Carer Allowance (CA) income reviews 009-18090411

Item

Description

1

Question: When should I record a carer’s estimate of their adjusted taxable income for the current financial year?

Answer: A current financial year estimate should only be recorded where:

• the carer has recorded income from a previous financial year
• the previous financial year's income is over the threshold
• the carer advises their income will be below the threshold for the current financial year, and
• their reason for the reduced income is from the list of acceptable reasons

If a carer has not advised income in excess of the threshold ($250,000) for a previous financial year, do not record a current year estimate.

If a carer incorrectly identifies the current financial year at the question ‘Which previous financial year are you and your partner (if you have one) providing income details for?’ (Q28 in the Carer Allowance adjusted taxable income details (SA489) form), the carer should be contacted to confirm the correct previous financial year the income relates to.

2

Question: Can I record the income provided for a Care Receiver Income and Asset (CRIA) assessment as the carer’s adjusted taxable income?

Answer No. Under no circumstances should any financial year income provided outside of the Income Test review be used for adjustable taxable income purposes.

3

Question: How do I update a carer’s adjusted taxable income after their review has been finalised?

Answer: If a carer contacts to revise or request a reassessment of their (and their partners) adjusted taxable income (ATI) after a review has been completed and finalised, a Carer Allowance adjusted taxable income details (SA489) should be sent to the carer via the Mail Forms guided procedure for the carer to complete and return.

Once returned, see Table 3 on the Process page.

4

Question: How do I update a carer’s adjusted taxable income before their review has been finalised?

Answer: If a carer contacts to advise they have made an error or wants to revise their (and their partners) ATI before a review has been finalised, the revised income details should be used when processing and finalising the review. The revised ATI details should be included in the Notes at the completion of the review.

For staff unable to process or finalise the CA income review, refer to Carer Processing (CD1) detailing the revised ATI details.

• Use Fast Note - select Auto text, use Carers > SUS/CAN/RES > CA - Action Required
• Select Confirm
• Complete all fields

5

Question: How do I see if an online review has submitted successfully by the carer?

Answer: To view if a carer has successfully submitted their online review, within the customers record go to Transactions icon within Process Direct. The Online Intervention review activity (ZIRV) and Change of Circumstances activity (ZCOC) activities will display with a status of For manual action if the submission has been successful.

ZIRV activities will display as:

• work item number will always start with a 9 (for example, 9XXXXXXXXX)
• description, Program Integrated Review - Carer Allowance Income Test Review - CAIT - Initial Mail Out Review
• status, For manual action

ZCOC activities will display as:

• work item number will always start with a 3 (for example, 3XXXXXXXX)
• description, Received DD/MM/YYYY - Carer Allowance Income Test Review - CAIT - Initial Mail Out Review
• status, For manual action

If the review has been submitted successfully and already completed, the ZCOC will display as Completed immediately and the ZIRV will display as Completed the next day.

6

Question: How do I see if a carer’s online review has been processed?

Answer: To view if a review has been processed and finalised, within the customers record go to the Transactions icon within Process Direct. The ZIRV and ZCOC activities will display with a status of Completed if the finalisation has been successful.

ZIRV activities will display as:

• work item number will always start with a 9 (for example, 9XXXXXXXXX)
• description, Program Integrated Review - Carer Allowance Income Test Review - CAIT - Initial Mail Out Review
• status, Completed

ZCOC activities will display as:

• work item number will always start with a 3 (for example, 3XXXXXXXXX)
• description, Received DD/MM/YYYY - Carer Allowance Income Test Review - CAIT - Initial Mail Out Review
• status, Completed

Note: if the review has been processed and finalised successfully the ZCOC will display as Completed immediately and the ZIRV will display as Completed the next day.

The CAATI screen can also be accessed using the Super Key to view the confirmed data recorded.

7

Question: What should I include in the Notes/DOC after processing a review?

Answer: When finalising the CA income test review, if CA is to continue or cancel, record the following in Notes, and in a DOC for cancellations:

• CA income test review has been completed and payment is to cancel/continue
• This decision has been made under section 957A of the Social Security Act 1991 (for continuations) / Social Security (Administration) Act 1999, Section 80 Cancellation or suspension determination (for cancellations)
• DOE: DD/MM/YYYY
• Total ATI assessed =
• Financial Year = YYYY/YYYY
• Was an estimate provided = Y/N
• Current Year Estimate details
• Estimate financial year = YYYY/YYYY
• Total estimated ATI assessed =
• Total estimated ATI exceeds threshold = Y/N
• Reason for the change in circumstances =
• Reason accepted/not accepted =

8

Question: Why is the carer unable to submit their review after uploading the 'Required' documents?

Answer: If the carer has uploaded their required documents outside the review task, the documents will not be recognised as received. Upload all documents from the 'Next Steps' page to enable the submit button.

If a carer has uploaded documents outside the review, Service Officers can action the following to allow the carer to submit their review:

• go to the carer's record in Customer First
• select the CRN/BP hyperlink next to the carers CRN
• select the Activities tab
• locate the Integrated Review - CAIT Mail out review (activity ID 9XXXXXXXXX) and select the hyperlink
• select the Customer Tasks tab to view the list of customer tasks. If the carer has provided some or all of the required documents, select 'Edit List' and check the item(s) the carer has provided
• select Save to allow the carer to submit their online review