FAO/ATO and tax time reconcilliation

[briggsy's girl]

posted this in another thread but thought it might be an idea to post it on it's own so that the reconciliation process might make a bit more sense.

for those that have queried ftb supplements and delays to their payments (both ato and ftb) being delivered, i have posted this in a few places but i'll add it here

when your acual taxable income (ATI) is calculated at the ATO, it is sent to FAO for reconciling. now, IF you process your payment well before your hubby, it will go through and there will be no delat. if it happens at same time or after, the following happens

ATI is sent to FAO, reconcilliation occurs. FTB supplements etc are processed and set up as pending on the system
the result is sent to ATO
now, there is no point paying you supplements if you owe the tax office (given supplements are a TAX payment) - same as now tax return will be generated if you owe the commonwealth via Family Assistance
so, you FAO reco result is sent to ATO - if you are due money from both ATO and FAO, the ATO computers say "thanks very much", send the info back to FAO, ATO delivers your income tax return (ITR) and, when the result comes back to FAO, FAO delivers your reco result

if you are owed FAO payments, but OWE ATO, the result is different. ATO computers see that you have money owed to you by FAO, they TAKE the amount owing for your ITR to be zeroed (if possible) or take it all if tax debt is higher than reco amount. the BALANCE is sent back to FAO, and if there is an amount still owing to you, it will be delivered. if there isn't enough FAO to pay out your ITR debt, you will be sent a bill from ATO

if you OWE FAO, but are owed an amount for your ITR by ATO, the info that reaches ATO asks that ATO covers any debt owed to FAO - if there is enough ITR to cover your FAO debt, it will be sent back to FAO with a nil result, you'll be sent a letter outlining this, and then you will get the balance of your ITR sent to you. if there isn't enough ITR to cover your FAO debt, you will be sent a bill from FAO

this all takes a bit of time (and can/will often hold up the FAO parents tax return/notice of assesment being delivered)

now, on top of that, there are some "circumstances" that trigger additional investigation which has to be manually done by a consultant. it's hard to know exactly what will trigger these investigations - sometimes if you have estimated very high and have a very low income, it will trigger it. being partnered/seperated/partnered or whatever during the financial year, returning to work for the first time since the birth of a child etc. the team that actions these is not big - they are only required at this time of year so are otherwise trained and work elsewhere during the rest of the year. at this time, they are needed for both processing these activities, but also needed on the phones (how many people are getting engaged tone when they try to contact FAO atm??). they churn through these activities as quickly as they can, but during this time, sometimes reconcilliation takes a backseat to dealing with IMMEDIATE customer needs. this can delay reconcilliation (and may cause hold ups with ATO - i'm not sure how much it impacts tax returns - but i'm guessing if your reconcilliation results are being held up then your ATO results may be as well)

this is why you will be told, if you call, that reco will take up to two weeks after you receive your Notice of Assessment (NOA) from the ATO. before then, it is within normal processing time frames. if it goes beyond that, it becomes reasonable to chase it up (before then, you will be told politely that there is nothing that can be done)


the mutual customer link between ATO and FAO generally isn't established until Mid July. all ITR's processed prior to that date are queued to be delivered later. once the link was established for this financial year, the normal daily flow of results was established, and everything from before that date had to be delivered over a period of time (couldn't deliver a couple of weeks worth of info at once). it takes time and is causing delays for early lodgers





why am i outlining all this - i have this hope/theory that people may read this and not call up before necessary. there is a MONSTROUS call volume at the moment - the phone lines are being blocked before 9am daily as there are just too many calls coming in - asking the same question over and over (not saying it applies to anyone here, but it is happening) - and people with current needs that should be able to be dealt with simply aren't getting through. maybe if 10 people read this and it all makes sense, 10 people won't call up when there is nothing that can be done for them right now kwim??

[Oorki Galoorki]

Thankyou BG! very helpful!!

just another question though(which comes up too).. i have recieved my FTB sup payments at what point is the CCB(or R which ever) done? will it be the normal 20 days after the end of the quarter and up to a month from that point?

[briggsy's girl]

no ccb/ccr was processed prior to july 26 this year - after that point, it would be processed with your reco result. if you have already had reco occur on your file, it would then go through, over the next couple of weeks (same as with the ATO backlog - can't all be done on same day). you shouuld hopefully see it soon

[*Ash*]

Thanks BG. I found that info very useful. Thanks for taking the time to post it.

[kawazuki]

thanx lee..
alll very helpfull and makes sense now

[bearymum]

are you able to tell me if reconcilliation is the same as the $711 supplement per child??

sorry if it has been explained else where.

i am on ppp and ftb a & b and my partner is on dsp.

thanks x

[ladybird11]

Thanks BG!!!

I wish we were entitled to FTB a or b! Doh!

[briggsy's girl]

yes, reconcilliation includes the supplements

if you are on ppp and dsp, and you don't need to lodge a tax return (paid no tax on your ppp or have no other income), you will need to notify FAO so that the system can be updated to reflect you won't be lodging with ATO. if you don't notify, the system will continue to wait on information from ATO indefinitely

[bearymum]

Thank you BG.

