Repayment of Financial Supplement loan (FSL) after transfer to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) 102-15010020

After the FSL was transferred to the ATO Services Australia no longer kept records of repayments or Consumer Price Index (CPI) adjustments made to the debt balance after the end of the contract period. If the customer has a query about their loan, they should be advised to visit the ATO website:

• General enquiries - phone 13 2861 (between 8.00am and 6.00 pm, Monday to Friday).
• ATO fax number - 13 2860.
• Australian Taxation Office (ATO) website. Look under Individuals/Study/ Higher Education Loan Scheme essentials (includes HECS).

Compulsory repayments of the FSL debt after transfer to the ATO will be made through the taxation system. The amount of repayment is based on the client's repayment income, repayment thresholds and rates. No compulsory repayments are required until the client's repayment income is above the minimum repayment threshold.

After transfer to the ATO, customers may make voluntary repayments to their FSL debt at any time. However, unlike repayments made during the contract period, these voluntary repayments do not attract an early repayment bonus.

Changes were made to the ATO legislation which now allows customers to use Pay As You Go (PAYG) for FSL debts.

Customers who are employed may need to have additional tax withheld from their payments under the PAYG withholding system. The additional amounts are to cover the anticipated compulsory repayment in their income tax Notice of Assessment (NOA). The customer must advise their payer of their FSL debt by completing a Tax File Number (TFN) declaration when commencing employment, or a Withholding declaration if already employed. The payer will regularly withhold additional amounts once taxable income reaches the minimum repayment threshold. The amounts to be withheld are in the new Student Financial Supplement Scheme tax tables, which are available from the ATO. See Query 5.

For more information on repayment thresholds and rates see the ATO web site, Student Financial Supplement Scheme (SFSS) repayment thresholds and rates.