When your repayments start or change
Find out the threshold for making repayments to your student loan and what happens if your income drops.
The threshold for repaying your student loan is an annual income of over $19,084 for the 1 April 2009 to 31 March 2010 tax year. This means that if you expect to earn more than this you'll need to start repaying your loan, even if you're still studying.
If you're going overseas your repayments will be different, depending on your loan balance.
Your repayments are worked out at 10 cents for every dollar of taxable income you earn above the threshold.
Taxable income includes things like salary, rental or investment income, and income from your own business. It doesn't include any working for families tax credits you may be getting, or your partner's income.
Check out what your repayments will be. Go to the Student loan repayment calculator.
If your income drops
Don't worry if your income drops during the year - your employer will stop your repayments if your income falls under the threshold. If you're self-employed and think you're going to earn less than you earned last year, you may be able to reduce your repayments. Just tell us what you think you're going to earn on a Student loan interim repayment application estimation (SL3E) form -go to "Forms and guides". We'll then tell you what your new repayments are.
Thresholds and repayment amounts from previous years
If you're preparing a tax return for a previous year, you can check the repayment threshold for that year below.
| Tax year | Repayment threshold | Amount per week (before tax) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 April 2009 to 31 March 2010 | $19,084 | $367 |
| 1 April 2008 to 31 March 2009 | $18,148 | $349 |
| 1 April 2007 to 31 March 2008 | $17,784 | $342 |
| 1 April 2006 to 31 March 2007 | $17,160 | $330 |
| 1 April 2005 to 31 March 2006 | $16,588 | $319 |
Back to Compulsory repayments
Date published: 17 Jul 2009
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