Carer Allowance (CA) income test - acceptable evidence of income 009-18090457

From 20 September 2018, to be eligible for CA and CA Health Care Card (HCC only), the carer and their partner’s combined Adjusted Taxable Income (ATI) must be under $250,000 a year. The same income limit applies if the carer does not have a partner.

Carers are considered to have met the income test while they are exempt from providing their income details for the CA income test.

The CA income test is based on the ATI of the carer (and their current partner) for the applicable financial year. It includes deemed income from account-based income streams if the account holder is 60 years of age or older.

For more information on CA income test see:

• CA income test
• CA income test - determining reference tax year and assessable income components

A CA income review may be issued to a carer who is not exempt from providing their income details for the CA income test if they:

• have a change in circumstances, or
• are identified by an ATO data-match

See CA income review processing.

When providing income details, carers may be prompted to provide these supporting documents:

• Details of income stream product (SA330) form or a similar schedule
• Documents and an explanation to verify the change in circumstances which led to their income (or their and their partner’s combined income) being lower in the current financial year

No evidence of the previous years or the year prior adjusted taxable income is required. Carers are not required to provide their Notice of Assessment from the Australian Taxation Office.

Deemed income from account-based income streams is included in the CA income test. The carer or their partner must provide a SA330 form or similar schedule from their provider, before a new account-based income stream can be added or (in some cases) an existing account-based income stream can be updated. See CA income test - determining reference tax year and assessable income components.

The SA330 form or a similar schedule will not be requested if the information is already on the carer’s or their partner’s record, unless the carer changes the account balance in the online claim or online review. If the carer provides a paper claim form or paper review form, they will be prompted to provide an SA330 form if the details have changed.

Data matching with income stream providers means the current balance of account-based income streams will be regularly updated. See CA income test - determining reference tax year and assessable income components.

A carer may be required to provide documents supporting the information declared in their claim or review before it can be submitted.

These documents must be provided when the claim or review is:

• submitted online via Upload documents
• lodged at a service centre, or
• via post or fax

Carers who return their documents to their nearest service centre must provide their Claim or Review ID number.

For more information, see CA income review processing.

The carer is not required to supply original supporting documents - copies are acceptable.

If the carer’s combined Adjusted Taxable Income (ATI) for the past year they selected was too high, their CA qualification may be assessed using a current year estimate of income.

They need to meet the acceptable reasons for using a current year estimate for the CA income test. Note: coronavirus (COVID-19) impacts are now considered an acceptable reason. See Carer Allowance CA) - determining reference tax year and assessable income components.

Carers must provide suitable evidence for their current year estimate to be considered. This includes:

• an explanation of the change of circumstances and how it affects their current year income
• documents to verify their change of circumstances

Three categories of verification of income may be required for the CA income test:

• current year estimate
• account-based income stream
• verification of Adjusted Taxable Income (ATI) components

See the Process page for more information.

The Services Australia uses information from the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) to verify individual Adjusted Taxable Income (ATI) components for a person who is required to lodge a tax return. A CA income review will be created where a person meets certain risk profile rules.

Individual ATI components provided through the online claim or online review will be uploaded to Process Direct, except in the case of a review not automatically completed. If a review is not auto-completed or in the case of online claims, Service Officers must carefully consider the information provided, especially if income is close to the limit or a current year estimate is provided. See the Process page for more information.