Skip to navigation Skip to content

Waiving Centrelink debts 107-05120000

This document outlines information on when to waive a debt or interest.

On this page:

Identifying eligibility for waiver

Actioning the relevant whole or part waiver

Identifying eligibility for waiver

Table 1

Step	Action
1	Raising or amending the debt Making a decision to waive or not waive a debt can happen before or after: determining the debt, or debt recovery commences If the debt is: Undetermined, staff must consider if waiver is appropriate when raising the debt Determined, staff must consider waiver: when amending the total calculated debt amount below the small debt waiver threshold, or when a customer or nominee makes a request See: Small debt waivers Administrative error waivers Special circumstances debt waivers Actioning an undetermined debt on the Debt Management and Information System (DMIS)) Raising Child Care Subsidy (CCS) debts in Process Direct Changing account details on debts raised in the Debt Management and Information System (DMIS)
2	Debt or interest waiver 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.
3	Delegation 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 the waiver is for: an FTB qualification debt less than the small debt waiver threshold, see Step 2 in Small debt waivers a CCS debt, go to Raising Child Care Subsidy (CCS) debts in Process Direct a debt or interest charge, not covered by the above options, go to Step 6 No, go to Step 4
4	Requesting a waiver 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 section of the Act the debt is being waived under 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.
5	FTB and CCS Reconciliation or Non-Lodgement Debts 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. Ensure a thorough explanation of the customer circumstances and detailed debt waiver reason is provided for EL1 consideration staff with appropriate delegation to waive CCS debt, see Raising Child Care Subsidy (CCS) debts in Process Direct For FTB debts where waivers require action and staff have the business line experience, for: Administrative Error waiver: APS3 or APS4 debts not exceeding $5,000. For debts over $5,000, refer to SSO using the Direct Referral to SSO webform APS5 and above have no upper limit Special Circumstance waiver: APS3 or APS4 debts not exceeding $5,000. For debts over $5,000, refer to SSO using Direct Referral to SSO webform APS5 or APS6 for amounts not exceeding $15,000 EL1 or above for amounts exceeding $15,000, refer to local leadership for action. Ensure a thorough explanation of the customer circumstances and detailed debt waiver reason is provided for EL1 consideration Staff with appropriate delegation and business line experience to waive FTB debt, go to Step 6.
6	Status of debt 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
7	Finalised fully recovered 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.
8	Criteria for debt waiver 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
9	Check if the debt meets the criteria for waiver Does the debt meet the criteria for waiver? Yes, see Table 2 > Step 1 No, go to Step 10
10	Next appropriate action 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.

Actioning the relevant whole or part waiver

Table 2

Step	Action
1	Code the waiver The appropriately delegated staff member (see Table 1 > Step 4 and Table 1 > Step 5), being the decision maker, codes the waiver. See the References page for a link to Centrelink Services, Delegations and Authorisations. For undetermined debts, the Debt Action script in Customer Record will ask why the debt or interest needs waiving: select the relevant waiver reason, and follow the screen flow to finalise the activity Note: the Debt Action Script cannot be used to waive an undetermined debt under small debt waiver provisions. See Table 1 > Step 5 in Small debt waivers (for manual application). For determined debts, use the Debt Recovery script in Customer Record to code a waiver. 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. Note: the Debt Recovery Script cannot be used to waive a determined debt under small debt waiver provisions. See Table 1 > Step 6 in Small debt waivers. 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
2	Waiving the whole debt 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 for all waiver reasons (except SDW) 'S'elect the Debt ID to be waived and follow the screen flow for waiver reason SDW, the debt must be manually waived. Go to Step 4 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.
3	Waiving part of the debt Use the Debt Action script for all waiver reasons (except SDW): 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.
4	Manually waiving a debt Complete updates manually if the Debt Action script is unavailable: Determined: 'S'elect the Debt ID to be waived from the Debt List (OPDL) screen press [Enter] to view the Debt Amount (OPDA) screen complete the required fields. See Table 2 > Step 2 in Changing account details on debts raised in the Debt Management and Information System (DMIS) Undetermined: 'S'elect the DMN/NDB activity on the Activity List (AL) screen press [Enter] to view the Modify/Assess Debt (OPMA) screen complete the required fields. See Table 1 > Step 5 in Actioning an undetermined debt on the Debt Management and Information System (DMIS) When waiving a: debt due to administrative error, the Date of Notification field must be filled in determined debt due to small debt waiver, the system will automatically apply the small debt waiver when the total calculated debt amount is changed to less than the small debt waiver threshold on the OPDA screen. Procedure ends here. 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.
5	Tell the customer about the decision 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 'ART,' 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.