Most pages quote three or four example incomes. This one publishes the whole curve: the compulsory repayment for every income from $60,000 to $250,000 under the 2026-27 marginal system, worked out with the same engine that runs the calculators on this site.
Three things fall out of the numbers that the ATO's summary table doesn't make obvious:
Compulsory repayment by repayment income, 2026-27.
Highlighted rows are the two band boundaries. The final column is the same income under the 2025-26 thresholds, so you can see the effect of this year's indexation.
| Repayment income | 2026-27 repayment | % of income | Per fortnight | Per month | 2025-26 repayment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $60,000 | Nil | — | — | — | Nil |
| $65,000 | Nil | — | — | — | Nil |
| $70,000 | $71 | 0.1% | $3 | $6 | $450 |
| $75,000 | $821 | 1.1% | $32 | $68 | $1,200 |
| $80,000 | $1,571 | 2.0% | $60 | $131 | $1,950 |
| $85,000 | $2,321 | 2.7% | $89 | $193 | $2,700 |
| $90,000 | $3,071 | 3.4% | $118 | $256 | $3,450 |
| $95,000 | $3,821 | 4.0% | $147 | $318 | $4,200 |
| $100,000 | $4,571 | 4.6% | $176 | $381 | $4,950 |
| $105,000 | $5,321 | 5.1% | $205 | $443 | $5,700 |
| $110,000 | $6,071 | 5.5% | $233 | $506 | $6,450 |
| $115,000 | $6,821 | 5.9% | $262 | $568 | $7,200 |
| $120,000 | $7,571 | 6.3% | $291 | $631 | $7,950 |
| $125,000 | $8,321 | 6.7% | $320 | $693 | $8,700 |
| $130,000 | $9,076 | 7.0% | $349 | $756 | $9,550 |
| $135,000 | $9,926 | 7.4% | $382 | $827 | $10,400 |
| $140,000 | $10,776 | 7.7% | $414 | $898 | $11,250 |
| $150,000 | $12,476 | 8.3% | $480 | $1,040 | $12,950 |
| $160,000 | $14,176 | 8.9% | $545 | $1,181 | $14,650 |
| $170,000 | $15,876 | 9.3% | $611 | $1,323 | $16,350 |
| $180,000 | $17,576 | 9.8% | $676 | $1,465 | $18,000 |
| $190,000 | $19,000 | 10.0% | $731 | $1,583 | $19,000 |
| $200,000 | $20,000 | 10.0% | $769 | $1,667 | $20,000 |
| $210,000 | $21,000 | 10.0% | $808 | $1,750 | $21,000 |
| $220,000 | $22,000 | 10.0% | $846 | $1,833 | $22,000 |
| $230,000 | $23,000 | 10.0% | $885 | $1,917 | $23,000 |
| $240,000 | $24,000 | 10.0% | $923 | $2,000 | $24,000 |
| $250,000 | $25,000 | 10.0% | $962 | $2,083 | $25,000 |
Per fortnight and per month are the annual figure divided by 26 and 12. They are a guide to the cost, not a payroll withholding schedule — your employer withholds from each pay using the ATO's tables, and any difference is squared up when your return is assessed.
Because the system is marginal, the share of your income going to HECS rises gradually. Here is the first income at which the repayment reaches each round percentage.
| Repayment reaches | First income at which it does | Repayment there |
|---|---|---|
| 2% of income | $80,225 | $1,605 |
| 4% of income | $94,811 | $3,792 |
| 6% of income | $115,880 | $6,953 |
| 8% of income | $144,710 | $11,577 |
| 10% of income | $186,052 | $18,605 |
This is the number worth knowing if you are weighing up extra hours or a pay rise: at $94,811 you are handing over 4% of income, and you have to reach $186,052 before it is 10%.
Take a repayment income of $95,000 in 2026-27. The calculation runs like this:
That last point is where most of the confusion about HECS comes from. People hear "15% band" and budget for 15% of everything. The real figure at $95,000 is about 4%, and you have to earn $186,052 before the total actually reaches 10%.
If your income were $150,000 instead, the sum has one more step: the first $69,528 free, then $69,529–$129,717 at 15c (which is the fixed $9,028 shown in the ATO table), then $20,283 at 17c, giving $12,476.11.
The figures above assume a full year as an Australian resident for tax purposes, with a debt large enough to absorb the repayment. Four situations change the answer:
The one that catches most people is the second. If you started work mid-year, graduated in February, or took unpaid leave, your assessed repayment can be far below what came out of your pay — and the difference comes back to you. That is the mechanism behind most HECS refunds.
"I'll cross the threshold and lose a chunk of pay." You won't. Only the income above $69,528 is charged, at 15c in the dollar, so crossing the line costs cents rather than hundreds. We checked every dollar of the curve for cliffs.
"This table tells me what comes out of my pay." Not quite. This is the amount assessed on your return. Your employer withholds an estimate through the year, and the two rarely match exactly — which is why so many people get a refund at tax time.
The table also assumes your repayment income is your taxable income. If you salary package, have investment losses or make reportable super contributions, your repayment income is higher than your taxable income — see what packaging adds.
Every figure on this page is computed at build time by the same engine that powers the calculators on this site — nothing is typed in by hand, so the tables cannot drift away from the tools. The engine is checked against the ATO's published thresholds by a golden test suite that fails the build if any figure moves unexpectedly.
Is there a HECS cliff at $186,051? We checked every dollar
What the 2026-27 threshold rise gave back, by income