Once you have received a Higher Education Loan Program (HELP) loan, it is important you monitor and manage your HELP debt. 

The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) is responsible for managing HELP debt repayments and you can access information regarding your HELP debt at any time through the ATO online or telephone services.

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How do you check how much you owe?

You can check how much you owe (your HELP debt) through ATO online services in your myGov account or by contacting the ATO on 13 28 61.

Useful links and resources icon

Useful links and resources

If you do not have a myGov account, you can set one up following the instructions at myGov.

You can then link your myGov account to the ATO Online Services following the instructions on the ATO website.

For assistance, you can contact the ATO myGov Helpdesk on 13 23 07 and select option 1.

What does your HELP debt include?

Your HELP debt is a real time figure of how much you currently owe. Your HELP debt will provide an itemised breakdown of HELP debts incurred, indexation applied and any compulsory repayments or voluntary repayments you have made.

If you have notified your employer that you have a HELP debt and they are withholding an amount from your wage each pay cycle (also known as a PAYG deduction), it is important to know that these are not credited against your HELP debt at the time they are withheld. When you do your tax return, the ATO will calculate the repayment you owe and use the withheld amounts, deducted by your employer, to cover this repayment.

How do you check you have been charged correctly?

Your higher education provider must send you a Commonwealth Assistance Notice (CAN) each study period. It will list the units of study you enrolled in where you accessed a HELP loan. You can check the amounts listed on your CAN with the amount that has been added to your HELP debt to make sure you have been charged correctly.

You can also log into myHELPbalance and access your ‘HELP balance history’ to ensure your provider has correctly reported your recent units of study once the census date has passed.

If you believe you have been incorrectly charged by your provider, you will need to contact your provider directly to dispute the debt. For further information, see making a complaint.

Why can’t I see my HELP loan information at the ATO?

After the census date, your provider reports your HELP loan information to the Department of Education.

The Department then undertakes a data check and approves the release of the data to the ATO. Once this happens your HELP loan information is transferred and will appear in your ATO HELP debt account.

This process means there may be a delay from when you take out a HELP loan to when you can see your HELP debt at the ATO.

HELP loan information is released to the ATO on a monthly schedule. This includes all loans with dates up to the end of the previous month.

What is the difference between my HELP debt and HELP balance?

Your HELP debt and your available HELP balance are different and will be different amounts.

HELP debt

Your HELP debt is the total amount of your HELP loans to date and what you must repay. Your HELP debt includes the original amount of your loan:

  • plus indexation
  • plus loan fees (if applicable)
  • minus any repayments you have made.

Available HELP balance

Your available HELP balance is your remaining borrowing capacity under the HELP scheme. The combined HELP loan limit is a cap on what you can borrow from the Australian Government to cover the costs of your tuition fees. Your available HELP balance is the amount you are still able to borrow under the HELP loan limit.

Your available HELP balance is calculated using the HELP loan limit that applies to you:

  • minus your FEE-HELP, VET-FEE HELP and VSL borrowing
  • minus any HECS-HELP (also known as HECS) loan borrowing from 1 January 2020
  • plus any repayments you made through the ATO from 1 July 2019 onwards.

Your HELP loan limit depends on what you are studying and the limit is set by the government each year.

In 2024 the limit is $121,844 for most students. For students studying medicine, dentistry, veterinary science and eligible aviation courses it is $174,998. Further information is available at your borrowing limit.

Your myHELPbalance figure does not show how much you owe, loan fees or indexation on your debt and does not include debts incurred before 2005.

Useful links and resources icon

Useful links and resources

The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) is responsible for managing HELP debts. You can check your HELP debt balance through myGov or by calling the ATO on 13 28 61.

You can check your available HELP balance at myHELPbalance.

For definitions of key terms, visit our key dates and terminology page.