Tax & inflation New Zealand
Student Loan Repayment Calculator NZ
A New Zealand student loan is repaid through payroll at 12 cents in every dollar you earn above a threshold. This calculator applies that rule to your income, works out the weekly, fortnightly and monthly amounts, and estimates how long a balance will take to clear.
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IRD charges no interest if you live in New Zealand, so leave this at 0.
Repayment
—Per week
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Per fortnight
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Per month
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Years to clear
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How the repayment is built
Working with a different rate? Edit the rates this calculator uses
These are the figures we verified on 2026-10-26. Change them to work with a historic period, or with a new rate that has been announced but which we have not published yet.
Work and Income and IRD, from 1 April 2026
An estimate, not an IRD statement. An estimate from the published rate and threshold, not Inland Revenue's calculation of your loan. It covers borrowers living in New Zealand only; repayments for borrowers overseas follow a different basis. Your balance and any arrangement you have with IRD are the final word.
How much is the student loan repayment in NZ?
If you have a New Zealand student loan and live here, you repay 12 cents for every dollar above $24,128 a year from your main job, which is $464 a week or $928 a fortnight. A second job has no threshold: 12% comes off all its pay. On $60,000 that is $4,304.64 a year.
How the deduction reaches you
The repayment is taken by your employer through payroll with your PAYE, based on the tax code you give them, and paid to Inland Revenue. You do not make a separate payment unless you choose to repay extra. Because the threshold is built into the weekly and fortnightly figures, a pay period where you earn less than the threshold amount has no deduction at all.
This is why the page shows both the annual figures and the per-pay-period amounts: the weekly threshold of $464 is the number you will see on a payslip calculation.
Main job and secondary job
Only one job can use the repayment threshold. Anything you earn from a second employer is taxed under a secondary code and, for the student loan, has the full 12% taken from every dollar. If you move between jobs or work two at once, check with your employers which one holds your main code so the threshold is not used twice or lost.
To see the student loan alongside income tax, ACC and KiwiSaver on your pay, use the income tax calculator on this site.
How this is calculated
One threshold and one rate. A main job gets the threshold; a second job does not.
main job: repayment = 12% × (income − $24,128), and nothing at or below the thresholdsecond job: repayment = 12% × all of that job's income, with no thresholdper pay period: the annual threshold ÷ 52, ÷ 26 or ÷ 12 ($464 weekly, $928 fortnightly)years to clear = repay each year, apply your interest rate, grow income by your growth rate
The threshold is the part worth understanding. Because only income above $24,128 is charged, the threshold is worth $2,895.36 a year to a main-job earner compared with having none, and it is the reason a student loan takes so little from a low wage and so much more in proportion from a second job.
A second job is treated as a secondary income and has no threshold at all, so 12% is taken from every dollar it pays. That can feel like a heavy deduction on a few hours of extra work, but it is the rule, and the repayment simply reduces the loan faster.
A worked example: $60,000 in a main job
An employee on $60,000 a year with one job and a student loan, living in New Zealand.
- Income above the $24,128 threshold$35,872.00
- 12% of that$4,304.64
- Per week$82.78
- Per fortnight$165.56
- Per month$358.72
$4,304.64 a year, which is 7.17% of gross income.
Inland Revenue's own example agrees with the method: on $600 a week, $600 − $464 = $136, and 12% of $136 is $16.32.
Interest and living overseas
Inland Revenue charges no interest on a student loan for borrowers who live in New Zealand: interest is calculated and then written off in the same period. Once you are classed as overseas-based, interest starts, and Inland Revenue currently lists 5.6% a year, set each 1 April.
Overseas-based borrowers also repay on a different basis from the 12% rule used here, so this calculator does not model them. The interest field defaults to zero for exactly that reason; it exists so you can test a scenario, not because the default needs changing.
What this leaves out
Voluntary extra repayments, repayment holidays, hardship arrangements and lump-sum deductions are not modelled. Your actual balance, which your loan statement shows, is what a final repayment depends on.
What this calculator does not do
- Borrowers living in New Zealand only — overseas repayments follow a different basis
- Voluntary repayments, repayment holidays and hardship arrangements are not modelled
- Years-to-clear uses only the interest and growth you enter
- Per-period figures divide the annual repayment evenly, which payroll tables may round differently
Common questions
What is the student loan repayment threshold for 2026-27?
$24,128 a year, which is $464 a week or $928 a fortnight, from 1 April 2026. You repay 12% of income above it from your main job.
How much student loan do I repay on $60,000?
$4,304.64 a year from a main job: 12% of the $35,872 above the threshold. That is $82.78 a week or $165.56 a fortnight.
Why is my second job taxed so heavily for the student loan?
A second job has no repayment threshold, so 12% is deducted from all of its pay rather than only the amount over $24,128.
Do I pay interest on my student loan in NZ?
No, not while you live in New Zealand. Inland Revenue calculates interest and writes it off in the same period. Interest applies once you are overseas-based.
Does this work if I live overseas?
No. Overseas-based borrowers repay on a different basis, so the 12% rule used here would give the wrong answer for them.
Where these numbers come from
- Inland Revenue — repaying my student loan when I earn salary or wages 12% of income over the threshold; the worked example of $600 a week giving $16.32
- Work and Income — student loan repayment thresholds (current) Annual threshold of $24,128 from 1 April 2026
- Inland Revenue — student loan interest and fees No interest for borrowers living in New Zealand; interest applies once overseas-based
Rates last verified 2026-10-26 Every figure Inland Revenue sets is re-checked against the source at least once a year, and again whenever a change is announced. Out of date? Tell us and we will fix it.
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