Youth Allowance (YA) and ABSTUDY Parental Income Test (PIT) reviews 110-07060060

PIT reviews letters are sent to dependent Youth Allowance (YA) and ABSTUDY customers to confirm their family circumstances and parent(s)/guardian(s) income. This information is used to determine the customer's eligibility and rate of payment.

There are 4 types of PIT reviews:

• Annual
• Employment Income NIL rate (EIR)
• Parental Income (PIR)
• Change in Circumstance

If the customer, or parent(s)/guardian(s):

• requests a reissue of the YA/ ABSTUDY PIT review letter, go to Step 2
• requests an extension of YA/ABSTUDY PIT review including when the payment is suspended YAR (Failed to return PIT review form), go to Step 4
• wants to complete the PIT review verbally, including where the payment is suspended YAR (Failed to return PIT review form), see Table 2 > Step 3
• enquires about who are the parents or what is applied under the PIT, see Parental Income Test (PIT)
• have completed the PIT review or uploaded evidence of parental income and an activity has allocated via Workload Manager, see Table 2 > Step 1

Before issuing a replacement, check if the customer's Household and Income Assets (NHI) screen has already been updated with verified income.

The PIT review only needs to be reissued if:

• the original PIT review:
• is not received, or
• has been misplaced
• the parent(s)/ guardian(s) is unable to lodge the PIT review online, by phone or at a service centre

Is a replacement PIT review needed?

• Yes, and the child is receiving:
• YA, go to Step 3
• ABSTUDY, see Table 1 > Step 2 in Dealing with ABSTUDY customer enquiries about annual Parental Income Test (PIT) reviews
• No:
• the parent(s)/guardian(s) can provide update verbally, see Table 2 > Step 3
• the parent(s)/guardian(s) will complete and online update without the replacement letter, Procedure ends here
• NHI has been updated with verified income. Procedure ends here

Select from the following

Issuing a replacement where the NSSREM advice is available:

• Reissue Youth Allowance PIT letters in Customer First
• Discuss a reasonable timeframe for the customer to provide the information taking into account reasonable postage time
• In Customer First, create a manual review on the Activity Registration (AYR) screen and complete the fields as follows:
• Service Reason: YAL
• Source: INT
• Activity Type: MFU
• Date of Receipt: today's date
• Review Reason: YAR (YAL Dependent Review)
• Action: REV
• Action Date: PIT review extension date + 1 day
• Keywords: SY012 and YARyyyy. Capture 'yyyy' as the appropriate year, for example, in 2025 the keyword is YAR2025
• Proceed with Activity?: N
• Transfer to Region: leave blank
• Notes: 'PIT review extended until DD MMM YYYY. Suspend payment with reason YAR if not supplied by new due date'
• The review will mature on the Action Date coded in the AYR activity. Workload Management will allocate the review for manual action

The Resources page has a link to the printable Parental Income Assessment for the yyyy/ yyyy Financial Year SY012 (A) form if a parent says they cannot complete the PIT review online.

Procedure ends here.

Reissue the letter via an AYR activity in Customer First (which will provide a new One Time Access Code and start the review timeline again), create a review on the Activity Registration (AYR) screen by updating the following fields:

• Service Reason: YAL
• Source: SY012
• Activity Type: YAR
• Date of Receipt: Applicable date
• Review Reason: YAR
• Action: FMI
• Keywords: YARyyyy capture 'yyyy' as the appropriate year, for example, in 2025 the keyword is YAR2025
• Proceed with Activity?: Y
• Select Continue

Note: record all information about the PIT review in a DOC.

The Resources page has a link to the printable Parental Income Assessment for the yyyy/ yyyy Financial Year SY012 (A) form if a parent says they cannot complete the PIT review online.

Procedure ends here.

If the customer or their parent(s)/guardian(s) contacts asking for an extension, the date can be extended if they can complete the review before 1 January.

Encourage parent(s)/guardian(s) to give a PIT estimate rather than extending the PIT review as this will prevent cancellation.

If:

• the parent(s)/guardian(s) are able to provide a PIT estimate, or a reasonable PIT estimate has already been recorded, see Table 2 > Step 5 in Assessing and coding parental income for ABSTUDY, Assistance for Isolated Children (AIC) and Youth Allowance (YA).
  Procedure ends here
• an extension to the annual PIT review has been requested and the review can be completed before 1 January, go to Step 5

If an extension to the review has been requested and the review can be completed before 1 January in Customer First, check if a PIT review letter/reminder has been issued via the History Summary (HS) or the Activity Registration (AYR) screen. The due date will automatically appear on the Future Activity List (FAL) screen.

