Waiving Centrelink debts 107-05120000

Making a decision to waive or not waive a debt can happen before or after:

• determining the debt, or
• debt recovery commences

Note: the date when a debt was raised, is a factor for some types of debt waiver. See Administrative error waivers.

See Actioning an undetermined debt on the Debt Management and Information System (DMIS) or Raising Child Care Subsidy (CCS) debts in Process Direct.

Raise two separate debts (for undetermined debts), where:

• part of a debt is to be waived, and
• part recovered

This ensures record correctness for future reassessments and satisfies audit needs.

Are there factors relevant to consider debt or interest waiver or has the customer asked for a waiver?

• Yes, go to Step 3
• No, go to Step 10

See the Resources page for a list of debt waiver reasons.

Staff with the appropriate delegation and knowledge in relevant business area can waive a debt.

See the References page for a link to Centrelink Services, Delegations and Authorisations.

Does the staff member have the main business line experience or delegation to waive the debt or interest?

• Yes, if this is:
• an FTB qualification debt less than $50, see Step 2 in Small debt waivers
• not an FTB qualification debt less than $50 being waived at the Assessment Consequences (ASC) screen, go to Step 6
• a CCS debt, go to Raising Child Care Subsidy (CCS) debts in Process Direct, Procedure ends here
• No, go to Step 4

Is the relevant debt a Family Tax Benefit (FTB) or Child Care Subsidy (CCS) reconciliation or non-lodgement debt?

• Yes, go to Step 5
• No, for other debts on the record which need to be referred to a different business area, see below

Use Fast Note to refer the case to the relevant Debt Team, see the Resources page in Debt Ownership for referral details. Include relevant details for staff to consider, such as:

• customer details and contact
• background information into the creation of the debt, outlining the cause and source of debt
• debt calculations
• whether the debt arose from the customer or someone else:
• knowingly giving a false statement, representation or omission, or
• failing to comply with the relevant Act
• details of the reason for waiver
• why it is more appropriate to waive the debt rather than write it off

See minimum DOC standards for debt waivers and the Resources page in Special circumstances debt waivers for example DOC text.

Refer all other debts which meet the criteria for debt waiver to the relevant business area:

• staff with debt responsibility, refer the Fast Note to a staff member with the appropriate delegation level
• all other staff, refer the case to the relevant Debt Team

Procedure ends here.

For CCS debts:

• up to $1,000, use Fast Note - select Auto text, use Families > Reconciliation > Complex CCS reconciliation escalation
• from $1,000, use the Direct Referral to SSO webform, select:
• Benefit type MIV-CCS, and
• Escalation type Debt Waiver
• procedure ends here
• from $5,000, refer to local leadership at the EL1 level (or above) for action

For FTB debt where waivers require action from:

• APS5 or APS6, use the Direct Referral to SSO webform
• EL1 or above, refer to local leadership for action

Check the status of the debt on the Overpayment Debt List (OPDL) screen.

Is the debt finalised fully recovered (FRC)?

• Yes, go to Step 7
• No, go to Step 8

If a finalised fully recovered (FRC) debt needs a waiver, a repayment adjustment must occur before a waiver can go ahead.

Debt Staff must adjust a repayment on the customer's Repayment History (OPRH) screen by $0.01 cent.

Record a Fast Note. The Fast Note will create a DOC and automatically refer it to Debt and Compensation Recovery Operations Branch (NS7), requesting adjustment of the repayment history to allow applying of the waiver:

• use Fast Note - select Auto Text, use Debt Recovery > Debt Recovery referrals > OPRH Adj Req for Debt Waiver
• select Confirm
• record relevant information as required

Once the waiver is complete, the Debt Management Information System (DMIS) will:

• generate an over-recovered activity for the repaid amount
• map the activity to Debt Recovery to follow up whether a refund is due to the customer

Do not tell the customer if a refund is payable. Payment Assurance Operations will decide this. They may pay a refund or transfer the amount to other outstanding debts.

Note: for debts managed in Process Direct, see Raising Child Care Subsidy (CCS) debts in Process Direct.

Decide if the debt or interest meets the criteria for waiver:

• Administrative error waivers
• Small debt waivers
• Special circumstances debt waivers
• Discount waivers
• other waiver reasons, see Table 2 on the Resources page

Does the debt meet the criteria for waiver?

