What is the HELP repayment threshold for FY2025-26?

For 1 July 2025 to 30 June 2026 compulsory HELP repayments start once repayment income passes $67,000.

How is the FY2025-26 HELP repayment calculated?

Marginally: nothing on the first $67,000, then a rate on the income above it. On $90,000 the repayment is $3,450.

Is repayment income the same as taxable income?

No. Repayment income is taxable income plus Reportable fringe benefits, Total net investment loss — including a negatively geared rental, Reportable employer super contributions (salary sacrifice), Exempt foreign employment income. A negatively geared rental does not reduce it.

Australian tax · FY2025-26

HELP / HECS repayment calculator

For 1 July 2025 to 30 June 2026 compulsory repayments start above $67,000 — and only the income above that is charged. This is the year the old system, which applied a rate to your whole income, was replaced.

Calculator

Your repayment incomeNot your taxable income — see below

Compulsory repayment for FY2025-26$3,450

As a share of your repayment income3.83%

Income below the threshold, which repays nothing$67,000

This is an estimate, not advice. It applies the published rate to what you enter; whether the method suits your circumstances, and whether your records support the figures, is a question for your tax agent.

Repayment income is not taxable income

This is the single most common reason a repayment comes in higher than expected. Repayment income is your taxable income plus:

Reportable fringe benefits
Total net investment loss — including a negatively geared rental
Reportable employer super contributions (salary sacrifice)
Exempt foreign employment income

A negatively geared rental does not reduce it. The loss comes off your taxable income and is then added straight back for this calculation, which is exactly the case where a return and a repayment notice look like they disagree.

What changed in FY2025-26

Before FY2025-26 the rate for your income band applied to your whole repayment income. Crossing a band boundary by a dollar could cost hundreds, because the higher rate re-applied to everything you earned.

From FY2025-26 it is marginal: the first $67,000 repays nothing, and only the income above it is charged. A very high income eventually settles back onto a flat share of the whole amount, so the marginal bands cannot overtake it.

Worked example

On a repayment income of $90,000 in FY2025-26, the compulsory repayment is $3,450 — 3.83% of the whole. Only $23,000 of that income is charged at all.

Preparing returns, not just your own?

BeforeMay builds the working paper behind the return — and computes this repayment from the same function this page just used, on a repayment income assembled from the client's own documents rather than typed in.

Start a case free Where does client data go?

Three returns free. No card.

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