If an extension is needed using the YAL Dependent Review or ABY PIT Review activity in Customer First:

• Go to the FAL screen
• Highlight the YAL Dependent Review or ABY PIT Review activity
• Select To VIEW a future activity via the FAY screen
• Select Continue
• Go to the Future Activity Details (FAY) screen:
• open the Actions section, and
• go to the Action Date: field
• Key the new date agreed on for the return of the PIT information in the Date: field
• Select Continue

The review will mature on the Action Date coded on the Future Activity Details (FAY) screen.

YAL Dependent Review activity is no longer on the FAL or AL screens

For YA only, create a manual review on the Activity Registration (AYR) screen in Customer First by updating:

• Service Reason: YAL
• Source: INT
• Activity Type: MFU
• Date of Receipt: today's date
• Review Reason: YAR (YAL Dependent Review)
• Action: REV
• Action Date: PIT review extension date + 1 day
• Keywords: SY012 and YARyyyy. Capture 'yyyy' as the appropriate year, for example, in 2025 the keyword is YAR2025
• Proceed with Activity?: N
• Transfer to Region: leave blank
• Notes: 'PIT review extended until DD MMM YYYY. Suspend payment with reason YAR if not supplied by new due date'
• Select Continue

The review will mature on the Action Date coded in the AYR activity. Workload Management will allocate the review for manual action.

If payments are:

• suspended, go to Step 6
• current:
• record details on a DOC
• procedure ends here

Where payments are suspended and the parent(s)/guardian(s) have requested an extension, restore payment.

On the Benefit Action (BA) screen, complete the following fields:

• ServRsn: select the appropriate payment type:
• YAL - Youth Allowance, or
• ABY - ABSTUDY
• Action: RES - Restore
• Effect Date: the date of suspension
• Select Continue
• Finalise the activity via the Assessment Results (AR) screen
• Record details on a Note/DOC, see Online Document Recording (ODR)

Procedure ends here.

In most cases, if the parental income information has been lodged using the Advise Parental Income (API) online service, the PIT review will be completed automatically.

If the system has not automatically completed a PIT review, or more information is needed, the review or supporting documents will be allocated for processing.

If allocated:

• a due Request for Information (RFI) and parental income documents have not been provided, go to Step 2
• a PIT review the parent(s)/guardian(s) have completed using the API online service and it has not automatically finalised, go to Step 3
• parental income documents, go to Step 4

Updates for when parental income documents were requested and not provided.

Youth Allowance:

• Suspend the payment within the PIT review activity
• In Customer First, go to the Benefit Action (BA) screen. Update the fields:
• Service Reason: appropriate payment type
• Action: SUS - Suspension
• Reason: YAR - Failed to return PIT review form
• Effect Date: due date of RFI
• Source: INT - Internal
• Receipt Date: system date
• select Submit Change
• Finalise the activity via the Assessment Results (AR) screen
• Record details on a DOC
• Procedure ends here

ABSTUDY:

• Do not record any details on the Household Income and Assets (NHI) screen
• Finalise the review in Customer First
• On Interaction History, set the CoC status as Completed
• Check the Payment Summary (PS) screen to ensure ABSTUDY has reverted to a zero rate
• Record details on a DOC
• Procedure ends here

If parent(s)/guardian(s) completed the PIT review using the API online service, complete a pre assessment check. Review all of the following in Process Direct

General details:

• Select to review the information provided
• Check Notes which may provide details of why the update did not complete automatically
• Check if any supporting documents have been uploaded
• Check the FAO Income Previous Year (FIPY) screen in each parent(s)/guardian(s) record for actual income
• Check the Non-Lodger Exemption (FNLE) screen in each parent(s)/guardian(s) record for an ATO exemption from lodging a tax return.
  Note: no other non-lodgement reason can be used as evidence that a parent/guardian is not required to lodge a tax return

Parent contact details

Parent(s)/guardian(s) who do not receive a Centrelink payment are not obliged to notify of changes to their contact details but may supply them in a PIT review if requested by the API.

Update the home or postal address and/or phone number of parent(s)/guardian(s) where:

• the API collected their address and/or phone number
• the address and/or phone number is different to the details on the parent(s)/guardian(s) record
• the API was completed after the start date of the most recent address/phone update on the parent(s)/guardian(s) record, and
• no PIT linked parent/guardian receives a payment from Centrelink

Where the customer is receiving the away from home rate, review eligibility if the family home address has changed.

