FAQ’s
In most cases, the child support assessment ends the day before a child’s 18th birthday. However, if a child turns 18 and is still in full-time education, an application can be made for the assessment to continue until the last day of school in that year. If the application is accepted, this information is shared with Centrelink to ensure any Family Tax Benefit entitlements remain unchanged.
It is important to note that if an application to extend the assessment is not made before the child’s 18th birthday, the child support case automatically ends, and consequently, Family Tax Benefits will also terminate.
Details of the requirements for the application can be found in the Child Support Guide 2.5.5 – Application to have an assessment continue past a child’s 18th birthday.
If you had or have a private agreement and child support is now involved, it is most likely because your “private agreement” is actually a private arrangement. A private arrangement is not legally binding and can end at any time. These types of private arrangements, are in most cases, no longer relevant once an application is made for a child support assessment or for child support collection to commence.
For a legally binding agreement to be considered valid by child support (the Department), it must meet specific criteria. For more detailed information on what Child Support considers a valid agreement, refer to the Child Support Guide 2.7.1 – What is a Child Support Agreement?.
If you meet all the requirements, you can apply to have this additional income excluded, regardless of whether you pay or receive child support. The exclusion of additional income is limited to the first three years after you last separated and to reduce by not more than 30% of the adjusted taxable income.
It is important to note that once an election to exclude additional income has been accepted, it cannot be revoked.
Detailed information on the minimum requirements is located in the Child Support Guide 2.5.2 – Exclusion of additional income earned post-separation.
If child support cannot get in touch with you, a decision will be made regardless of your participation. Once the mandatory contact attempts have been made, a decision will be based solely on the information child support has at hand and without your response.
If you later dispute the decision, the process to have it reconsidered can take months. During this process, the original decision will continue to apply. If you are a paying parent, your assessment may be too high to manage, or if you are a receiving parent/carer, your child support entitlement may reduce significantly, which in turn impacts some payments from Centrelink.
If you have been refusing to communicate with child support, I encourage you to “rip off the band-aid” and find a way to communicate. Either via the Express Plus Child Support App or, if you are not in the right space to communicate directly, have someone you trust speak on your behalf.
Details on authorised representatives and access to the representative authority form (CS3042) can be found in the Child Support Guide 6.3.6 – Authorised Representatives.
All debts, whether current or in arrears must continue to be paid after the case ends until your child support account is paid in full as these are considered debts owed to the commonwealth.
In a word, YES. collection of child support can be backdated in certain circumstances.
You can have a private collect case or child support collect case. Only the parent/carer assessed to be the receiving parent/carer can choose which method of collection they prefer. Applications for collection CAN be backdated in certain circumstances.
Where does the backdating come into play?
For example, if a case has been private collect between the parties and the receiving parent/carer no longer wants to collect the child support privately, they can make an application for child support to take over responsibility of collection. If the party assessed to pay has not been paying the correct amount as per the assessment letters, any shortfall in payments going back as far as 3 months can be applied for. Before these decisions are made, both parties are contacted to discuss the particulars of the application. A decision is then made as to how much child support was unpaid in the private collect period up to 3 months immediately prior to the application for collection is made. In limited circumstances, unpaid child support (arrears) can be claimed as far back as 9 months.
Details on claiming arrears can be found here:
5.1.4 Collection of arrears accrued during non-collect period
Cases can change from a private collect arrangement to a child support collect arrangement and back over the course of a case.
Private collect cases: This means the parties are responsible to transfer child support privately. Child Support (The Department) will calculate your assessed amount and the parties are expected to base their payments on this figure. Both parties are responsible for keeping records of any child support payments and what period the payments are to cover: e.g. for the week/month in arrears or week/month in advance.
It is imperative child support are notified of any changes to your circumstances, such as care changes, income changes, address and contact details. Failure to notify of any changes within the required time frame may result in retrospective changes made to the calculations. This can and often results in a receiving parent/carer requesting child support commence collection and to collect up to 3 months if arrears (backpay) are owed.
Collect cases: If a case is registered as child support collect: Child support payments are to be made directly to the department. Assessment letters are sent to both parties, the same as if the case was private collect: however, account statements are also issued toward the end of each month.
Payment is expected to be made in full by the 7th of each month. Once the payment is received and applied to the child support account, any payments received are then transferred to the parent/carer assessed to receive child support. If payments are not paid, there are no funds transferred to the receiving parent/carer.
First time applications for collection by the department must be accepted. Subsequent applications for collection must meet specific criteria to be accepted. If the subsequent application for collection is refused by the department, the case will remain private collect between the parties.
An application to have child support collected by the department can be applied to a new case registration and it applies from the date the application was made.
Details on Child support collect requirements can be found here:
5.1.2 Registrable maintenance liabilities & how they are registered
The preferred way to apply for a child support assessment (case) is via online.
If you have difficulties with online services, you can print and fill out the application and either post or fax to the department. You can request your local Centrelink office fax the application on your behalf.
In limited circumstances you can call and register over the phone
Details on applying for an assessment can be found here: 2.1.1 Applications for assessment
If your case is child support collect you are required to pay this amount by the 7th of the month following the statement date. In circumstances where a case is registered and or adjustments are made on or around the date the statement is issued (usually the 2nd last weekend of the month) the payment due date will extend to the 7th of the month after the following month.
If payment is not paid by the due date, the department can apply late payment penalties. In the majority of cases late payment penalties will automatically start to apply once the outstanding amount is over $1,000.00. You can request late payment penalties be remitted in part by 25% if you enter into a payment arrangement for your debt. You can also ask for a commitment by the department to remit any outstanding late payment penalties once the child support arrears have been paid in full.
It is important to understand, the child support department’s information gathering powers are literally off the charts. More and more avenues of information gathering are being made available in addition to the powers given to enforce collection of debts.
Yes, if you are a separated parent and in receipt of more than the minimum family tax benefit (FTB), centrelink will calculate your FTB payments in part, based on the amount of child support the other party is required to pay. Basically, if child support increases, FTB payments reduce. If child support decreases, FTB increases.
Centrelink will apply the above rules regardless if you receive the child support or not. If you do not register for a child support assessment, Centrelink will not pay you the full entitlement until you do.
There are exceptions to having to claim child support and this can be discussed with a Centrelink social worker.
There are also options if you are not receiving child support and your FTB has reduced. You can apply for your FTB to be paid on what you are assessed to receive (entitlement method, or paid based on what you actually receive (disbursement method). It is important to note if you are on the disbursement method and you unexpectedly receive child support payments, you will have been overpaid FTB and may have a debt to Centrelink.
Information on how and why child support can affect Centrelink benefits can be located here: 3.1.5.30 Taking reasonable maintenance action
ART-Administrative Review Tribunal
AFC- Application for Collection
ATI-Adjusted taxable income
ATO- Australian Taxation Office
AWE- Average weekly earnings
COA- Change of assessment
CSA- Child Support Agency
CSA Act-Child Support (Assessment) Act 1989
CSRC Act-Child Support (Registration and Collection) Act 1988
CSP- Child Support Period
CVA- Court Varied Assessment
FAO- Family Assistance Office
FAR- Fixed Annual Rate
FTB- Family Tax Benefit
MAR- Minimum Annual Rate
MTAWE- Male Total Average Weekly Earnings
NAP- Non- Agency Payment
PSI- Post Separation Income
TFN- Tax file number