall. With indexation back near 3% and her long-horizon ETF plan projecting well above that, the calculator showed prepaying would save about $960 a year of indexation while the invested alternative targeted several times that. She invested the lot and kept letting PAYG grind the debt down — re-running the comparison each June in case inflation spiked again.
Josh Cleared the Runway Before the Mortgage
Josh and his partner were saving for a Sydney deposit with his $41,000 HELP balance looming. Their broker explained the bank would assess his ~$5,900 annual repayment as reduced borrowing power. Running the numbers showed four years of voluntary repayments would cost less than the loan-limit haircut they would otherwise carry — so he cleared the balance before applying, lifting their assessed capacity enough to shift the suburbs available to them.
Glossary of Terms
- Repayment Income
- Taxable income plus reportable super contributions, fringe benefits, net investment losses and exempt foreign income - the figure the ATO uses to assess HELP repayments.
- Indexation
- The annual June adjustment that keeps HELP balances in line with living costs, set to CPI and capped at the lower of CPI and wage growth from 2025.
- Compulsory Repayment
- The percentage of repayment income above the ATO threshold owed each year, collected through PAYG withholding or the tax assessment.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Ivy Sinclair-Wren
Financial Chaos Analyst
Ivy Sinclair-Wren is a Financial Chaos Analyst covering investing, AI, wealth psychology, and the emotional consequences of opening finance apps during market crashes. Based in Melbourne, she specializes in demystifying the Australian tax code and helping users navigate the intersection of spreadsheet logic and human irrationality.