Bother bother bother....

[Lolli]

I think I've stuffed up our family tax estimates for last year... I estimated my income at $6000. I earned about $5000. I'm on maternity leave, but still employed technically fulltime. So my full amount of fringe benfits that I would have earned- $17000- is still recored as my income, despite the fact that I haven't seen a cent of it- it still looks, on my tax return, like I earnt $22000.
So I think I will owe them a lot of money- I should have put my income in at $22000, not $5000, and included my fringe benefit amount. But I din't know that would be included in my income because I didn't receive it.
What a rort. I am going to be paying them back money for money I didn't get. And I doubt they will take my ignorance as an excuse.

[foreva*your*mummy]

WOW, i am new to this centerlink thing so dont have any idea how it works, but this does sound strange that you would have to pay them back for money you didnt earn?. Do you think ringing them and explaining would do anything?. Again I dont know. hopefully someone might have the answers for you. I hope it all works out ok

[briggsy's girl]

if your gross value of FBT is 17k, you'll find that only the taxable portion of that (around 51.5%) classifies as taxable income, so the overpayment won't be AS bad.

unfortunately, ignorance won't be taken into account, however, if you've not seen any benefit from that $17k value (so the employer hasn't paid anything at all to you or towards what would be deemed your fringe benefit (mortgage payments, car payments etc) i'd be appealing it to the hilt with the employer!

[Lolli]

Hmmm... BG I saw exactly $542 of my FB, paid onto a credit card.
When you say appeal, do you mean appeal to the (always compassionate) Centrelink people, or to my employer directly to change the amount of FB shown?

[Astrid]

Even if you did not receive actual $$$, you have received some benefit of employment and therefore it is taxed. It is caught under income tax, FTB etc to stop people from hiding income in perks from their employer. What were the fringe benefits for as it does sound a lot in comparison to your income. Oh almost forgot the fringe benefits year end in April, not June, so it is no in alignment with the tax year for recording and calculation purposes.

ETA: sorry seen you have posted. That credit card payment does seem odd. Just ask them exactly what is included in your calcuation. Who knows thay may have entered someone elses amount against you.

[briggsy's girl]

speak to your employer

i can guarantee you, if it shows on your payment summary, you haven't got any way to appeal it via centrelink. i would be asking the employer to show you WHERE that money supposedly went

[Lolli]

Hmmm again- now I am more confused. It shows on my payment summary (PAYG thingy) that gross income was $542, but reportable fringe benefits amount as $17 000. Tax withheld $9. I actually got two seperate summaries, one for 'cash' and one for fringe.
It just seems so unfair... I was only paid the $542 (onto a credit card provided by my employer- I chose that option rather than a mortgage or car payment, etc) but I am being taxed on a much much higher amount. Had I have known that would happen I would have resigned my job and reapplied when I wanted to return, rather than taking mat leave.
So my work knows I was not actually paid that amount but for some reason they still put it down as being the reportable amount? Wtf? I am so confused, my head feels like it might pop.

[Astrid]

Mmm I am confused as well. Do you have a novated lease or something like that? Are they classifying maternity leave as a fringe benefit (which it is not) or something weird like that.

[Liz]

I reckon they've made a mistake on the group certificate (eta - woops - PAYGWS - lol - I'm so old school ) Get work to double check it. I'm a bit confused tho.. you only received $542 all year? where's the $6000 you mentioned?

That's a pretty hefty FB amount.

[satya]

What exactly were the fringe benefits that you received that amount to $17,000?

You have to be so careful with Centrelink. I almost got in strife because the stupid Centrelink guy presumed I wouldn't earn anything whilst on 8 months mat leave so we were told we were entitled to payments that we weren't (and a health care card). I'd just given birth a week before so the brain wasn't working well yet but I realised 24 hours later that I would earn way too much as I was getting 21 weeks paid leave plus I would be fully back at work for 5 months of this financial year. Once corrected we were entitled to pretty much nothing. If I hadn't realised this mistake when I did I would be in the same position as you (actually worse as I would've earnt more).

