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Student loans on your tax return: why Self Assessment can take more

For 2025-26 returns. Checked against GOV.UK, HMRC's 2026 SA100 and SA150 notes, and HMRC manuals, October 2026.

Your employer takes student loan repayments from each payslip on its own. Your tax return looks at your whole year: every job added together, plus self-employed profits, plus rental, savings and dividend income if it's over £2,000. That's why a tax return can ask for more, often a lot more, than your payslips took. It's due with your tax by 31 January 2027.

The thresholds

You repay 9% of your income over the threshold for your plan. For a Postgraduate Loan it's 6% over £21,000.

Plan	2025-26 (this return)	2026-27 (next return)	Rate
Plan 1	£26,065	£26,900	9%
Plan 2	£28,470	£29,385	9%
Plan 4 (Scotland)	£32,745	£33,795	9%
Plan 5	No repayments yet	£25,000	9%
Postgraduate Loan	£21,000	£21,000	6%

Plan 5 is for most students in England who started a course from 1 August 2023. Repayments on Plan 5 started from 6 April 2026, so they first show up on 2026-27 returns.

If you have more than one plan, you repay 9% of income over the lowest threshold of the plans you hold. If you also have a Postgraduate Loan, you pay 6% over £21,000 on top. So you can pay 15% in total on income over both thresholds.

Not sure which plan you're on? Sign in to your student loan repayment account on GOV.UK.

What income counts

For student loans, Self Assessment adds up:

Pay from all your jobs combined, even jobs that were each under the threshold through PAYE
Self-employed profits
Pensions, including workplace, private and State Pension
Unearned income, such as property profits, savings interest and dividends, but only if it's over £2,000 in total

The £2,000 cliff edge. If your unearned income is £2,000 or less, it's ignored for student loans. If it's over £2,000, all of it counts, not just the part over £2,000. So £1,990 of rent adds nothing, but £2,100 adds the full £2,100.

Rental income covered by the £1,000 property allowance isn't counted.

Why it can take more than PAYE

Payroll works out student loan on each payslip, job by job. It never sees your other jobs or your other income. Your tax return looks at the whole year at once. So you can owe more if:

you had two jobs, each under the threshold on its own but over it together
you have rental profit, savings interest or dividends over £2,000
you have self-employed profits on top of a job

HMRC then takes off what your employers already took through PAYE. You pay the rest through Self Assessment.

Worked example

Alex has a Plan 2 loan. In 2025-26 Alex earns a salary of £30,000 and makes £12,000 profit from letting a flat.

What payroll took

Alex is paid £2,500 a month. The 2025-26 Plan 2 monthly threshold is £2,372.50. 9% of the £127.50 above it is £11.47, and payroll rounds each deduction down to the pound, so £11 a month. That's £132 for the year, shown on Alex's P60.

What Self Assessment works out

Step	Amount
Salary	£30,000
Rental profit (over £2,000, so all of it counts)	£12,000
Income for student loan	£42,000
Less Plan 2 threshold	−£28,470
Income over the threshold	£13,530
9% of £13,530	£1,217.70
Less already taken through PAYE	−£132.00
Extra to pay through Self Assessment	£1,085.70

That's on top of the Income Tax on the rent. Alex pays it by 31 January 2027. Your own figure may differ by a few pence because of rounding.

Which boxes to fill in

On the paper return it's page TR 5 of the SA100, "Student Loan and Postgraduate Loan repayments":

Box	What to put
Box 1	"X" if the Student Loans Company told you your repayments were due to start before 6 April 2026. Do this even if your income was under the threshold or your employer made deductions. HMRC uses the plan type the SLC gives it.
Box 2	The total Student Loan (Plan 1, 2 or 4) repayments taken by all your employers through PAYE in 2025-26.
Box 3	The total Postgraduate Loan repayments taken by all your employers through PAYE in 2025-26.

Online, you choose your plan type in "Tell us about you" and confirm the amounts already deducted in "Fill in your return". These may already be filled in, but check them.

Your P60 only shows your current employer. If you changed jobs, add up the deductions on all your payslips.
Don't include voluntary repayments or overseas direct debit payments.
Getting box 2 or 3 wrong changes your bill and could mean you're charged more.

When you pay

Student loan repayments worked out on your return are part of your balancing payment, due by 31 January 2027 for 2025-26. They're not included in your payments on account for the next year. So a student loan bill won't make your July payment bigger.

If you pay too much

The Student Loans Company doesn't tell HMRC your balance. It does tell HMRC if you've repaid your loan in full or been charged more than you owe, and HMRC then reduces or removes the Self Assessment amount. If you still end up paying too much, the SLC refunds you. It will try to pay you automatically (it shows as "SLC Receipts") or contact you. If you haven't heard, you can ask the SLC for a refund.

You can also ask the SLC for a refund if your employer took repayments but your income for the whole year was under your plan's threshold, for example because of a one-off bonus month.

Got a job and other income? The calculator now works out your student loan or Postgraduate Loan repayment, takes off what PAYE already took, and shows what's left to pay. It also works out Capital Gains Tax.

Work out my figures - free

Sources

General guidance, not tax advice. The example assumes one job for the whole year with monthly pay and no other income.