Is this normal practice or should I be concerned?

[~Hestia~]

I'm just getting worried I'm not going to receive any payments, hoping this is all normal practice! After DS was born last year we opted to wait til tax time to receive our CL payments, I think it's just one of the FTB that I'm entitled to.
Got tax back in August. Waited about a month before contacting CL, was told I needed to wait at least 6 weeks before calling about payments. That was fine, waited a few more weeks and called back. They still had not received my DH's income from ATO (I'm assuming here, I'm not really familiar with CL and lingo!). Said they would put a request through and to call back in 10 days. I called back yesterday and they said they had what they needed from ATO, now have to put it through manually. I have to call back in a week if I haven't received any payments.

Is this what usually happens? What do they mean by manually?

[~Hestia~]

[Pandora]

Sounds normal to me. People on fortnightly payments get their eofy stuff done first, as those who request lump sum are lower priority to FAO.

What you can request for the current year is to be on fortnightly but payment amount of zero, that way your will get processed quicker when your tax returns are done.

I think

[berrme]

Not sure about the FTB specifically, but in my experience centrelink employees rarely know what they are talking about. I was told on the phone that the child care tax rebate couldn't be processed until after we had done our tax, about 5 days later it was in our account. We still hadn't done our tax???
Did you fill in forms earlier in the year? I think I was eligible for FTB B, but never filled in any forms as I figured it was easier not dealing with centrelink.

[~Hestia~]

Cool, thanks. I don't mind waiting but I've been too scared to ask them if I'm actually receiving anything in case they say no!

[berrme]

double post.

[toomanyshoes]

well we take any payments at tax time as well. It *use* to just come in after we did our taxes but now it's all changed and you have to make a claim.

Anyway when I rang up about it they set me up with online access and all I have to do was fill out the questions and state my husband was making a tax return. Then after his tax was done the payment went into our account. So apparently I just have to do the same online thing next year.

It was into our account within 1 week of him going to the accountant, so we got our FTB before we got DH tax return.

[Pandora]

Actually I've never had an issue with FAO staff. They are right CCR for the last quarter of a financial year can't e processed until after you do your tax. Not sure what payment you got. What month was it in it might have been for the previous quarter

[briggsy's girl]

Not sure about the FTB specifically, but in my experience centrelink employees rarely know what they are talking about. I was told on the phone that the child care tax rebate couldn't be processed until after we had done our tax, about 5 days later it was in our account. We still hadn't done our tax???
Did you fill in forms earlier in the year? I think I was eligible for FTB B, but never filled in any forms as I figured it was easier not dealing with centrelink.

it's a bit harsh saying we rarely know what we're talking about. until you work there and know what is going on, it might be nice to keep your opinions about the POLICY's, not the people. if you've ever worked in a dynamic workplace in which processes change DAILY, you'll understand. it's not the people that are on the front line that change things, it goes way above our head. but it's nice to know we're perceived as pretty much clueless. fantastic actually. wonder why we even bother answering the phones... oh yeah, you're not going to deal with us, so we're answering for the people that actually appreciate the service. if you choose not to claim what you are LEGALLY ENTITLED TO just to avoid dealing with FAO/C'link, more fool you IMO.

CCR for the final quarter of last financial year CAN be issued if you were on income support for the full financial year (therefore entitled to maximum rate CCB and set out of pocket costs) or you chose to not claim CCB at all, therefore, again, set out of pocket costs. for anyone that has their CCB income tested, they need to have their tax done as CCR (as an annual amount) cannot be finalised until CCB is finalised - which can't be done until actual taxable income is received. i've explained this in other threads, in a lot of detail, but this is the basics


to the OP.
as i just mentioned, we work in a dynamic environment. in 2010 alone, there has been nearly 100 updates to the process used to conduct business between ATO and FAO. ATO changed their computer systems late last year or early this year, and it "broke" not only their ability to send out returns etc, but has majorly screwed up the communications between ATO and FAO. for some people, the information comes through automatically in a matter of days. for others, there is massive hold ups for some reason. there has been theories thrown around the stratosphere about HECS debts, complex assesments yada yada yada, but the reality is that there is no way to know which ones will come through easily, which ones won't.
up until about 2 weeks ago, we had to send a request through the computer system to ATO to send the information back to us (which sounds like what was happening with you at that time) - the process was then changed (i think due to the volume of requests received) - we now have a specialised team that do nothing but liase with ATO to get actual taxable details for customers. if you have your notice of assessment and it's been atleast three weeks since the date of issue, we send a written request to them to chase it up. the timeliness standard for this is 10 working days.

[~Hestia~]

Thanks BG, sounds like what I'm experiencing is fairly normal! As this is the first dealings I've had with them I'm just not sure how it all works. But you have certainly shed some light on it for me! I'm happy to sit tight in the meantime.
Sounds like a very stressful place to work though.

[briggsy's girl]

it's normal this year - in the past, it's not been normal. i worked Family Assistance for several years before i had DD, and dramas like yours were few and far between. no idea what last year was like (yay for mat leave!) but this year, it has been nasty with the delays. i get to work and log into everything, and actually open the link to the updated process each day cos i KNOW at least 10% of my calls will be about this, and i KNOW that it's changing every couple of weeks. it sucks for the customers. those of us on the frontline are getting mighty frustrated because we know it's come about because of an upgrade gone bad - and we know we can't fix it. we are the ones copping abuse from customers on a daily basis because, understandably, customers are damn frustrated about all the delays