[Nai]

I would be going to see an accountant and paying the $80 (claimable) for the tax return advice.

[Lolli]

Nai- been to the accountant already beut he didn't mention anything about it- I actually only realised myself after i looked at the copy of my completed tax return and it stated my income as $22 000, instead of $5000. Should I go back, do you think?

Astrid- I got two seperate PAYG summaries- one for fringe benfits, stating the $542 gross and $17 000 reportable, and one for my 'cash' (not cash but into my savings account, where the fringe is only accessible on credit card) for $4500 (roughly). I worked one month as a permanant part time employee (paid part in cash and part in fringe, to the value of about $2000) and for the rest I was paid as a casual (while still on maternity leave as a permanent employee). So the $5000 was the actual real amount of money I earned.

Oh dear. Maybe I really do need to go back to the accountant. Satya you are totally right- you need to be so careful with Centrelink. I tussled with them over youth allowance the whole time I was at uni- I really should know better

[briggsy's girl]

LR - this is something that isn't a Centrelink thing - it is coming from your employer and only your employer. where FTB is concerned, at the end of the year, they HAVE to take the amount provided to them by the ATO - anything that leads to the ATO deciding on what your taxable income is relates to your employer/accountant/ATO, not centrelink. yes, estimating your income is difficult - but centrelink can only base your payments on the information you provide. in satya's situation, a letter would have been sent out within a few days of payment starting, giving her the chance to change her estimate then even if she hadn't done it before the claim was completed. every change to your estimate results in a letter being sent, so if you keep an eye on the details, you can fix it straight away if something is not right.

as i mentioned earlier, you need to follow up with your employer, find out where that $17000 of value went. if it was related to the work supplied credit card, and you continued to have access to it even though you didn't use it over the period you were on mat leave, you might have grounds to have THEM rectify it, but from c'link's perspective, without a change to your tax return as lodged to the ATO, the amount showing there will stand and you may well have an overpayment. it's not about tussling with c'link in this case, it's about tussling with your employer

[Astrid]

Astrid- I got two seperate PAYG summaries- one for fringe benfits, stating the $542 gross and $17 000 reportable, and one for my 'cash' (not cash but into my savings account, where the fringe is only accessible on credit card) for $4500 (roughly). I worked one month as a permanant part time employee (paid part in cash and part in fringe, to the value of about $2000) and for the rest I was paid as a casual (while still on maternity leave as a permanent employee). So the $5000 was the actual real amount of money I earned.

The amount on your summary is a "grossed up" amount of the benefit you received. Depending on the type of benefit depends on what amount is it grossed up by. I am very confused as to what benefit you are receiving, are they paying your credit card or something like that?

[Lolli]

Astrid- In effect, I guess they are. It's a credit card I got through the company that does our fringe benefits. Just under half of my wage was paid directly into there every month and couldn't be withdrawn in cash. I'm not sure if it could actually go into debit- though I imagine it could, I never let the balance get down that far. I only worked for a small portion of the year as a permanent employee being paid with fringe, so only had a tiny amount paid onto there (the $542).

[Astrid]

Astrid- In effect, I guess they are. It's a credit card I got through the company that does our fringe benefits. Just under half of my wage was paid directly into there every month and couldn't be withdrawn in cash. I'm not sure if it could actually go into debit- though I imagine it could, I never let the balance get down that far. I only worked for a small portion of the year as a permanent employee being paid with fringe, so only had a tiny amount paid onto there (the $542).

I think what has happened is that a balance was left over from the previous FBT year that you then may have used in the one just gone. I could be completely wrong though. Looks like the best thing to do is call the fringe benefits company for clarification as they would be providing the FBT figures for the payment summaries. I have dealt with other FBT scenarios, but not a credit card one so sorry I am not that much help with it.

[Lolli]

No Astrid, you and BG have been very helpful, thanks to both of you. I'm actually slightly less confused now I've written (typed) it all down. And Astrid I actually hadn't thought about ringing the FB company (duh), I'll do that tomorrow.
Thanks again. I'll pop in and let you know how I go.