Tax & Centerlink question

**Marley&Me** · July 20th, 2014, 02:58 PM

Does my DH have to lodge his tax before I can do mine? He hasn't lodged in about 3 years ( I know, I know!!) And usually it's no problem when doing mine BUT this last FY all I have to claim is PPL from Centerlink (had not been on any Centerlink previously) I think I have paid about $30 tax at my new job too.

Getting all DH previous group certificates will prove very, very hard. With several different jobs in the past 3 years, he doesn't even have contact numbers for some of them

**Rowellen** · July 20th, 2014, 03:08 PM

A lot of info can be downloaded direct from the ato now such as payg payment summaries and interest. If you use a tax agent they should be able to help him. Your partner will need to lodge his tax before your ftb supplements will be paid. I'm not sure if it affects ppl. Someone else might know.

**nothing2lose** · July 20th, 2014, 03:14 PM

Pretty sure you can't access/download info from the ATO (Medicare/group certificate, etc) if it's not for the most recent financial year.

**Marley&Me** · July 20th, 2014, 03:37 PM

Thanks ladies. Think we might have to leave his up to the tax agent.
I'm not even sure what i will get back, if anything. How does it work with ftb etc??

**ladybirdflies** · July 20th, 2014, 03:52 PM

As far as FTB you need to reconcile otherwise you will end up with a bill of the money you were paid. Last year we didn't reconcile and we got a bill in the post for the money we had been paid that year. I rang up and reconciled (i did two years at once) and then we got paid $8000 in money we were owed.

**Marley&Me** · July 20th, 2014, 04:39 PM

As far as FTB you need to reconcile otherwise you will end up with a bill of the money you were paid. Last year we didn't reconcile and we got a bill in the post for the money we had been paid that year. I rang up and reconciled (i did two years at once) and then we got paid $8000 in money we were owed.

I have no idea what you mean ladybirdflies

Is this the estimate I give centerlink? When do I have to give that by?

Also, does my DH need to chase up group certificates from past bosses or can the tax accountant (eg H&R block) do this?

**ladybirdflies** · July 20th, 2014, 05:43 PM

I have no idea what you mean ladybirdflies

Is this the estimate I give centerlink? When do I have to give that by?

Also, does my DH need to chase up group certificates from past bosses or can the tax accountant (eg H&R block) do this?

Sorry my reply was a bit confusing. Each year you give centrelink an estimate of what your household will make. THey pay you based on this estimate. After your tax is done each year, they check your tax against the payments they made to you to make sure they paid you the right amount. If you were underpaid or overpaid you either get a letter saying you owe us $$$ or they owe you $$$. Because I dont work I have to ring and say that I don't need to lodge a return, when you do lodge a return it automatically reconciles your account at centrelink for you. If you have lodged a tax return and you haven't rung to say you don't need to lodge the system eventually picks it up as an overpayment of FTB so you will get a letter saying you have been overpaid as we haven't received any tax advice from you. Does that make sense??

You have to chase up your own group certificates, usually it's best to contact the accountant of your old employer rather then the employer themselves. They do have to give you a copy of the group certificate so don't be put off if it's a pain in the $%#@! You can just find out about just doing this years tax returns asap so your family payments are not affected.

**Mildez** · July 20th, 2014, 05:50 PM

For centrelink purposes I can't make a claim for FTB until both DH and I have lodged out tax returns. Then when we do that we find out fairly quickly how much FTB we were entitled to from the year before.
There are other reasons for your DH to catch up with his tax. My ex didn't put his in as he knew anything he was owed would come to me in child support arrears. They eventually caught up with him and he was fined.

**briggsy's girl** · July 20th, 2014, 06:18 PM

Given you get your payments of ftb fortnightly you bed to have both your taxes lodged for the last financial year otherwise everything you have been paid will be raised as a debt. It is on word the conditions of receiving ftb that you lodge your tax returns within a set period of time otherwise you will have to repay everything you have received for that financial year. You need to get your dh onto this or you could end up with a whopping big bill and potentially have your current payments cut off as well.

If you lodge things too late you may also lose eligibility for supplement payments (in your case, up to almost $1100 extra moolah in your pocket)

Get him on to it! Harass him if you have to. Dangle the $$$ in his face. Tell him to get it done!!

**Marley&Me** · July 20th, 2014, 06:19 PM

Ok, I think I understand. So my estimate for the last FY was way over what we actually made. To be safe I put full time for me and DH and I haven't worked except for the past 2 months and DH has been out of work for about half of that 12 months. But we have been receiving payments in that time due to low income.

When do I have to make my estimate? Can I do it via my phone app?

**briggsy's girl** · July 20th, 2014, 06:25 PM

You can estimate for this current year any time. You must have last financial years details completed by June 30 next year. If you overestimated for last year you may actually get more than the 1100ish mentioned. Given your recent posts re savings due to current circs, it would be something I would strongly suggest you do sooner rather later. The last thing you want to do is put it off and find that you miss out on money that could really help you guys out at the moment

Good luck convincing dh to do it. I know it took a bit to convince dh to get his taxes up to date when we got together. But now it's very simple and straight forward for us. I book the appointment rent. He shows up whether he wants to or not lol

**Marley&Me** · July 20th, 2014, 06:28 PM

Thanks BG

I just explained it to him then so we will book an appointment asap!

**LimeSlice** · July 20th, 2014, 07:09 PM

The ATO will provide you group certificates for previous financial years, but only based upon what they have received from the employer.
Contact the ATO, tell them you are no longer able to make contact with the previous employer and which years you need, and they will send the documents to you, once you fill out a request form.

Good luck.