Newstart Allowance - Finishing work at 36 weeks

Hi,

Has anyone else finished work around 36 weeks and got Newstart Allowance from Centrelink?

I was told by a Centrelink officer i could get this payment but not sure if it's worth it. Hubby is self employed and i estimated his profit for the year to be around $32k. Not sure if that's what they would look at when calculating my payment. Otherwise if they want to know his weekly gross payment, then it's about $800 a week. And would they want me to report his earnings on a weekly or fortnightly basis? We have never received any Centrelink benefits so i have no idea how it works. :doh:

Anyone else is the same position? Appreciate your comments

given that your DH is self employed, you'd have one of two options - if he has been running the business for more than a full financial year, they'll ask you to provide his last income tax return - if that is not consistent with his current circumstances (huge change in income either up or down) you'll be asked to provide a profit and loss statement for the past 3 or 6 months, and an estimated profit and loss for the next three months

in all honestly, going on what you believe his income to be, i don't know that you'll qualify for newstart - the income threshold for EITHER partner when one of you is on income support is around $770 or under per FORTNIGHT before tax - on the 32k taxable amount, you're looking at a taxable income of around $1230 per fortnight - so for the four weeks before bub is born, you'll probably get the run around, and essentially get rejected based on income

once baby arrives though, if DH is still on a 32k taxable income (once deductions for self employment are taken out) you can apply for parenting partnered - income threshold is around $1400 per fortnight at the moment. you won't get much PPP, but you will get max rate FTBA, and a health care card.

given your partners self employment status, you won't report income each fortnight because the income you receive doesn't take into acccount self employment deductions so its based either on profit and loss statements or income tax returns for the last financial year

when bubs is born, you'll get the application for FTB and baby bonus. when you call up to get that application put through, ask them to put in the ppp application for you as well - it can take up to an hour depending on the complexities of your situation, you'll be asked to attend a meeting and provide information including DH's last ITR - within 14 days. if you don't get it in within that time, you won't be paid from the day you make contact.

HTH

BG

Last year his taxable income was something like $20k so bit of a difference for the 2009 financial year.

I have all his previous NOA's, tax returns and financial statements on file at work and home so that's not a problem if they want copies. I work as an bookkeeper/office manager for an accounting firm, so fortunately i have been able to keep updating his P & L on a weekly basis so that it will be up to date when baby comes along. I'm hoping this will speed up the process. But then again, maybe not - it is Centrelink.

Great, just great! Things are going to be real tough for those 4 weeks and until we start receiving the Baby Bonus payments :(

Disappointing to hear that but thanks anyway. :)

Appreciate it.

Hey BG,

I notice you're quite the expert when it comes to Centrelink queries.

I just thought of this - I am also studying part time with TAFE as an external student. Anyway that can benefit me at all in regards to receiving payments from Centrelink........?