Repayment Income
The income measure used to calculate compulsory HELP/HECS repayments — taxable income plus other adjustments.
Repayment income (RI) is the income measure used by the ATO to determine your compulsory HELP/HECS, VSL, SSL, ABSTUDY SSL, and TSL repayments. It is broader than taxable income and includes: taxable income, any net investment losses added back, reportable fringe benefits amounts, reportable super contributions, and any exempt foreign employment income.
The use of repayment income rather than taxable income means that certain tax-minimisation strategies (such as negative gearing or salary sacrifice) do not reduce your HELP repayment obligation. For example, if your taxable income is $50,000 but you have $10,000 in net rental losses and $5,000 in reportable super contributions, your repayment income is $65,000, and your HELP repayment rate is based on this higher figure.
Repayment income is also used to determine eligibility for the Medicare Levy Surcharge, spouse super contribution offset, and various government benefits. Understanding your repayment income helps you predict your actual take-home pay if you have a HELP debt, as the compulsory repayments are effectively additional tax withheld by your employer throughout the year.
How it works
Repayment income is a broader measure than taxable income, built specifically to calculate compulsory HELP, VSL, SSL, ABSTUDY SSL, and TSL repayments. It takes your taxable income and adds back net investment losses, reportable fringe benefits amounts, reportable super contributions, and any exempt foreign employment income — items that reduce your tax bill but don't reduce what the ATO counts for repayment purposes.
You encounter this when working out your actual compulsory repayment for the year: your accountant, or the ATO's own calculation, starts from your taxable income figure and adds back the relevant items to arrive at repayment income, which is often noticeably higher than the taxable income shown on your notice of assessment.
Because negative gearing losses and salary-sacrificed super are both added back, neither strategy reduces your HELP repayment obligation even though both genuinely reduce the income tax you pay — a distinction that catches people who assume any deduction or pre-tax contribution automatically lowers every income-based calculation. Repayment income also feeds into the Medicare Levy Surcharge test and the spouse super contribution tax offset test, so the same broader figure does double duty across several different thresholds.
Example: repayment income triggering a repayment that taxable income alone would miss
Suppose your taxable income for the year is $55,000, after claiming a $12,000 net rental loss and $4,000 in salary-sacrificed super. On the surface, $55,000 looks comfortably under the $69,528 compulsory repayment threshold for 2026-27. But repayment income adds the $12,000 loss and $4,000 super contribution back, giving repayment income of $71,000 — just over the threshold.
That $1,472 of repayment income above the threshold triggers a compulsory HELP repayment of around $221 at the 15-cents-in-the-dollar rate, even though the taxpayer's actual income tax bill was calculated on the lower $55,000 figure — which is exactly why negative gearing and salary sacrifice reduce your income tax without doing anything for your HELP repayment obligation.
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HELP/HECS Debt
A government loan for tertiary education tuition fees, repaid through the tax system once your income exceeds the minimum threshold.
Income Tax
Tax levied by the federal government on your taxable income, calculated using progressive tax brackets.
Taxable Income
Your assessable income minus allowable deductions — the figure used to calculate your income tax.
Salary Sacrifice
An arrangement where you direct part of your pre-tax salary into super (or other benefits), reducing your taxable income.
Negative Gearing
When the costs of owning an investment property (interest, expenses) exceed the rental income, creating a tax-deductible loss.