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.