The Australian HELP compulsory repayment threshold from 2019–20 to 2025–26 in nominal and inflation-adjusted dollars, with a complete-year earnings comparison where available.
Interactive chart
The threshold restated using full-financial-year CPI.
Swipe or scroll the chart horizontally to see later periods.
Focus the chart and use the Left and Right Arrow keys, or point to a marker, for its exact value.
Showing 2025–26 dollars with 1 available series.
The chart is one keyboard stop. Use its Arrow keys to review points; in narrower layouts, scroll the plot horizontally. Exact values and source notes are also provided in the table below.
Key findings
- The published threshold is $67,000 in 2025-26.
- The first dollar producing a positive marginal repayment is $67,001 in 2025-26.
- The nominal threshold rose by 23.1% from 2024-25 to 2025-26.
- Across the chart period, the threshold's CPI-adjusted value changed by 16.1%.
- In the latest complete earnings comparison, 2024-25, the threshold was 52.5% of annualised AWOTE.
How the series interact
This comparison describes measured relationships and timing; it does not treat co-movement as proof of causation.
- The earnings-relative series ends in 2024-25 at 52.5%; the next financial year is omitted because its two-observation AWOTE benchmark is incomplete.
Data table
| Financial year | Published threshold (nominal AUD) | Threshold (2025–26 AUD) | Threshold / AWOTE | Nil-band boundary | First positive-repayment dollar | Repayment calculation basis | Complete earnings benchmark |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019-20 | $45,881 | $57,700.76 | 52.33% | $45,880 | $45,881 | percentage_of_total_repayment_income | Yes |
| 2020-21 | $46,620 | $57,710.48 | 51.99% | $46,619 | $46,620 | percentage_of_total_repayment_income | Yes |
| 2021-22 | $47,014 | $55,701.61 | 51.4% | $47,013 | $47,014 | percentage_of_total_repayment_income | Yes |
| 2022-23 | $48,361 | $53,536.29 | 51.02% | $48,360 | $48,361 | percentage_of_total_repayment_income | Yes |
| 2023-24 | $51,550 | $54,772.13 | 52.01% | $51,549 | $51,550 | percentage_of_total_repayment_income | Yes |
| 2024-25 | $54,435 | $56,461.15 | 52.53% | $54,434 | $54,435 | percentage_of_total_repayment_income | Yes |
| 2025-26 | $67,000 | $67,000 | — | $67,000 | $67,001 | marginal_repayment_above_threshold | No |
What this chart shows
The chart tracks Australia’s HELP compulsory repayment threshold in published dollars, inflation-adjusted terms and relative to a complete-year earnings benchmark where available. It highlights both the latest threshold convention and the policy change to a marginal repayment approach.
The table preserves both the nil-band boundary and the first dollar that produces a compulsory repayment. Real values use complete financial-year CPI and are stated in current chart-base dollars. The earnings ratio uses a complete-year annualised AWOTE benchmark where both observations are available. This is general educational information, not financial or tax advice.
Methodology and formulas
- The table preserves both the nil-band boundary and the first dollar that produces a compulsory repayment.
- Real values use complete financial-year CPI and are stated in 2025–26 dollars.
- The earnings ratio uses the same complete-year annualised AWOTE benchmark as the tax-free-threshold chart.
Policy notes
- In 2025–26 the nil band ends at $67,000 and the first positive marginal repayment applies at $67,001.
Read the shared Finance Charts data and publication methodology.
Sources and attribution
Limitations
- Repayment income has a statutory definition and is not necessarily taxable income.
- The calculation changed in 2025–26 from a percentage of total repayment income to a marginal calculation above the threshold.
- The 2025–26 earnings comparison is omitted because the May 2026 AWOTE observation was not yet available in the retrieved source.
- The calculation changed in the latest financial year from a percentage of total repayment income to a marginal calculation above the threshold.
- The latest earnings comparison is omitted because the required AWOTE observation was not yet available in the retrieved source.
- CPI measures price change for a representative basket and is not a household-specific cost-of-living index.
- The index reference period is September 2025 = 100; index re-referencing does not change inflation rates.
- AWOTE is an earnings benchmark for full-time adults, not average household income or average taxable income.
- Changes can reflect workforce composition as well as wage changes.
- The system changed from a percentage of total repayment income to a marginal calculation in 2025–26.
- Used for policy context only; numeric threshold observations come from the ATO tables.