See when your HECS/HELP debt will be paid off, what indexation costs you, and how much sooner voluntary repayments get you debt free.
From myGov or the ATO. Balances already include the one-off 20% reduction applied in 2025.
Repayments are assessed on repayment income, which also adds fringe benefits, salary-sacrificed super and investment losses.
Modelled as received before indexation on 1 June. Allow a few business days for the ATO to process a payment.
Indexation is the lower of CPI and WPI, announced each year before it applies on 1 June (2.8% in 2026). Salary growth also indexes the repayment thresholds, which track average earnings.
Estimates only, not financial advice. The projection assumes your income grows steadily, thresholds index with wages, and the indexation rate holds; real years will differ. Amounts withheld from pay are only credited to your loan after you lodge your tax return, so indexation each 1 June applies before that year's repayment is credited. If you are exempt from the Medicare levy due to low family income, no compulsory repayment applies. Overseas debtors must also report worldwide income to the ATO.
From 1 July 2025 repayments are marginal, like income tax. For 2026-27 you repay nothing on repayment income up to $69,528, 15 cents per dollar between $69,529 and $129,717, and 17 cents per dollar above that. From $186,051 the repayment is 10% of your whole repayment income. The repayment is never more than your remaining debt.
On 1 June each year the ATO indexes debts that have been unpaid for more than 11 months. The rate is the lower of the Consumer Price Index and the Wage Price Index, announced earlier in the year (2.8% on 1 June 2026). Indexation is not interest, but for projections it behaves the same way.
No. Amounts withheld from your pay sit as withheld tax and are only credited to your loan as a lump sum after you lodge your tax return. That means indexation on 1 June applies to your balance before that year’s repayments are credited, which is why the debt shrinks slower than the withholding suggests.
A voluntary repayment received and processed by the ATO before 1 June reduces the balance before indexation applies, so it saves the indexation on that amount. Allow a few business days for processing. Voluntary repayments are not refundable and do not reduce that year’s compulsory repayment, so avoid overpaying when you are close to clearing the debt.
Yes. The one-off 20% reduction was applied automatically to balances as at 1 June 2025, before that year’s indexation, and processing is complete. The balance you see in myGov already includes it. It was a one-off, so this calculator does not project any future reductions.
Repayment income: taxable income plus reportable fringe benefits, reportable super contributions such as salary sacrifice, net investment losses, and exempt foreign employment income. Salary sacrificing into super does not reduce your HELP repayment. If you are exempt from the Medicare levy due to low family income, no compulsory repayment applies that year.