• Yes, see Step 1 in Table 2
• No, go to Step 10

Consider:

• A recovery fee may be applicable. See Recovery Fee applied to debts resulting from incorrect declaration of income
• Recovery of the debt
• Not taking recovery action for a specific period of time (for example temporary write off due to short term hardship)
• Ceasing recovery action permanently because there is no longer a legal right to recover the debt. For example, permanent write off as the customer is deceased and there is no estate or assets)

From 1 January 2017, the statute of limitations has been removed from Centrelink debts, raised under the following legislation:

• Social Security Act 1991
• A New Tax System (Family Assistance) (Administration) Act 1999
• Student Assistance Act 1973, and
• Paid Parental Leave Act 2010

Note: any debts that had reached the 6 year limitation date before 1 January 2017 remain eligible for statute barring. See Six Year Limitation Write off.

Record details of action on a DOC using Fast Note.

The appropriately delegated staff member (see Step 4 in Table 1 and Step 5 in Table 1), being the decision maker, codes the waiver.

The Debt Action script will ask why the debt or interest needs waiving:

• select the relevant waiver reason, and
• follow the screen flow to finalise the activity

Use the Debt Recovery script to code a waiver of a determined debt. See Using Debt Scripts in Customer Record.

Use the generated ADEX debt shell to raise the portion of the debt being recovered. Adjust all required details to reflect the actual period and amount being recovered.

Is the whole debt going to be waived, or only part of the debt?

• Whole debt is to be waived, go to Step 2
• Part of the debt is to be waived, go to Step 3

If a DMN/NDB activity exists on the Activity List (AL) screen, and the whole debt is to be waived:

• use the Debt Action script
• 'S'elect the Debt ID to be waived and follow the screen flow

If a repayment adjustment was made due to the debt having a status of Finalised – Fully Recovered, staff must reverse the $0.01 adjustment once the debt waiver has been applied. See Adjusting and adding debt repayments. If the Debt Action script is unavailable, go to Step 4.

After completing the debt updates, go to Step 5.

Use the Debt Action script:

• choose the option to create a manual debt shell
• follow the screen flow
• make sure the correct details show for the waived portion

If only part of the debt is going to be waived:

• go to the Recovery Fee (OPRF) screen, and
• manually adjust the recovery fee amount, if appropriate

The recovery fee can never be more than 10% of the amount raised. If so, Debt Management Information System (DMIS) will warn the user the OPRF screen needs manual adjustment.

For more information, see Effect of waiving a debt on the recovery fee.

If the Debt Action script is unavailable, go to Step 4.

After completing the debt updates, go to Step 5.

Complete updates manually if the Debt Action script is unavailable.

• 'S'elect the Debt ID to be waived from the Debt List (OPDL) screen
• press [Enter] or
• 'S'elect the DMN/NDB activity on the Activity List (AL) screen (if one exists)
• press [Enter]
• The Modify/Assess Debt (OPMA) screen displays
• Complete the required fields. See Step 5 in Table 1 of Actioning an undetermined debt on the Debt Management and Information System (DMIS)

Note: when waiving a debt due to administrative error, the Date of Notification field must be filled in.

Go to the Add Waiver (OPWAA) screen and complete these fields:

• Debt Amount Waived $, key the amount to be waived
• Int Chg Amount Waived $, key the amount of interest to be waived
• Reason Waived, use field help ('?') to locate the correct code
• Comments, key a brief explanation of why the debt is being waived
• press [Enter]

Finalise activity on the Assessment Finalisation (OPAF) screen.

Go to the Recovery Fee (OPRF) screen and complete the relevant fields if the debt is due to personal exertion.

Note: waiving a debt and Interest Charge amount in the same activity cannot occur. Complete these actions in 2 separate waiver transactions.

If a repayment adjustment was made due to the debt having a status of Finalised – Fully Recovered, staff must reverse the $0.01 adjustment once the debt waiver has been applied. See Adjusting and adding debt repayments. Go to Step 5.

If the customer has already been told about the debt:

• make genuine attempts to contact them to advise of the decision to waive the debt
• send a Q053 letter if unable to contact, see approved text

See General debt raising information for information on the number of genuine attempts to make.

Record all details on a DOC using Fast Note.

Note: if the debt waiver reason is ‘AAT’, the DOC on the customer’s record must include text outlining that the debt is waived due to Administrative Review Tribunal (ART) settlement waiver.

See Minimum DOC standards for debt waivers.