Checking reasonable action has been taken to obtain child support for Family Tax Benefit (FTB) past period claims 277-51070140

Families and Child Care and Medicare Processing Services staff only

Customer claims more than base rate Family Tax Benefit (FTB) Part A for a past period in the same financial year for a child from a previous relationship.

The Maintenance Action Test (MAT) must be satisfied for the child.

Customer should give details for all children from the same relationship.

Once the customer's record has been correctly set up and the children correctly grouped, entitlement and disbursement data from Child Support should appear. If it fails to appear, it may be because of a Mutual Customer matching with Child Support - mismatch between Centrelink and Child Support.

Record any maintenance income received directly from the paying parent before the customer applied for a child support assessment or before they applied for collection by the Child Support program.

Has customer applied for a child support assessment or registered a child support agreement with the Child Support program?

• Yes:
• The customer must have applied within the 13 week (91 day) timeframe to have taken action to obtain child support for FTB Part A to continue at more than base rate. If Child Support rejected the application, the customer must have either re-applied, sought legal advice to obtain proof of parentage or be granted an exemption from seeking child support payments. For more information, see Referrals to legal advice for action to obtain child support to satisfy the Maintenance Action Test (MAT).
• Private collection, go to Step 4
• Child Support collection, go to Step 5
• No, go to Step 6

• Customers who privately collect their child support are deemed to be receiving their full child support entitlement
• If Child Support backdates a child support assessment for a period on or after 1 July 2012, the new assessment amount will be applied in the Maintenance Income Test as a deemed amount. The non-paid arrears (related to the retrospective assessment) cannot be removed from the Maintenance Income Test
• If the customer advises:
• they have received more than the Child Support entitlement, the actual amount received will only need to be recorded in limited situations. If an actual amount is recorded, it will override the entitlement amount passed from Child Support. See Recording private maintenance income on Centrelink systems they haven't been collecting their full entitlement, see Family Tax Benefit customer not receiving full child support entitlement privately

Procedure ends here

• Information about child support payments (disbursements) is passed from Child Support
• Tell the customer about the choice of assessment methods. See Child Support collection information for Centrelink staff. Record method if disbursement method chosen. For more information, see Child Support collection customer wants to change assessment method: effect on Family Tax Benefit (FTB)
• If the customer receives spousal maintenance, this will be included in Child Support disbursement data. If the customer chooses the entitlement method, add spousal maintenance to the entitlement amount from that payer and record as actual maintenance income. For more information, see Recording private maintenance income on Centrelink systems - collection arrangements

Procedure ends here.

Does the customer want to apply for an exemption from seeking child support (or is not required to seek child support)?

• Yes, see Exemptions from seeking child support for Family Tax Benefit (FTB) customers
• To pay more than the base rate of FTB Part A at the time of claim, record the exemption (if granted) before finalising the FTB claim. Otherwise the customer will have to wait until reconciliation to receive the extra FTB for the past period
• If exemption is denied, the customer fails the MAT for that period and must take action to obtain child support within 14 days of being advised of this decision
• No, customer fails the MAT and can only be paid base rate FTB Part A for child for past period