Applying for Child Support collection and effect on Family Tax Benefit (FTB) 277-51040010

A customer may ask Child Support to collect child support payments if they are unable to collect their ongoing full child support entitlement privately. See Family Tax Benefit customer not receiving full child support entitlement privately.

For information about how it works, see Child Support collection information for Centrelink staff.

• Yes, go to Step 3
• No, go to Step 4

Tell the customer they can ask Child Support to collect child support arrears, normally for up to 3 months.

For more information about options for FTB customers, see Family Tax Benefit (FTB) customer not receiving full child support entitlement privately.

Tell the customer to contact Centrelink if Child Support accepts their request to collect arrears, as maintenance income for the private collect period may need to be adjusted to reflect the amount actually received. Child Support does not tell Centrelink if they are collecting arrears. If arrears are being collected by Child Support and no adjustment is made by Centrelink, child support payments may be incorrectly double counted.

See Centrelink action when a Child Support collection customer is owed or receives child support arrears.

• Yes, go to Step 5
• No, tell the customer:
• To keep a record of the amounts received so they can advise this if they later claim FTB as a lump sum
• If the customer lodges a lump sum claim for the 2010-2011 financial year, and asks that information regarding their child support payments be obtained directly from Child Support, the actual child support amount received during the Child Support collect period will be used to work out their rate of FTB Part A
• If the customer intends to claim FTB as a lump sum for the 2011-2012 financial year and onwards, the actual child support amount received during Child Support collect period will be used to work out their rate of FTB Part A. Child Support will notify Centrelink of the amounts disbursed to mutual customers. Refer the customer to Child Support

Procedure ends here.

If the customer has a current Child Support assessment for the child (Maintenance Action Test (MAT) indicator 'CAM'), there is no need to update the MAT. This will occur automatically after Child Support has accepted the case for collection.

Annual maintenance income is estimated during the financial year using the Modified Entitlement Method and it is recalculated each time disbursement details are advised by Child Support or the entitlement amount changes.

The customer may change the assessment method, but should be advised about the risk of an FTB overpayment if a lower estimate of maintenance income is used.

At FTB reconciliation, maintenance income for a Child Support collect period is based on the actual child support payments received, regardless of the assessment method applied during the year. The customer may benefit from the Maintenance Income Credit (MIC) during FTB reconciliation.

Tell the customer of any change to their FTB Part A rate. Check details on the REXFTBA screen before finalising activity.

Refer the customer to Child Support.

Record details on a DOC and finalise activity on Assessment Results (AR) screen.