How can the baby bonus be more than paid parental leave for me?

So I'm finally doing the estimate of the paid parental leave. The estimator says I am better of taking the baby bonus but I don't get why. I earn (or did) on average at least $800 a week after tax and have for years in the one job. I thought on this amount I'd be eligable for the full weekly amount of paid parental leave but clearly I am not. At this hour I can't call but am wondering if anyone can shed light into why I am better of taking the baby bonus? I'm just so upset about this as financially we are struggling and now it appears I am going to get alot less then I expected and will need to return to work many months earlier then anticipated.

It could be that the paid parental leave is taxed against your family income while the baby bonus is not.

I don't really understand it. DH earns substantially less then I do. I just assumed going on my weekly wage which is quite abit higher then the $570 a week I would definately be eligable for the full amount or near to it of the parental payment.

i dont know ur case personally but i do know its taxed so with PPL u get less or no Family tax benefit not sure about the technical part of it and when it comes to ur tax return it might push u into the higher tax bracket so it will cost u more tax so usually the baby bonus is better when it comes to lower income earners so u dont change tax brackets HTH

the calculator works out

ftb a
ftb b
paid parental leave
tax
baby bonus

if you qualify for ftbb (so if your partner has a low income), and you take paid parental leave, you don't actually GET that ftbb for the 18 weeks of PPL.
it takes into account a lot of different circumstances and the estimator gives you the option that will give you, over the course of a year, the most cash in hand

i have run the estimator for a lot of different scenarios for DH and I to see what works better. because i get paid mat leave from work, and he is a stay at home parent, there wasn't any circumstance (that was reasonably likely to happen for us) in which PPL works out better for us.

Thank you all for your replies. I can see why now PPL may not be the best option. Unfortunately we get neither FTBA or FTBB as my eldest DD's father's 9yrs of maintanence debt was given was half paid to me in a lump sum which means this financial year I'm not entitled to any FTB and I expect the other half to be paid in the new financial year. Looks like we will be getting the baby bonus instead. Oh well atleast I don't have to add the almost $10000 to my taxable income. Thats a bonus I guess.

Hi Mildez

As BG said, the estimator takes into account all those things and lets you know what will give you a better financial outcome. BUT you can still opt to take the PPL. It is not means tested and if you qualify (I think you have to have worked 10 months of the previous 12?) then you can take it. Its just like evryone else has said, the ftb payments will be different depending on your circumstances.

HTH

yeah, I looked into it, and I'm best to take the baby bonus over the PPL too. Although I ran my own figures on it. The PPL is taxed, which means you are actually bringing home less in terms of real $$$$ then the grosss amount they tell you about. How much you are taxed depends on how much you earn.

In my case, taking the PPL - the payment itself would be more then the BB, but I would loose a huge chunk of my FTB A&B, so overall would get less money.