Supplements/Reco 2011

[briggsy's girl]

Ok, starting this thread because i know, coming up to tax time, there is going to be a heap of threads popping up asking questions relating to centrelink/family assistance and tax/reconciliation/supplements, so i figure if any questions come up, we may as well keep them in one thread if we can, so that others don't have to fight so hard to find them (and the same answers aren't typed out a million times!)

so, some general info

supplements - a daily amount of your ftb entitlement held back until the end of financial year as a safety net in case of overpayments.

FTBA supplement - around $725 per child
FTBB supplement - around $345 per family


to qualify for the supplements, you have to be eligible for the payment (putting it simply).
you may not get the full amount of supplement if:
-your income goes over the prescribed income thresholds (you may get a reduced supplement)
- you have underestimated your income during the year
- your child was born within the financial year (you will only be paid the amount of supplement relevant for the number of days from DOB until June 30
- you have shared care or there has been a change of care during the year

there are other things that can change the amount of supplement, but these are the main ones to be aware of.


reconciliation

this is the process in which your ftb and supplements are finalised for the financial year.
FTB is and ANNUAL payment, and needs to be reconciled to make sure you've been paid correctly. most people are paid their FTB based on an ESTIMATED income, and need to be "corrected" based on ACTUAL income once their taxes are done

reco requires the taxable income of BOTH parents (in a two parent family). it may also require confirmation of child income (if a child is over 16) and confirmation of maintenance details (generally from Child Support)

reco occurs differently for different people

single, on income support for full financial year
- reco will occur automatically late in July as FAO already know the customer is low income and would be entitled to full supplements

low income customers, not required to lodge and income tax return (ITR)
- if not meeting the single/income support ALL year criteria, but not required to lodge an income tax return (confirmed via accountant or the tax office), you can provide your actual income amount to FAO and be registered as "not required to lodge". Please note, you will be asked to confirm with someone (accountant/ATO) that you are not required to lodge before this can be done. If you are a payer or recipient of child support, you will need to confirm through the child support agency if they require you to lodge as well
if you don't notify that you are not required to lodge, FAO will not reconcile your file as they will continue to wait for information from ATO. it doesn't matter if you notified last year that you didn't need to lodge - this year is a new year and you need to notify again
this can be done ONLINE as well as over the phone


most other customers
- a link is established between FAO and ATO and your details will be reconciled after you've done your tax return as the information is transferred from the ATO to FAO. unfortunately, there is no set time frame for that to occur. if you've done your tax return, received your notice of assessment and had no result within about 4 weeks, you can call up to follow up. but any sooner, and you will be asked to wait it out a bit longer. there is a lot of data that needs to be transferred between the two departments, and as simple as it may sound, it does take time and isn't instantaneous


For those that may need to notify of non-lodger status - you can do this online! you don't have to sit on the phone waiting to do it.

FAO is going to be VERY busy over the next couple of months with these enquiries. if you need to call, be prepared you may need to wait a while to get through.

if i can clarify any of this or you have a related question, please let me know. i won't be answering any PM's related to FAO/reco this year - if you have a question, it will need to be on the boards here sorry.