Casual Workers- HOW DO YOU ESTIMATE ACCURATELY?????

[~StarBright~]

Just having abit of a blurgh to get this all out!!! OK, so DH and I have gone through some huge changes job wise. He left his job in Canberra and got a much lower paying job here where we live. So I have got a casual job which is going to be really difficult to estimate for.

Between DH starting work and me getting the job I applied for PPP and we adjusted our FTB annual estimate. Now with the new job I am on casual, we have breifly discussed hours and I could get easily 30-40 a week. In that I would be mainly be doing evening and weekend work (so penalties) but to throw in some more stuff to sort out- I am also going to to one or two days where the kids will be in daycare. Im not 100% sure of my payrate, but from I gathered from google it is close to 19 per hour, and then sat/sun will be time and a half etc. So if I am getting 30-40 hours I will maybe be making more than DH. (his hours are max 38 per week- no overtime and in three months he goes from casual to full time with a pay cut- for once he is easy to eatimate!!!)

So I am wondering a few things... I know that instantly our PPP will cease (although I will get one payment on monday as I havent actually worked at all yet), and that if we over estimate our FTB will sort itself out.. but what about CCB????? Am I better off overestimating my income there too?? If I overestimate for my CCB and then do my tax and its different do I get money back?? And then alternatively, if I mess up and UNDER estimate and my % is wrong do I then owe centrelink or do I owe the child care centre????

And for casual, do you just go by say the max you would be getting a week and use that and just possibly way overestimate??? I know its better to over estimate than underestimate!! Its just going to be hard to work out!! And also I am thinking if i do end up making more than DH that we would be better off having him earn the FTB as he would be intitled to more as the lower income earner!! All so confusing!!

[Ashlee]

I would say you should be reporting fortnightly so you don't get over or underpaid. That is what I did whilst on PPS. I currently don't report fortnightly even though I don't work set hours as such, but we have overestimated for this financial year in the hopes of getting a lump sum payment when the payments balance. I'd rather have less money in the short term than have to pay money back.

As far as "estimating for CCB" what do you mean by that? You just do one annual estimate or you report fortnightly, then everything is adjusted based on that. If you said you were working on average 30-40 hours a week, you'd be eligible for 60 hours of CCB per week.

Also, no, as you are partnered it won't matter who "receives" the FTB - me and DP split ours, 25% to him and 75% to me, the amount is the same irrelevant of who is the primary contact with Centrelink.

[Ashlee]

Oh and your PPP doesn't cease immediately - well, the payments do, but you still get to have a $0 rate of PPP (meaning keeping your health care card) for 6 fortnights or 12 weeks after your new estimate.

Your FTB rate will decrease again after your 6 fortnights are up too. My DP have recently declared we were partnered so are feeling the sting, we're $500 a week worse off than we were being "single".

[The[cookie]Doctor]

Your income estimate for FTB and CCB is the same... so if you over estimate for FTB and end up with a debt, your CCB will end up with a debt...
That said, if you still receive CCR quarterly that generally buffers the CCB debt and you end up ok.

FWIW the best thing to do IMO is give a higher estimate now in order to save you from the debt later... if you can afford to live week to week without the additional ftb.
For me to estimate 10-15k lower only gave me $13 extra a fortnight... not worth it

Oh... and (i think this is correct because I did it last year) - if you increase your estimate later on - you can choose to have your FTB and CCB 'adjusted' to avoid the debt as well.
So for example you estimate 70k combined income now and in four months you up it to 80k - not only will the FTB and CCB adjust to the new figure you are giving, but you can also elect to have more withheld to help it balance out - iykwim.

[~StarBright~]

Thanks everyone!! I guess I will just go with what I normally do and over estimate! I will fin dout my official payrate ect next week and go from there!!

I do actually rememeber that about the Parenting payment, that I will still officially be on it until I have 6 fortnights of nil payments the HCC will come in handy for sure for some of my medicines!!!

Thanks guys!!

Oh and with the FTB changing to DH its for the part A or B, I forget which one that goes to the lower income earner. Next year if things go well with me and DH decides to stay where he is on a lower wage we will change it over to him as I will be the "bread winner lol"

[The[cookie]Doctor]

It's fun being the breadwinner
Until you are going from two incomes to one for mat leave

[Jellyfish]

It won't matter who is actually 'recieving' the FTB payments or does the paperwork, Centrelink asses you as a couple so FTB will be based on the lower income earner regardless of that being the one whose name is in the system or not. When I was with DD's Dad for example, he worked and I did not but he was still the one who recieved FTB but the lower income earner part was based on my income ($0).