Non-lodgers

If a PIT parent has indicated that they are not required to lodge a tax return, they are required to provide responses for all income sources, but the API may only ask for:

• foreign income
• tax-free pensions and benefits, and
• maintenance paid

More information is needed where the API has not asked a confirmed non-lodger if they had:

• taxable income, or
• other income from:
• exempt reportable fringe benefits
• other reportable fringe benefits
• net investment losses, or
• reportable superannuation

Parent(s)/guardian(s) can submit multiple PIT reviews using their OTAC. If allocated more than one PIT review, check each one.

Note: For PIT reviews where the parent(s)/guardian(s) have advised that they have received their Notice of Assessment and have provided the Date of Issue, taxable income is considered verified, no further evidence of taxable income is required. See Documents accepted as evidence of parental income.

Is more information needed, or are there multiple PIT reviews with different details?

• Yes, go to Step 5
• No, the PIT review can be processed, go to Step 6

Complete a pre assessment check when parent(s)/guardian(s) contact to complete their PIT review verbally, or an SY012/MODJY or supporting documents have been uploaded:

• If a MOD JY or SY012 has been provided, view the form to:
• make sure each section of the form has been completed, and
• review the information provided
• Check if any supporting documents have been uploaded
• Check the FAO Income Previous Year (FIPY) screen in each parent(s)/guardian(s) record for actual income
• Check the Non-Lodger Exemption (FNLE) screen in each parent(s)/guardian(s) record for an ATO exemption from lodging a tax return.
  Note: no other non-lodgement reason can be used as evidence that a parent/guardian is not required to lodge a tax return

If parent(s)/guardian(s) contact to provide their income details verbally, complete the above pre assessment checks.

Note: For PIT reviews where the parent(s)/guardian(s) have advised that they have received their Notice of Assessment and have provided the Date of Issue, taxable income is considered verified, no further evidence of taxable income is required. See Documents accepted as evidence of parental income.

If accepting a verbal MOD JY, record details in a Fast Note – select Auto Text. Edit Auto Text with the details provided by the parent(s)/ guardian(s):

• for students use
  Students, ABSTUDY & Apprentices > Claims – Students > Verbal MOD JY
• for apprentices use
  Students, ABSTUDY & Apprentices > Claims – Apprentices > Verbal MOD JY
• for job seekers use
  Jobseekers > Claims > Verbal MOD JY

Is more information needed, or are there multiple PIT reviews with different details?

• Yes, go to Step 5
• No, process the PIT review in Customer First, go to Step 7

Make 1 genuine attempt to contact the parent(s)/guardian(s) where more information is required and can be accepted verbally. For example, where:

• multiple PIT reviews have been submitted with different details
• the parent(s)/guardian(s) have skipped or not answered questions properly, or
• the API did not ask a confirmed non-lodger for income from all income sources.
  Note: evidence of taxable income is not required for confirmed non-lodgers unless there are doubts as to the accuracy of the information being provided

Contact successful and all documents provided

If the contact is successful:

• confirm the necessary details
• confirm with the parent(s)/guardian(s) that:
• the details they have provided are correct, and
• they acknowledge that giving false or misleading information is a serious offence
• record details in a Fast Note – select Auto Text. Edit Auto Text with the details provided by the parent(s)/ guardian(s)
• for students use
  Students, ABSTUDY & Apprentices > Claims – Students > Verbal MOD JY
• for apprentices use
  Students, ABSTUDY & Apprentices > Claims – Apprentices > Verbal MOD JY
• for job seekers use
  Jobseekers > Claims > Verbal MOD JY
• process the PIT review:
• for verbal SY012/MOD JY PIT reviews, action in Customer First, go to Step 7
• for online PIT reviews, action in Process Direct, go to Step 6

Contact unsuccessful or documents are needed

If the contact is unsuccessful, or documents are needed, request the required information:

• request a MOD JY where:
• multiple PIT reviews have been lodged with conflicting information, or
• the API did not ask a confirmed non-lodger for income from all sources
• procedure ends here until information is supplied

Note: for information on what documents are accepted as verification, see Documents accepted as evidence of parental income.

If a PIT review has been allocated via WLM, process the work item in Customer First when:

• the payments are CAN-PIE or SUS-PIE, and
• the PIT review was completed before the CAN-PIE or SUS-PIE date

If the above applies, go to Step 7.

In all other cases, use Process Direct.

