Student Loan Repayment Calculator

How does this calculator work out your repayment?

The calculator works out your repayment in three steps: subtract the threshold, charge 12% on what is left, then split the result across your pay periods. The rate has no bands and no sliding scale, so the arithmetic on $70,000 fits in four lines.

1. Start with gross income. $70,000 a year, before PAYE, the ACC earners' levy or KiwiSaver come off it.
2. Subtract the repayment threshold. $70,000 less $24,128 leaves $45,872. The first $24,128 carries no deduction at all.
3. Charge 12% on what is left. 12% of $45,872 is $5,504.64 for the year.
4. Split it across your pay periods. $5,504.64 is $211.72 a fortnight or $458.72 a month, before the payday rounding rules below.

The repayment is 7.9% of total pay on $70,000, not 12%, because the threshold is untouched.

What is the student loan repayment rate for 2026–27?

The student loan repayment rate for 2026–27 is a flat 12%, charged on income above $24,128 a year. Both figures have applied since 1 April 2026, and neither is scheduled to change before 31 March 2027.

The rate does not step up with income the way tax brackets do. Someone on $120,000 pays the same 12% on their top dollar as someone on $30,000 pays on theirs. The threshold is what makes the effective rate rise, not the rate itself.

The deduction starts when your tax code ends in "SL", and your employer sends it to Inland Revenue alongside your PAYE rather than inside it. How an employer applies the rate, and what SLCIR and SLBOR add to it, sits on student loan repayments.

What is deducted at common New Zealand salaries?

The deduction at common New Zealand salaries runs from $0.00 at the threshold to $11,504.64 a year on $120,000. The last column is the repayment as a share of total pay, which is always below 12% because the first $24,128 carries no deduction at all.

At exactly $24,128 the repayment is nil. The threshold is not a cliff: crossing it costs 12% of the amount above it, never a deduction on the whole income.

How much comes out each week, fortnight and month?

What comes out each pay is 12% of that pay above the threshold for your pay frequency, which is $464.00 a week, $928.00 a fortnight, $1,856.00 every four weeks and $2,010.66 a month. Your employer never uses the annual figure.

The final column is why two people on $70,000 can repay different amounts in a year. A monthly payroll totals $5,504.16 where a fortnightly one totals $5,503.68, because the truncation happens once per pay. The repayment threshold page sets out where each of those four figures comes from.

What does a second job do to the repayment?

A second job adds 12% of every dollar it pays, with no threshold at all, because the $24,128 belongs to your main job alone. On $10,000 from a second job the deduction is $1,200.00 a year, not nil.

The same $10,000 earned inside a single job that already pays $70,000 also costs $1,200.00, so the two arrangements match at that income. The gap opens when your total pay is below $24,128: a single job would deduct $0.00, and two jobs still deduct 12% of everything the secondary one pays.

The calculator on this page models one job. Adding a second means adding 12% of its gross by hand, and what that does across two payslips is worked through on student loan repayments.

Who uses this student loan repayment calculator?

This student loan repayment calculator is for anyone whose tax code ends in "SL", which is every borrower with a New Zealand student loan in salaried or waged work. Four situations bring people to it.

• Checking a payslip. The loan line should be 12% of that pay above the period threshold, and nothing else on the payslip changes it.
• Comparing two job offers. A $10,000 rise above the threshold costs $1,200.00 a year in extra repayments, so the take-home gap is smaller than the salary gap.
• Starting a second job. Secondary income carries 12% from the first dollar, which is $1,200.00 on $10,000.
• Working out when the balance clears. Adding your myIR balance divides it by the annual repayment, so a $30,000 balance on $70,000 takes about 5.4 years.

What are the common student loan repayment mistakes?

The common student loan repayment mistakes are five, and every one of them changes a real number rather than just the wording. Each is a rule rather than a figure you can type into the calculator.

• Adding the repayment to your PAYE. PAYE is income tax plus the ACC earners' levy. The loan repayment is a separate line, and folding the two together is the usual reason a recomputed payslip fails to balance.
• Checking a payslip against the annual figure. The payday calculation truncates twice, so $70,000 paid fortnightly clears $5,503.68 rather than $5,504.64.
• Assuming interest is running. New Zealand-based borrowers are charged none, so the balance falls by exactly what is deducted. Overseas-based borrowers are charged 5.6% a year. See student loan interest.
• Overlooking the extra deductions. SLCIR is directed by Inland Revenue, up to 5% of your income. SLBOR is one you elect yourself. The calculator takes SLBOR as an input but cannot know about an SLCIR notice sent to your employer.
• Expecting a pay rise to leave the payoff date alone. The projection assumes today's income continues. Because repayments are a fixed 12% of income above the threshold, a rise shortens the term more than it raises the deduction.

Which related calculators and guides help with a student loan?

• Student loan repaymentsHow the 12% works, and what a second job costs
• Student loan repayment thresholdThe figure for each pay frequency
• Student loan interestWhy there is no interest line on your payslip
• M SL and ME SL tax codesThe suffix that starts the deduction
• take-home pay calculatorYour whole payslip, with the loan alongside PAYE and KiwiSaver

Where these figures come from

• IRD. Student loan repayments
• IRD. What tax code should I use
• IRD. Payroll calculations and business rules specification

2026–27 tax year (1 April 2026 – 31 March 2027). Last verified 25 August 2026.

Common questions