[briggsy's girl]

Oh and with the FTB changing to DH its for the part A or B, I forget which one that goes to the lower income earner. Next year if things go well with me and DH decides to stay where he is on a lower wage we will change it over to him as I will be the "bread winner lol"

FTBB is based on the income of the lower income earner and the age of the youngest child. doesn't matter which partner it is paid to, it's still based on the lower estimate. if your partner is working full time, he'd have to be on seriously crap wages to qualify your family for any ftbb at all (if he's working 38hours he'd have to be getting MUCH less than minimum wage to have a low enough annual income for your family to qualify - the ftbb cuts out totally at around 24k, including supplements, when youngest child is under 5 years old - at 24k, full time, he'd have to be on about $12 an hour just to qualify for a small portion of the supplement)

it is MUCH neater, as a family unit, to keep it in the one name all the time - if you swap now, you'd have the first few months you've been overpaid for ftbb due to your income. put it in his name, he may get a top up for overestimates for late in the year, you end up with a debt for start of the year. MUCH better to keep it in same name all the time!!

ooh, make sure you request to notify a return to work for ftbb purposes if this is the first time you have worked since the birth of your youngest - the consultant will know what that means!

[~StarBright~]

Thanks BG!!!

Yeah I definately wont change anything then as far as the payments for FTB.. I wasnt sure the cut off, but he will be on seriously crap wages, not quite $12 an hour, but around the $15 something. Once his three month probationary period is over (he is casual now on about $18) he automatically has to go on a traineeship to stay in the job. (hence why i think they go through so many workers there!! They all quit after three months!!) But def this year he has already earned above that due to the job he had before! Thanks for the tip on that!!

I have to call tomorrow to let clink know I have started work so I will mention the request to notify a return for work. At the moment though I have no idea until I start exactly what I am getting an hour, but i wont need to report my income until next fortnight.

I will start off doing night shifts, but you were saying I will get max CCB aswell as max FTB until the 6 weeks of zero reporting- at the moment my CCB% is a ridiculous 102%, but that is without it knowing I have returned to work... Its all so confusing!! I almost wish I hadnt applied for the PPP, but i knew if i hadnt we would have been screwed if i didnt get work right away!!!! lol I might try and pop into the office rather than call- the lady I have been talking to is really nice and I am sure she can explain it all to me so I get it right :-)

Thanks heaps BG!!! (and everyone else )

[briggsy's girl]

Oh... and (i think this is correct because I did it last year) - if you increase your estimate later on - you can choose to have your FTB and CCB 'adjusted' to avoid the debt as well.
So for example you estimate 70k combined income now and in four months you up it to 80k - not only will the FTB and CCB adjust to the new figure you are giving, but you can also elect to have more withheld to help it balance out - iykwim.

you have a "choice" to adjust CCB. it is mandatory for FTB to be adjusted - so always better to put in the higher estimate early

[briggsy's girl]

[B]So I am wondering a few things... I know that instantly our PPP will cease (although I will get one payment on monday as I havent actually worked at all yet), and that if we over estimate our FTB will sort itself out.. but what about CCB????? Am I better off overestimating my income there too?? If I overestimate for my CCB and then do my tax and its different do I get money back?? And then alternatively, if I mess up and UNDER estimate and my % is wrong do I then owe centrelink or do I owe the child care centre????

PPP won't cancel immediately - you'll be asked to report every fortnight until you've had six fortnights in a row with zero ppp payment - and then it will cancel
in the mean time, you will maintain health care card, max ftba and max ccb

at the end, you'll be asked to estimate your income. the same estimate is used for FTB and CCB. i would always suggest over estimating - work out best case scenario for the week and use that as a basis. don't change ftb payment from yourself to your partner. it is a FAMILY payment - doesn't matter which name it is in, the FAMILY will still get the same entitlement

both CCB and FTB will reconcile and top you up at tax time if you overestimate, so it's safer to estimate higher than lower
make sure you are registered for child care rebate as well now that you're working