Enter your annual income to see your estimated compulsory HECS repayment for 2026–27.
Your compulsory HECS repayment is based on your repayment income and the repayment thresholds for the financial year. Once your repayment income goes above the minimum threshold, a percentage of the income above that threshold goes towards your debt.
The system uses marginal rates, meaning you only pay the higher rate on the portion of income that falls into each band, not your entire income. Your repayment is calculated once a year when you lodge your tax return.
Repayment income is not just your taxable salary. The ATO also includes reportable fringe benefits, reportable super contributions (including salary sacrifice), total net investment losses, and exempt foreign employment income.
This means your repayment income can be higher than what appears on your payslip. Use the expandable section in the calculator above to add these amounts and get a more accurate estimate.
Yes. Salary sacrifice contributions to super are counted as reportable super contributions, which are added to your repayment income. This can push you into a higher repayment band even though your take-home pay is lower.
Read our full guide on how salary sacrifice works to understand the trade-offs.
Whether voluntary repayments make sense depends on your loan balance, indexation, and what else you could do with that money. There is no one-size-fits-all answer.
Should you pay your HECS debt off early? Read our full guide.
HECS-HELP is part of Australia's broader HELP student loan system. We use "HECS" throughout this calculator because that's what most Australians know it as. The calculation itself follows the applicable Australian Government HELP repayment rules.
Last checked: August 2026
This calculator provides general information only and does not constitute financial advice.