To process the PIT review in Process Direct:

• Check Notes which may provide details of why the update did not complete automatically
• Review parent responses in
• Update the PIT Parent Selection (NPPS) screen with any changes to the parent(s)/guardian(s)

Update the following fields on the NHI screen:

• Financial Year: the Base Tax year of the calendar year for which the review was issued
• Start Date: see Event date for parental income
• Estimate Indicator:
• No, where actual income has been advised
• Yes, where estimated income has been advised
• Review Date: field, for:
• estimates: the date provided by the parent(s)/guardian(s). If the parent(s)/guardian(s) have not supplied the date the evidence is expected, make a genuine attempt to get the date from the parent.
  If the parent cannot be contacted, use 28 days in the future
  Note: the review date for students must never be after the customer's Student End Date (SED). If the review date supplied is after the SED, use 28 days before the SED. If this is not possible because the SED is in the next 28 days, use 2 business days after the date the estimate is being coded
• actual income: blank. If actual income is being coded for a financial year for which an estimate was previously recorded, delete the review date
• Parent CRN: select the relevant PIT linked parent from the options provided. Make sure the appropriate parent(s)/guardian(s) are PIT linked via the PIT Parent Selection (NPPS) screen
• Update the following income fields, with the information provided within the PIT review:
• Taxable Income
• Overseas Income
• Maintenance Paid
• Business/ Investment Loss
• Reportable superannuation contributions
• Tax free pensions and benefits (applies from 1 July 2017). View the Tax Payment (TXGS) screen for payments made under the Centrelink program
• Other reportable fringe benefits
• Exempt reportable fringe benefits
• Finalise the activity
• If an overpayment occurs for:
• YA customers, refer the overpayment for investigation using code INV
• ABSTUDY and AIC customers, see Raising Parental Income Test (PIT) debts

Note: if appropriate, update all dependent sibling records.

PIT review CoC transaction will automatically be set as Completed.

If there were multiple PIT reviews, only one work item needs to be completed. Change the status of any additional work items to Cancelled.

If the payment is:

• cancelled CAN-PIE, go to Step 9
• suspended, see Table 2 > Step 1 in Assessing and coding parental income for ABSTUDY, Assistance for Isolated Children (AIC) and Youth Allowance (YA)
• current, finalise the activity via the Entitlement (ELD) screen
• record the details on a DOC
• if an overpayment occurs, see Raising Parental Income Test (PIT) debts
• procedure ends here

PIT reviews must be completed in Customer First where the parent(s)/guardian(s) are supplying their parental income:

• verbally
• via a YA Parental Income Assessment (SY012)
• via a parent(s)/guardian(s) details for the Base Tax Year and Current Tax Year for Dependent Youth Allowance or ABSTUDY customers (MOD JY) form
• and payment has been CAN-PIE and evidence of parental income has been supplied or a PIT review has been completed before the CAN-PIE Date of Event (DOV), or
• and payment has been CAN-PIA (Parental income and assets not provided) and the PIT review has been submitted within 13 weeks

If the payment is:

• current, go to Step 8
• cancelled CAN-PIE, go to Step 9
• cancelled CAN-PIA, go to Step 10
• suspended, see Table 2 > Step 1 in Assessing and coding parental income for ABSTUDY, Assistance for Isolated Children (AIC) and Youth Allowance (YA)

Select the PIT review activity from the:

• Activity List (AL), or
• Future Activity List (FAL) screen

If required, update the PIT Parent Selection (NPPS) screen

Go to the NHI screen. Update the fields:

• Event Date: see Event date for parental income
• Financial Year: the Base Tax year of the calendar year for which the review was issued
• Review Date: for:
• estimates: the date provided by the parent(s)/guardian(s). If the parent(s)/guardian(s) have not supplied the date the evidence is expected, make a genuine attempt to get the date from the parent.
  If the parent cannot be contacted, use 28 days in the future. Note: the review date for students must never be after the customer’s Student End Date (SED). If the review date supplied is after the SED, use 28 days before the SED. If this is not possible because the SED is in the next 28 days, use 2 business days after the date the estimate is being coded
• actual income: blank. If actual income is being coded for a financial year for which an estimate was previously recorded, the review date must be deleted
• Estimate: select:
• No, where actual income has been advised
• Yes, where estimated income has been advised
• Update the following income fields, with the information provided within the PIT review:
• Taxable Income
• Overseas Income
• Maintenance Paid
• Business/ Investment Loss
• Reportable superannuation contributions
• Exempt reportable fringe benefits
• Other reportable fringe benefits
• Tax free pensions and benefits (applies from 1 July 2017). View the Tax Payment Summary (TXGS) screen for payments made under the Centrelink program
• Finalise the activity via the Assessment Result (AR) screen
• if an overpayment occurs, see Raising Parental Income Test (PIT) debts
• record details on a DOC

Note: if appropriate, update all dependent sibling records.

