Does selling a rental raise your HELP repayment?

Yes, it can. A sale that makes a capital gain adds to your income for the year, and the compulsory repayment on a HELP (study loan) debt is a share of that income. A bigger year means a bigger repayment. The repayment cannot go past what you still owe, and it is paid out of cash, so it does not change your net position.

Which income sets the repayment?

The repayment is worked out on repayment income. It starts from taxable income, which includes the taxable part of a capital gain, and adds back a net rental loss. A gain from a sale under contract counts in the year of the contract, so the contract date, not settlement, sets the year. For 2026-27 nothing is repaid up to $69,528, according to the ATO's thresholds.

What does a year look like before a sale?

For example, a person has pay, a rental unit and a HELP debt. The unit's loss does not lower the repayment, because the loss is added back.

Before any sale, the person's taxable income for 2026-27 is $127,760 and the net investment loss added back is $17,302, so the repayment income is $145,063. The HELP debt after indexation on 1 June 2027 is $17,784, and the HELP repayment for the year is $11,637.

The debt is indexed once a year, on 1 June, at 2.8% in this working. The engine's last step applies the repayment rate for that income, up to the balance owed.

What does a sale add?

Sell the unit and the gain joins the year. In a separate example, selling a unit today leaves $115,688 in cash after the loan, the selling costs, the estimated tax of $9,531 and an extra HELP repayment of $2,831. The page prints the repayment as its own line.

A sale by a family trust shows the same effect through its beneficiaries, who are taxed on the gain as it reaches them. In the example, one beneficiary's repayment does not change ($0), and the other's rises by $6,148 for the year.

Does the repayment make you worse off?

It uses cash and lowers the debt by the same amount, so the net position is unchanged. The repayment still matters for cash. For the cash a sale leaves, the figure to read is the net cash from sale, which already has the repayment taken off. The post on cash left after a sale walks through each line.

What should I check first?

• What you still owe on your study loan, in myGov.
• The contract date, since it sets which year the gain and the repayment fall in.
• Your other income that year, since the repayment rate reads the whole of it.

On PropRetire the person's page shows the tax and HELP for the year with and without the rentals. The capital gains tax calculator shows the gain, and the help guide lists what the estimate reads.