Claiming for parental leave, FTB etc

I just called the Family Assistance Office, as I was a little confused about how to work out what we're eligible for, and how to claim everything. The girl helped a little, but I'm so new to this I'm still a tad confused.

I know we estimate our income for the year going forward, which is lucky for us as we're due in June so it should be easy to work out what we'll both get for the year. But when do we put in claims? Can I start doing stuff now? The girl on the phone mentioned paper forms at the hospital and then claiming online, does that mean I can't start anything until the baby's born?

I'd really prefer to start things now, I can easily estimate what we'll earn and can just imagine that I won't want to be doing this stuff once bubs comes along - there'll be more important things to worry about! So any help with this would be greatly appreciated, just around what could I be eligible for and how/when can I get started on it?

Not sure about FTB, but Parental Leave can be done 3 months prior to the birth. I assume then that once the claim is in you will be assessed as eligible pending providing Centrelink with a copy of the birth certificate.

Thanks Fiona. I hopped online to do the parental leave claim, and it came up with FTB stuff anyway. I'm a bit lost though, as for now it's obviously calculating everything for this year, ending 30/06/2011. So I've put in what I'll earn for this tax year, but as our baby isn't due until 04/06, that's when things will change. So after she's born, will I need to hop back online to change things for the next tax year?

No idea, I haven't done mine yet!

you can claim up to three months before EDD, online. in that claim, you will need to estimate your income for the 10/11 year. it will be processed and accepted, pending proof of birth. once your proof of birth (the paperwork from the hospital) is received, you will become active. it can take about 3 weeks from when it is received.

once it is received, and your payments activated, you will be asked to provide an income estimate for the new financial year too

you will need to put in a 10/11 estimate, and an estimate for the six months immediately following EDD, both in the online claim and on your paper form - so keep a record of what you put in the online claim - baby/new mummy brain makes it easy to forget!

BG - What if you are not eligible based on 10/11 estimated income, but for the purposes of the baby bonus you will be eligible for projected 6 month income being under $75K?

Thanks heaps BG :) I've kept a record of everything I put in the claim form, cos I knew I'd forget it in 10 seconds after hitting submit lol. The other thing I was wondering is about when the payments start. I'll be taking 24 weeks of leave from work at half pay, and then doing the parental leave 18 weeks after that. But will the parental leave pay start straight away, or can I ask for it to start after my work leave?

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BG - What if you are not eligible based on 10/11 estimated income, but for the purposes of the baby bonus you will be eligible for projected 6 month income being under $75K?

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you still claim ftb for this year - it will ask if you've had a new baby or will have one come into your care within 3 months - you say yes, and it will take you through the claim for baby bonus or parental leave

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Thanks heaps BG :) I've kept a record of everything I put in the claim form, cos I knew I'd forget it in 10 seconds after hitting submit lol. The other thing I was wondering is about when the payments start. I'll be taking 24 weeks of leave from work at half pay, and then doing the parental leave 18 weeks after that. But will the parental leave pay start straight away, or can I ask for it to start after my work leave?

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it will ask you what date you wish to start it from

Thanks again BG. The online claim I did didn't ask for a start date, I'm guessing though that's because I haven't actually had my baby yet though?

This happened to us too, DD was born in June :) We ended up getting letters from Centrelink telling us we weren't elligible for anything in the 2009/10 year and we were like "yes we know, she was only born in the final month" but they kept sending them anyway. I guess it's just their process.