HECS-HELP debt overseas: the loan that follows you through customs

Moving overseas doesn't pause your HELP debt. If you'll be away 183 days or more, the ATO wants to know within a week and wants a number from you every year after that.

The short version

• Planning to live overseas for 183 days or more in any 12 months? Tell the ATO within 7 days of leaving, using an overseas travel notification [1].
• Every year after that, report your worldwide income or lodge a non-lodgment advice by 31 October. For 2025–26 the cut-off for a non-lodgment advice is A$16,750 [1].
• Repayments now work on a marginal system. In 2025–26 you pay nothing on repayment income up to A$67,000 and 15 cents per dollar above it, rising from there [2][3].
• Your debt keeps being indexed every 1 June. The rate was 2.8% in 2026 [4].
• Ignoring it doesn't make it go away. Late lodgment can attract penalties, and the debt is waiting for you when you come home [1][5].

Why a degree from Brisbane cares about a salary in Berlin

For a long time, HELP was quietly regarded as a debt you could outrun by moving abroad. Not any more. Today, anyone with a HELP (including old HECS), VET Student Loan or Australian Apprenticeship Support Loan who lives overseas for 183 days or more in any 12-month period has to keep the ATO in the loop [1].

The ATO is blunt about it: if you live overseas and aren't an Australian resident for tax purposes, you still have to repay your loan [1]. The rules simply swap "taxable income" for "worldwide income" so a foreign salary is counted the same way an Australian one would be.

There's one piece of good news worth knowing first. The government's 20% cut to student debts has now been fully processed. The ATO applied it to every student and training support debt that existed on 1 June 2025, and issued refunds where an account ended up in credit [3]. Check your balance in ATO online services before you assume last year's figure.

Step one: the overseas travel notification

This is the bit most people miss, because it happens in the chaos of the last week.

1. Sign in to myGov and open ATO online services. Make sure you can still sign in from overseas, ideally with an authenticator app rather than an Australian SMS.
2. Update your contact details, including your overseas address, email and phone number [5].
3. Go to Tax > Manage > Overseas travel notifications and submit one. You'll need your passport details, the country you're moving to and your departure date [5].
4. Do it within 7 days of leaving Australia [1]. A registered tax agent can lodge it for you if you'd rather.

You only need another notification if you come back to live in Australia and later leave again, or your circumstances change in a way that triggers the rule again [1]. Keep your contact details current the whole time you're away.

Step two: report your worldwide income every year

The Australian income year runs from 1 July to 30 June. By 31 October each year, you either report your worldwide income or lodge a non-lodgment advice [1]. A registered tax agent can usually lodge later than that.

What counts as worldwide income

Worldwide income is your Australian repayment income plus your foreign-sourced income for the time you were a non-resident [1]. Foreign amounts are converted to Australian dollars using the average exchange rate for the income year.

You then pick one of three ways to declare the foreign part [5]:

• Simple self-assessment. You declare gross foreign income and your main occupation, and the ATO applies a standard deduction.
• Overseas assessed. You use the figure from your most recent foreign tax assessment, provided it covers 12 months and overlaps the Australian year. There are restrictions, for example if you have assessments from more than one country.
• Comprehensive tax-based. You declare gross foreign income and claim allowable deductions, much like an Australian return.

You can choose a different method in a later year, which matters if your situation changes.

The A$16,750 line

For 2025–26, if your worldwide income is A$16,750 or less, you lodge a non-lodgment advice and that's it for the year [1]. Above that, you report the figure. Whether you actually owe a repayment then depends on the repayment thresholds below.

How much you'll actually repay

Since 1 July 2025, compulsory repayments use a marginal system: you only pay on income above the minimum threshold, not a percentage of the whole lot [3]. Most people's repayments are lower from their 2026 return onwards as a result.

Source: ATO [2]. Thresholds are indexed each year.

A quick worked example: worldwide income of A$90,000 in 2025–26 means 15 cents on the A$23,000 above the threshold, so a compulsory repayment of about A$3,450. The same income in 2026–27 works out at roughly A$3,070, because the threshold has moved up. The ATO's study and training loan repayment calculator will do it properly for your numbers [1].

Depending on how your worldwide income is made up, the amount you owe is raised either as a compulsory repayment or as an "overseas levy" [5]. Either way, the ATO sends a notice with the amount and a due date.

Indexation still bites

Your loan is indexed every 1 June on the part that's been unpaid for more than 11 months. The rate is now the lower of CPI and the Wage Price Index: 4% in 2024 (cut back from 4.7%), 3.2% in 2025 and 2.8% in 2026 [4]. If you pay nothing, the balance grows.

Voluntary repayments

You can make voluntary repayments from overseas at any time [5]. They reduce the balance, and therefore the indexation, but they don't reduce a compulsory repayment or overseas levy that's already been raised. If you're earning well abroad and the exchange rate is kind, paying down a chunk before 1 June can be worth a look.

What happens if you ignore it

Plenty of people leave, forget the notification and never lodge. It rarely ends well.

• The debt doesn't freeze. Indexation keeps adding to it every June [1][4].
• Late lodgment penalties. The ATO stresses lodging on time even if you can't pay straight away, to avoid a penalty for lodging late [5]. More generally, a failure to lodge on time penalty may apply to overdue lodgments [6].
• Default assessments. If the ATO can't get an overdue lodgment, it can assess your income without you, and that estimate may be less accurate than what you'd have reported [6].
• Escalation. The ATO can issue a final notice. Failing to lodge is a criminal offence, though the ATO says it usually phones and writes first [6].
• It's waiting when you return. Your HELP account, tax file number and any refunds all live in the same system. Coming home, starting an Australian job and lodging a return will bring the gap to light.

If you've already missed a year or two, the cheapest move is to catch up voluntarily: update your details, lodge the missing notifications and income reports, and talk to a registered tax agent if the figures are complicated.

Common situations

You're overseas but still an Australian tax resident. If you're away for less than 183 days, the normal Australian rules apply and your repayment follows your Australian tax return [1]. Longer stays may change your residency; our tax residency guide explains the tests.

You earn in a currency that swings. Your income is converted at the average rate for the Australian income year, so a strong local currency can push you over a threshold even if your pay hasn't changed.

You're coming home. Once you're back and lodging Australian returns, repayments go back through the tax system. Keep records of what you reported while away.

You're also buying property. Australian lenders look at HELP debts when they work out what you can borrow. Our property section covers how foreign income is assessed.

Sources

1. Overseas repayments of study and training loans – Australian Taxation Office
2. Study and training loan minimum repayment income and rates – Australian Taxation Office
3. Study and training loans: what's new – Australian Taxation Office
4. Study and training loan indexation rates – Australian Taxation Office
5. Overseas obligations for study and training loans – Australian Taxation Office
6. If you don't lodge – Australian Taxation Office

Keep reading

• Are you still an Australian tax resident once you move?
• Leaving Australia: the checklist before you go
• Foreign income and Australian lenders: how your salary is assessed
• Moving back to Australia: the return checklist