Since 2017, moving overseas hasn't moved you out of the HELP repayment system. Non-residents repay on the same thresholds as residents, assessed on worldwide income, and the ATO's enforcement hook is a pair of filing obligations that many expats only discover years late. This page covers HELP (HECS), VET Student Loans and Australian Apprenticeship Support Loans alike.
Obligation 1: the overseas travel notification
If you intend to live outside Australia for 183 days or more in any 12-month period (or already do), you must submit an overseas travel notification within 7 days of leaving, and keep your contact details current while away. It's done in ATO online services via myGov (Tax → Manage → Overseas travel notifications) or through a registered tax agent; you'll need passport and travel details. Short trips home don't require a new notification, only returning for good, or another change in your residency, does.
Obligation 2: report worldwide income every year by 31 October
Each Australian income year you're overseas, one of two filings is due by 31 October (later via a tax agent):
- Worldwide income report, if your worldwide income exceeds the cut-off. Worldwide income = your Australian repayment income plus non-resident foreign-sourced income, converted at the year's average exchange rate.
- Non-lodgment advice, if it doesn't. The cut-off is 25% of the minimum repayment threshold: $16,750 AUD for 2025-26 (25% of the $67,000 threshold), and $17,382 for 2026-27 on the same rule. Earning under the cut-off doesn't remove the paperwork: the advice still has to be lodged.
Lodging on time matters even if you can't pay immediately, late lodgment attracts penalties separately from the debt itself.
How the repayment is worked out
If your worldwide income clears the normal repayment threshold, the assessment splits by income type: Australian repayment income attracts a compulsory repayment as usual, while the foreign component attracts an overseas levy calculated to mirror it. Either way the rates and thresholds are the ones on our thresholds page, applied to the combined figure. You'll receive a notice stating the amount and due date; nothing is withheld from a foreign payslip, so the bill arrives whole.
What you'd owe in 2026-27, by worldwide income
The law sets the levy as the repayment you would owe if your repayment income equalled your worldwide income, minus any compulsory repayment on your Australian income (Higher Education Support Act ss 154-16 and 154-32). So the 2026-27 rates apply to the total. For someone whose income is all foreign-sourced:
| Worldwide income (AUD) | What to lodge by 31 Oct | Overseas levy | Share of income |
|---|---|---|---|
| $15,000 | Non-lodgment advice | $0 | Nil |
| $17,382 | Non-lodgment advice | $0 | Nil |
| $50,000 | Worldwide income report | $0 | Nil |
| $69,528 | Worldwide income report | $0 | Nil |
| $80,000 | Worldwide income report | $1,571 | 2.0% |
| $100,000 | Worldwide income report | $4,571 | 4.6% |
| $130,000 | Worldwide income report | $9,076 | 7.0% |
| $150,000 | Worldwide income report | $12,476 | 8.3% |
| $200,000 | Worldwide income report | $20,000 | 10.0% |
Non-lodgment cut-off for 2026-27 worked out from the ATO's rule (25% of the $69,528 minimum threshold = $17,382); the ATO page currently publishes only the 2025-26 figure of $16,750. Foreign income is after your chosen assessment method's deductions, converted at the year's average exchange rate.
Between the two thresholds ($17,382 to $69,528) you must file a full report but owe nothing. With mixed income, the split changes but the total doesn't: $30,000 of Australian repayment income plus a $70,000 foreign salary gives $0 compulsory repayment and a $4,571 levy, the same $4,571 as $100,000 earned at home. At $80,000 Australian plus $40,000 foreign, it is $1,571 compulsory plus $6,000 levy.
For the foreign-income figure you choose one of three assessment methods each year:
- Simple self-assessment, declare gross foreign income and your occupation; a standard occupation-based deduction is applied automatically. Least paperwork.
- Overseas assessed, use the figure from your foreign tax authority's most recent assessment covering a 12-month period that overlaps the Australian year (HMRC, IRS and so on). Unavailable if you have no foreign assessment, it covers the wrong period, or you've used it before.
- Comprehensive tax-based, declare gross foreign income minus deductions that would be allowable under Australian rules, like a mini tax return. Most work, and worthwhile when your deductions beat the standard one.
The debt keeps growing while you're away
Indexation is applied every 1 June regardless of where you live, 2.8% in 2026, and if you're under the repayment thresholds abroad, nothing offsets it: the balance simply compounds until you're back above them. Voluntary repayments can be made from overseas at any time and are the only way to shrink the balance in low-income years, though they don't reduce any compulsory repayment or levy you're separately assessed for.
Before you fly: a checklist
- Link the ATO to your myGov account (and set up myID) before losing easy access to Australian ID verification.
- Update contact details and lodge the travel notification within 7 days of leaving.
- Diarise 31 October annually, report or non-lodgment advice, every year the debt exists.
- Keep foreign payslips, tax assessments and income records, whichever assessment method you choose will want them.
- Budget for the repayment during the year; nothing is withheld for you overseas.
Sources
Figures on this page come from the following primary sources. The date is when we last checked the page against the source.
- Overseas repayments (study and training support loans) (ATO), checked 5 October 2026.
- Study and training support loans rates and repayment thresholds (ATO), checked 27 July 2026.
- Higher Education Support Act 2003, ss 154-16, 154-17 and 154-32 (Compilation No. 104) (Federal Register of Legislation), checked 5 October 2026.
Related
HECS repayment calculator: what a given income owes under the current thresholds. HECS indexation: what happens to the balance every 1 June. HECS and your tax return: the collection mechanics for residents.
Figures current as at 5 October 2026. Obligations verified against the ATO's overseas repayments guidance (dated 30 June 2026); see our methodology. General information only, not financial advice.