I'm Confused!!!!!!

Ok, I FINALLY registered for online services with Centrelink. We do not recieve any regular payments from them - we only get the Child Care Rebate quaterly - we have always elected to get any CCB at the end of the financial year due to my shift work and not being able to accurately estimate my income...

SO, I can't see anywhere on the page anything about payments due to me. Everything I cick on says I have insufficient access (I have Level 1).

AND, it also says on the website:

"From 1 July 2008 (for the 2008/09 year) and onwards the Child Care Tax Rebate will be paid quarterly to you if you receive Child Care Benefit as reduced fees. It will be based on your Child Care Benefit entitlement and your child care usage provided by your child care provider"

and

"If you claim Child Care Benefit as a lump sum after the end of the financial year, your Child Care Benefit and Child Care Tax Rebate entitlements will be paid once your Child Care Benefit claim has been lodged and approved."

Now, I'm very confused because I thought the CCR wasn't income tested and I received a payment last qtr. And I read the top paragraph as "if you don't qualify for CCB you don't get CCR". Am I wrong? Can someone clarify? I'm confused :confused:

TIA

MG

hiya hun

here's hoping i can clear this up - firstly, you have a very minimal access level - because you don't receive any payments, there were very few ways to verify that you are who you say you are, so your online service access is the same as what i can get to mine (and i havent' had a payment from c'link since ummmm, maybe they year 2000 when i was still a student). the only way to get a higher acces level is to wait until after your next CCR is delivered, then ring and get it upgraded that way, or provide photo ID in the local office. hope that resolves the "no access" thing

with CCB there are two ways to have it paid at the end of the year. one is to be a current customer (so you have all the links and things with the child care and c'link) but any reduction doesn't happen fortnightly - if you're entitled to something, you get it at the end of the year. there is still an estimate on file for you and you are still listed as "current" and will be paid your CCR. the other way is to have no active link between child care and c'link, and at the end of the year, you fill in an application and you're then paid based on that application - both CCB and CCR will be paid at the end of the year


NOW - onto the CCR being paid bit. at the moment, you're paying full fees, so you're getting HALF your full fees refunded as CCR. at the end of the financial year, when your tax is done, if you are entitled to CCB it will be paid. BUT, because you've been rebated CCR based on full fees, and technically you haven't paid full fees, some of your CCR will have to be paid back, it will never be more than half of the CCB you're entitled to

for example

your fees for Quarter 1 were $1000
you received no CCB for the quarter to paid $1000
your CCR for the quarter is half what you paid, $500
at tax time, it turns out that you're entitled to $100 of CCB
your ACTUAL out of pocket costs for the quarter was $900
your CCR SHOULD have only been $450 so you "owe" $50 of CCR back
that $50 you technically "owe" is deducted from the $100 of CCB you're entitled to, and you get $50 of CCB paid to you at tax time for that quarter

Does that make sense hun?

BG

Oh!!!!! Thanks BG! That makes sense now! Tee hee. I must have been having a "moment" when I read it online earlier! But it makes perfect sense now! :doh:

I found a way to increase my level of access, I just had to reconfirm some details and got to level 2 which is enough to see when I am getting any payments. It said the 29th Jan and how much.

Thanks so much BG. You're a gem!

MG

glad i could clarify it for you hunny!