Supplements/Reco 2011

[briggsy's girl]

Ok, starting this thread because i know, coming up to tax time, there is going to be a heap of threads popping up asking questions relating to centrelink/family assistance and tax/reconciliation/supplements, so i figure if any questions come up, we may as well keep them in one thread if we can, so that others don't have to fight so hard to find them (and the same answers aren't typed out a million times!)

so, some general info

supplements - a daily amount of your ftb entitlement held back until the end of financial year as a safety net in case of overpayments.

FTBA supplement - around $725 per child
FTBB supplement - around $345 per family


to qualify for the supplements, you have to be eligible for the payment (putting it simply).
you may not get the full amount of supplement if:
-your income goes over the prescribed income thresholds (you may get a reduced supplement)
- you have underestimated your income during the year
- your child was born within the financial year (you will only be paid the amount of supplement relevant for the number of days from DOB until June 30
- you have shared care or there has been a change of care during the year

there are other things that can change the amount of supplement, but these are the main ones to be aware of.


reconciliation

this is the process in which your ftb and supplements are finalised for the financial year.
FTB is and ANNUAL payment, and needs to be reconciled to make sure you've been paid correctly. most people are paid their FTB based on an ESTIMATED income, and need to be "corrected" based on ACTUAL income once their taxes are done

reco requires the taxable income of BOTH parents (in a two parent family). it may also require confirmation of child income (if a child is over 16) and confirmation of maintenance details (generally from Child Support)

reco occurs differently for different people

single, on income support for full financial year
- reco will occur automatically late in July as FAO already know the customer is low income and would be entitled to full supplements

low income customers, not required to lodge and income tax return (ITR)
- if not meeting the single/income support ALL year criteria, but not required to lodge an income tax return (confirmed via accountant or the tax office), you can provide your actual income amount to FAO and be registered as "not required to lodge". Please note, you will be asked to confirm with someone (accountant/ATO) that you are not required to lodge before this can be done. If you are a payer or recipient of child support, you will need to confirm through the child support agency if they require you to lodge as well
if you don't notify that you are not required to lodge, FAO will not reconcile your file as they will continue to wait for information from ATO. it doesn't matter if you notified last year that you didn't need to lodge - this year is a new year and you need to notify again
this can be done ONLINE as well as over the phone


most other customers
- a link is established between FAO and ATO and your details will be reconciled after you've done your tax return as the information is transferred from the ATO to FAO. unfortunately, there is no set time frame for that to occur. if you've done your tax return, received your notice of assessment and had no result within about 4 weeks, you can call up to follow up. but any sooner, and you will be asked to wait it out a bit longer. there is a lot of data that needs to be transferred between the two departments, and as simple as it may sound, it does take time and isn't instantaneous


For those that may need to notify of non-lodger status - you can do this online! you don't have to sit on the phone waiting to do it.

FAO is going to be VERY busy over the next couple of months with these enquiries. if you need to call, be prepared you may need to wait a while to get through.

if i can clarify any of this or you have a related question, please let me know. i won't be answering any PM's related to FAO/reco this year - if you have a question, it will need to be on the boards here sorry.

[*Efjay*]

FTBA supplement - around $725 per child
FTBB supplement - around $345 per child

so is this the payments we get that are used to pay back any overpayments? In previous years its been around $600 per child & then $300 per family? Or is that different again?

[briggsy's girl]

up until this year, it has been increasing with CPI each year - so yes, it started at 600 and 300, last year it was 711 and 346 (from memory) - they will be frozen at these levels until july 2014 following this years budget

[Pandora]

I thought the ftb b supplement was per family, not per child?

[megs]

YOu are right Pandora that FTB B supplement is only per family.

[Razzberry]

We will be entitled to a small amount of Fam TaxA and also childcare benefit and rebate and we wanted to do these all as a lump sum. Do hubby and I do our tax returns FIRST and then put in a claim for a lump sum payout? or the other way round? Thanks

[megs]

Yes lodge your tax returnes first then lodge the lump sum claim. The claim can't be finalised until the figures are confirmed from the ATO so it is far easier to lodge it all once your tax is done as you know the figures are actually there.

[Jakabella]

I have never had to lodge a a claim for my lump sum. My tax gets done by my accountant and he sends the info to ATO and in approx the $$ gets put in my account.

[briggsy's girl]

I have never had to lodge a a claim for my lump sum. My tax gets done by my accountant and he sends the info to ATO and in approx the $$ gets put in my account.

you would be active on the system - so deemed a current customer. it reconciles at tax time.

if you're not on the system as a current customer you need to do a lump sum claim. you can do the claim at any time after the end of the financial year - if the ATO don't have your income details yet, it will simply sit there waiting on the income until it is available, the same as any other customer.



I have fixed the OP about FTBB - it is only one per family, not per child (should have re-read last night before posting but DD was stirring so i churned through lol)

[Yael]

What is the lump sums for carer's allowance (or payment, I can never remember - the non means tested one)?

[briggsy's girl]

the carer supplement is paid in july for anyone receiving carer payment (1*600 for carer payment) or carer allowance (600 for each person you are paid carer allowance for)

[Catastrophic]

What happens when there has been a break-up? Who gets the payment. All four kids have been on "my payment" fta+b all year (except the boys (2 children) did 3 months of shared care 50-50) and as of next week they are not on my fta+b.... So would I only get the girls "supplement" or all four kids for the time that they were in my care?

And do you have the figures for over estimating - I heard it's like you loose $200 for every $1000 you over estimate. correct?

Love MN ;-)

[briggsy's girl]

whoever was claiming ftb - so if it was in your name, you'll get it. if there was 50/50 shared care for three months, for those 91 days (ish) you'll get half the supplement entitlement for those days for those children

if you UNDER estimate, you may have to pay back as much as 200 per 1000 of ftba. if you underestimate the lower income earner and they receive ftbb, you may be up for 200 per 1000 of ftbb as well.

this is only a "maybe" number as there are "windows" of payment where it plateaus and if you fall within that window, you get the same payment

[Catastrophic]

Thanks chick xoxox


Love MN ;-)

[Olive]

great thread BG

[Liviam]

BG you rock!! Thank you so much again!!

[AliBaby]

Thank you so much BG. You are so helpful. I might pass on via email to some friends if that is okay with you??Might dave them calling up CL/FAO.

I have a question regarding income estimations if you have time to answer.

I am the higher income earner and I estimated my income at $38000. DP's was estimated at $20000. So combined we had an estimate of $58000.

I earnt higher than my estimated income but DP earnt lower than his estimated imcome. So combined we only earnt $54000.
So overall we are lower than our combined estimated income.

Does this mean that we may be entitled to more money back from FAO because the lower income earnings (which I believe a lot of the rates are often based on) was much lower than the estimate?

Also one other thing to do with CCR and CCB. I forgot to contact FAO in regards to how often I want to have my payments made or if I wanted them directly sent to my CC centre. Iknow I can not change online, but if I was to call up FAO, can they change it or shold I just not bother trying anymore?

I should have been organised but between work being so busy and getting sick, I completely forgot!

[briggsy's girl]

Too late to change ccr choice now

Will answer estimate q tonight if you bump again after 5 to remind me lol. Too hard from phone