Paid Maternity Leave, PP, FTA/B etc etc!

[surprised]

Hi all,

Just wondering if anyone can shed light on this for me. I have tried to use the online estimators, but it's very difficult to be accurate as our income changes (self-employed so assessed by Complex Assessment Officer).

Basically, I am trying to work out whether I'm better off with baby bonus or maternity leave.

Presently we get PP, FTA/B, and rent assistance. As I understand it, if I take maternity leave payments they are taxable, and will therefore decrease PP, FTA/B and rent assistance. If I take BB, it doesn't affect the other payments. Is this correct?

Are you basically better off with BB if you receive substantial other support, and with mat leave if you are stopping work from a fairly decent salary?

Oh looking forward to the day when we receive nothing from CL - I'm so grateful that it's there as a backup, but it's just so complicated - and the exciting thing is that we are actually progressing to that point!

[briggsy's girl]

ppl will reduce your ftbb to zero for the 18 weeks you receive it, and will also impact your entitlement for the balance of the financial year. if you're on parenting payment, it won't touch your ftba or rent assistance

bb is tax free and won't impact anything

no one but you can decide on what is most appropriate for your circumstances - if you're in doubt, i would tend to suggest erring towards baby bonus (this is what i would do if i was to have another child based on our current circumstances) but you need to consider everything yourself and maybe run several different "what if the business did THIS" scenarios and see what difference it makes for you.

[surprised]

Thanks so much BG. We're so lucky to have you here!

Am I correct in thinking that mat leave will count as income for PP, and so will virtually make it nil for that time?

That's good to hear what you think for your situation - that's what I'm leaning towards, but it seems like a shame to walk away from mat leave since it's been such a struggle to get it (as a nation I mean). That's a good idea about the diff scenarios - will do that thanks.

[briggsy's girl]

i cant recall the pp rules 0 there are some differences to how the ppl is counted as income
because i'm not SURE i'd rrather not comment kwim??

[surprised]

No worries BG. Thanks anyway. Is there someone at CL I would be able to talk to who could look at our situation holistically? I find if they are trained in FTB they don't tend to know so much about assessment as a business for PP etc.

[briggsy's girl]

honestly, there are very few people that are trained in business stuff - that's why it goes to complex assessment officers. a FAO staff member should be able to look at it regarding entitlements IF you can come up with your income estimates for yourselves. unfortunately, it will only be very generic information - staff have been told not to run the estimator - we are to refer customers to the online estimator themselves to make the decisions themselves. we're not allowed to advise you one way or another (i guess because if, for instance, i said PPL is the bomb, choose that and then you ended up worse off, you would be peeved) - we can only tell you how to use the estimator (which is sounds like you can already do)

FAO staff would be able to clarify the PPL/PP income issue though.

[surprised]

Thanks again BG. Have a great night!

[e_p]

Paid Parental Leave is definitely NOT considered to be income for the purpose of Parenting Payment Partnered or Parenting Payment Single. Had to check this for a customer the other day.

[briggsy's girl]

thanks Eutra - i thought that was the case, but i couldn't remember for sure and didn't want to give anyone a bum steer!

[e_p]

no worries - I would have been hesitant to give definite answers unless I had just looked it up myself

[nothing2lose]

Thanks so much BG. We're so lucky to have you here!

I just want to second that!!!!