Sending Account Payable letters 107-04010030

Send an advice to the customer or the estate of a deceased customer, to tell them about a recoverable debt:

• if the advice is for a new debt, go to Step 2
• to reprint an advice, see Viewing or reissuing a letter or electronic message

Note: for deceased customers, make sure 4 weeks have passed since the death before raising the debt. See Requesting refunds and raising debts for deceased customer.

Check if all the debt details are complete in the Debt Management and Information System (DMIS) via the below screens:

• Modify/Assess Debt (OPMA) or
• Add Debt (OPAD)

Are the details complete?

• Yes, go to Step 4
• No, key all details for the debt. Go to Step 3

Check if the debt attribute DMNFOR and NODMNAWO should be added to the debt to bypass an informal debt notice and allow the debt to be recovered under normal recovery processes. For:

• an existing debt transferred to DMIS from the host system:
• action the undetermined debt on DMIS, and
• go to Step 4
• a debt that has to be manually added to DMIS:
• create a new debt record manually on DMIS, and
• go to Step 4

Does the debt relate to the family assistance re-reconciliation for 2000-01 where a Manual Follow-up (MFU) indicates to issue a manual advice?

• Yes, go to Step 5
• No, see Step 1 in Table 2

When the FAO Re-Reconciliation Account (Q418) letter is complete, update the Key Date (OPKD) screen to show a manual advice of the debt was sent.

This action generates the due date for payment. See Family Tax Benefit (FTB) and Child Care Benefit (CCB) debts for the 2000-2001 income year.

Procedure ends here.

After keying all debt details, the system will go to the Account Payable (OPAOD) screen.

When the OPAOD screen is completed, an Account Payable letter will issue.

Staff must issue a manual debt advice if a customer:

• lives overseas, or
• has a Cost of Living Payment debt caused by providing false or misleading details

To issue:

• a manual advice of debt, go to Step 2
• an automatic Account Payable, go to Step 3

To issue a manual advice letter:

• on the OPAOD screen, key 'Y' in the Suppress advice field to suppress the Account Payable letter for the new debt
• when the Key Date (OPKD) screen shows, record the date of issue of the manual advice of debt
• check the text of the letter before posting to ensure it is appropriate to the situation. See the Resources page for rules about keying free text on the Account Payable letter
• finalise the activity on the Assessment Finalisation (OPAF) screen

Send an Initial Account including statement of recoverable amount (Q417). See Creating an Online Advice (OLA), including within an existing activity.

If the customer is non-current and they do not have an acceptable payment arrangement in place, include the Interest Charge warning on the manual Account Payable letter.

See Interest Charge (IC) for Centrelink debtors no longer receiving payments.

Do not send a Q417 letter to deceased customers. See Recovering debts from a deceased customer's estate.

For Payment Assurance Operations staff who process Registrar-General's Office (RGO) Interventions:

• include all the outstanding debt details in the Q080 advice for executors, and
• use the approved text provided

Record details of the debt on a DOC.

Procedure ends here.

On the Account Payable (OPAOD) screen:

• the Debt Id field will default with a unique identification number for the debt
• the Debt Status field will default from information on the Modify/Assess Debt (OPMA) or Add Debt (OPAD) screens. This is a display only field
• key text under the Why you owe money heading. This is a compulsory field. Debt reason text automatically defaults to this field in most cases. Keep this text if accurate. The Resources page has:
• a sample list of default (prepopulated) text generated by the system, according to the debt reason code used
• examples of endorsed plain English text to use when the default text does not provide adequate explanation
• the rules for entering free text on Account Payable letters, and
• examples of Account Payable letters
• in the Total Received $ field, key the amount of payment the customer received:
• this is the total of all amounts paid for the debt period
• this is used to calculate the amount entitled
• generally, DMIS will recognise all relevant payments that should be included. There are known situations where this will not occur, such as:
• manual payments added through PYAJ
• add on payments not identified with the loss of qualification of a primary benefit
• a Limiting Date (BLD) preventing the full automatic calculation for a reassessment period
• manually add a One Off Payment (OOP) to the amount paid for the debt period if:
• it also forms part of the amount overpaid, and
• it can be raised with the primary payment. Note: some OOPs must be raised separately. For example, Coronavirus Supplement, Economic Support Payment or Crisis Payment (CrP). See the relevant Operational Blueprint procedure. For example, for CVS, see Coronavirus Supplement and Coronavirus Supplement (CVS) debts
• in the Contact Name field, key details as per the relevant business area instruction or approved Services Australia wording. For example, the contact name for Payment Assurance Operations is 'us'. This will show on the Account Payable letter under the heading 'To talk about the details of this account, please call…'
• in the Contact Telephone field, add the number as per the relevant business area instruction. For example, the Centrelink debt raising and recovery line is 1800 076 072
• the Total Entitled $, Amount due $, Debt Start Date and Debt End Date fields are protected fields. The values are taken from information in the system
• select [Enter]

The debt will be determined when all relevant fields on the OPAOD screen are complete.

Otherwise, an undetermined debt record will remain on the record.

The system will go to the Assessment Finalisation (OPAF) screen:

• complete the activity on this screen
• record details of the debt on a DOC

Other tasks may need to be completed to finish the debt submission.

The customer's tax details may need to be adjusted as a result of raising the debt.