This help guide will explain how Tanda Payroll NZ users can configure and apply automatic student loan repayments.
What Does This Help Guide Cover?
IRD Requirements for Student Loan Repayments
The Inland Revenue Department (IRD) outlines clear requirements for repaying student loans when earning a salary or wages.
When you earn a salary or wages and have a student loan, you must add the 'SL' suffix to your tax code. To do so in Tanda, navigate to your staff profile, then select Payroll > Tax Information > Tax Code. This tells your employer you have a student loan, and they need to deduct repayments from your pay to put towards your loan. If you need help figuring out which Tax Code to select, see this IRD resource.
From here, the amount you need to repay depends on how much you earn and whether this is your primary or secondary income.
You must repay 12% of every dollar you earn over the repayment threshold to your student loan each year. For the 2026 tax year, the annual repayment threshold is $24,128.
The repayment threshold can be broken down into the following pay period thresholds:
$464 if you're paid weekly.
$928 if you're paid fortnightly.
$1,856 if you're paid every 4 weeks.
$2,010.66 if you're paid monthly.
For example, in the 2026 tax year, if you earn $600 a week before tax, your repayment will be $16.32. This is because:
$600 (weekly pay before tax) − $464 (weekly repayment threshold) = $136.
$136 (income over the repayment threshold) × 12% (repayment rate) = $16.32.
For a more detailed breakdown, please consult this resource from the IRD.
How to Configure Automatic Student Loan Repayments
To configure automatic student loan repayments, navigate to a user's Staff Profile, then select Payroll > Payroll Details. Next, scroll down to the Additional Student Loan Repayments sub-heading and click +ADD.
You will be prompted to enter the following information:
Firstly, select the Tax type, nominating whether this is a voluntary repayment (SLBOR) or a repayment required by the IRD (SLCIR).
Select whether this is a Fixed amount repayment or an Earnings Percentage repayment.
Enter either the Fixed amount (in dollars) or the relevant percentage.
Set a tax repayment cap(Optional).
Set a date range during which these repayments will apply. If you do not make a selection here, they will apply indefinitely. (Optional).
Click CREATE to save your changes. You should see the following:
Please note that you can only create one repayment for each Tax type at a time. If you try to create multiple simultaneously, you will see the following error message:
To delete a Student Loan Repayment template, click DELETE. You will see the following warning, asking you to confirm your selection:
How Automatic Student Loan Repayments Appear on Payslips
Once configured, student loan repayments will automatically apply on payslips where the employee has met the minimum repayment threshold. For more information on creating and posting a pay run, see our help guide: Creating Your First Pay Run.
For example, on pay lines, repayments will appear as follows:
If for any reason you need to manually adjust this, select + ADD.
On pay slips, repayments will appear as follows:
Note: The above is an example payslip created using a demo employee.