We have paid no tax, so is it just fao i have to notify or the ato as well?

[briggsy's girl]

generally you need to notify both. ATO is a simple form you fill in. FAO is a phone call that you can do in a few minutes

[bearymum]

Thank you very much for your help BG

[Rainbow_Mumma]

BG I have a couple of questions regarding this hopefully you can help me out

Ive done my income estimate via online services and said i dont have to lodge a tax return as i earned under $6k and was advised to do this by a tax agent now DH has only just lodged his tax 2 days ago so I should see some money within the next say 4 weeks?

Another question I owe $144 to centrelink (not for advances it classes as owing the commonwealth so i cant apply for advances) we said yes on the e-tax program for DHs tax to pay any debt of my owing, a) does that include this debt? and b) do i still get some money due to this?

Also Im trying to budget and have no idea how much centrelink even pay around tax time, does it depend on DH's ATI? is there some way of finding out before hand how much i will get?

i know my questions sound really money hungry lol but i have a lot of bills to pay!

[Fleur]

are you able to tell me if reconcilliation is the same as the $711 supplement per child??

yes, reconcilliation includes the supplements

Sorry if I'm wrong or missing something

I just got 2 payments one around $300, the other just over $2000. When I logged into my Centrelink thingo, it said they were reconciliatiion top ups (part A & part B)But the $700 -odd per child would mean we get $2800 supplement? Or is it reduced by income?

So ...would this reconciliation amount include our supplements? Or should they be coming later?

Aww geez BG, you are going to regret starting this thread but TIA

[briggsy's girl]

BG I have a couple of questions regarding this hopefully you can help me out

Another question I owe $144 to centrelink (not for advances it classes as owing the commonwealth so i cant apply for advances) we said yes on the e-tax program for DHs tax to pay any debt of my owing, a) does that include this debt? and b) do i still get some money due to this?

Also Im trying to budget and have no idea how much centrelink even pay around tax time, does it depend on DH's ATI? is there some way of finding out before hand how much i will get?

i know my questions sound really money hungry lol but i have a lot of bills to pay!

depends on what sort of debt the money is owed for. tax returns are only used to repay ftb reco debts (either from this year or previous years) - any other debts you'd have to pay manually

if you accurately estimated or overestimated, you would get approx 711 per child and, if you qualify for ftba, another 338 (i think). the ftba supplements (711 per kidlet) reduce once you get over a certain income though so this is an estimate (the limit is around 102k from memory for one child - and then supplements reduce)

[briggsy's girl]

Fleur, the 300ish was your ftb supplement (i'm assuming you had a nil income and got ftbb through the year)
the 2000 would be your supplements. if you underestimated hubby's income, you may have lost part of your supplements to pay back what you were over paid fortnightly. if his income was up over 100k you may have gotten less per child. your youngest princess looks like she was born during the financial year so you wouldn't have gotten teh full amount for her either.

if you're concerned that it doesn't sound like you have received the correct payment, contact FAO

[mrshoto]

Hi ladies,

Just wondering if anyone can help me understand.

We recently done my husbands tax, 4 years worth of. I have just received the latest 09/10 NOA back and centrelink paid my supps and what was owing.
We over estimated by quite a bit for the other years, when they eventually get around to doing our refund/ NOA at the ATO (which Im not expecting for a while), does the FAO still be advised and will they have to back pay me for those years that we over estimated or does it not matter now as the years have already come and gone and we missed out?

Also does anyone know if the previous years will be treated the same as last financial year as in timeframe or does that get put on the bottom of the pile? Maybe its obvious seeing I did already receive the 09/10 NOA huh?

[Fleur]

Nope BG, we were underpaid (well, I underestimated DH's pay by about 8000, I overestimated mine by 900. So our combined income was under by a few thousand). I though I might have had a small FTB debt, but it says it's a top up?

No worries, I will give them a call, maybe in a couple of weeks though

Thanks heaps

[Fleur]

Hi ladies,

Just wondering if anyone can help me understand.

We recently done my husbands tax, 4 years worth of. I have just received the latest 09/10 NOA back and centrelink paid my supps and what was owing.
We over estimated by quite a bit for the other years, when they eventually get around to doing our refund/ NOA at the ATO (which Im not expecting for a while), does the FAO still be advised and will they have to back pay me for those years that we over estimated or does it not matter now as the years have already come and gone and we missed out?

Also does anyone know if the previous years will be treated the same as last financial year as in timeframe or does that get put on the bottom of the pile? Maybe its obvious seeing I did already receive the 09/10 NOA huh?

I don't know all the ins & outs, but I'm pretty sure you have a certain time frame to lodge your return in order to receive top ups. Might not be the same year, but the one after?

ETA - Found it! Factsheet (it's on page 9, top left paragraph)

If you overestimate your actual family income and are underpaid during the year, your Family Tax Benefit or your Child Care Benefit will be topped up to your full entitlement after the end of the financial year. For this to occur, you and / or your partner must lodge your income tax returns within two years of the end of financial year for which you are claiming. Topups may be used to repay outstanding family assistance overpayments.

HTH