If there were multiple PIT reviews submitted but the updates made were based on a verbal or paper MOD JY, in Process Direct, change the status of any PIT review work items that are not required to be processed to Cancelled.

Procedure ends here.

Establish if verification of the parental income was provided with a Date of Receipt (DOR) before the CAN-PIE Date of Event (DOV).

If the verification of the parental income was provided after the CAN-PIE DOV and there are no exceptional circumstances, the customer should lodge a new claim.

If the customer requests a review of the decision by lodging a new claim, they can be assessed under their current circumstances while a review decision is pending. See Resources for examples.

If parental income was provided with a DOR:

• after the CAN-PIE Date of Event (DOV) and no exceptional circumstances apply:
• do not restore the payment
• tell the customer to lodge a new claim
• record the details on a DOC
• before the CAN-PIE Date of Event (DOV) or after the CAN-PIE and exceptional circumstances apply, in Customer First:
• Go to the Benefit Action (BA) screen
• ServRsn: YAL - Youth Allowance
• Action: CAN
• Reason: OTH
• Effect Date: code the date before the CAN- PIE Date of Effect
• Source: as appropriate
• Date of Receipt: date the evidence of parental income was supplied
• Notes1: Approved Workaround
• Select Submit Change
• Go to the Assessment Results (AR) screen, the system may generate an overpayment for 1 day. This will auto waive within the restoration
• Inhibit advices on the Assessment Consequences (ASC) screen
• Finalise the activity
• YAL must be restored from the CAN OTH Date of Effect in a new activity. Go to Step 11

Use Customer First.

If needed, update the PIT Parent Selection (NPPS) screen

Update the NHI screen:

• Event Date: field, see Event date for parental income
• Financial Year: field, usually the Base Tax year of the calendar year for which the review was issued
• Estimate Indicator: field:
• No, where actual income has been advised
• Yes, where estimated income has been advised
• Review Date: field, if needed, update the review date field with the date provided by the parent(s)/guardian(s). If the parent(s)/guardian(s) have not supplied the date the evidence is expected, make a genuine attempt to get the date from the parent. If the parent cannot be contacted, use 28 days in the future.

Note: the review date for students must never be after the customer’s Student End Date (SED). If the review date supplied is after the SED, use 28 days before the SED. If this is not possible because the SED is in the next 28 days, use 2 business days after the date the estimate is being coded

• Update the following income fields, with the information provided within the PIT review:
• Taxable Income
• Overseas Income
• Maintenance Paid
• Business/ Investment Loss
• Reportable superannuation contributions
• Exempt reportable fringe benefits
• Other reportable fringe benefits
• Tax free pensions and benefits (applies from 1 July 2017). View the Tax Payment Summary (TXGS) screen tor payments made under the Centrelink program
• If appropriate, update all dependent sibling records. See Linking sibling records with customers/students/Australian Apprentices/job seekers - Parental Income Test (PIT).

Go to Step 11.

Select the payment type

Note: if parental income is too high, the restoration may change the status to CAN-PIH (Parental income too high) instead of current.

To restore payments:

• In the Nxt field, key SVABY and then in the System field, key ISS and press [Enter]
• Update the Benefit Action (BA) screen:
• Svc Rsn field - ABY
• Action field - RES
• Source and DOR fields
• Select Submit Change
• Effect Date: will default to the date of suspension/cancellation

To finalise the restoration:

• in Customer First:
• select Continue
• finalise the activity via the Assessment Results (AR) screen
• record details on a DOC, see Recording reasons for decisions
• procedure ends here
• in Process Direct:
• select Assess
• check the outcome is correct on the Entitlement (ELD) screen
• select Finish
• record the details of the update in the Finalise Note. See Recording reasons for decisions
• procedure ends here

Note: if parental income is too high, the restoration may change the status to CAN-PIH (Parental income too high) instead of current.

• Update the Benefit Action (BA) screen:
• Svc Rsn field - YAL
• Action field - RES (for restore)
• Source and DOR fields
• press [Enter]
• Effect Date: the date of suspension/cancellation

To finalise the restoration

• in Customer First:
• select Continue
• finalise the activity via the Assessment Results (AR) screen
• record details on a DOC. See Recording reasons for decisions
• procedure ends here
• in Process Direct:
• select Assess
• check the outcome on the Entitlement (ELD) screen
• select Finish
• record the details of the update via the Finalise Note. See Recording reasons for decisions