Finalised 'no debt' (FND) or 'zeroing' debts that are not legally recoverable 107-05110010

Did the UND occur when restoring the customer's ABSTUDY Schooling A (ABT) record?

• Yes, see Step 1 in Table 2
• No, smart centre staff, refer the UND debt to Debt Staff. Otherwise, go to Step 2

Did the customer receive an excess payment under the Pension Bonus Scheme (PBS)?

• Yes:
• finalise any debt activity as 'no debt' (FND) if the customer was entitled to the payment at the time. See Step 1 in Table 2
• raise a Pension Bonus Scheme (PBS) debt if the customer received the payment on the basis of fraudulent or misleading information
• raise a Pension Bonus Scheme (PBS) debt if the customer received the payment due to an administrative error
• No, go to Step 3

Did the customer receive an excess payment of Incentive Allowance due to participating in a qualifying activity and then transferring to Disability Support Pension (DSP)?

• Yes, this is not a debt. The customer was not told they had to notify Services Australia of changes in their Incentive Allowance status. Finalise any debt activity as 'no debt' (FND). See Step 2 in Table 2
• No, go to Step 4

Did a child receive an excess payment of SpB in their own right? For example, the parent was not residentially qualified for any payment.

• Yes, establish if the SpB recipient (in this case, the child) had a correspondence nominee:
• if the nominee was issued a correct notice under section 68 SS(A)A setting out their notification obligations but did not notify, raise a debt against the SpB recipient. Consider a waiver of the debt under section 1237AAD of the Act, see Actioning an undetermined debt on the Debt Management and Information System (DMIS)
• if there is no correspondence nominee, no debt exists. The customer (in this case, the child) was not told to notify the agency about their parents' income. Finalise any debt activity as FND. See Step 2 in Table 2
• No, go to Step 5

A CrP is not a recoverable debt unless the customer was:

• not entitled to the payment (they were paid under the Social Security Act and misrepresented their circumstances), or
• was covered by an Assurance of Support (AoS) when the payment was made. In this case, create a debt under the Migration regulations 1994, Regulation 2.38(3)(b). See the References page

When claiming the payment, did the customer meet one of the above?

• Yes, create a new debt record on the Debt Management and Information System (DMIS). Procedure ends here
• No, go to Step 6

Return of a Parental Income Reassessment form (SY012A) after 1 October

Does the UND have a start date in the period that includes 1 October?

• Yes, go to Step 8
• No, go to Step 7

Did the customer receive an excess payment of YA based on an estimate of parental income or actual means that was lower than the assessed parental income or actual means for that period?

• Yes, go to Step 8
• No, go to Step 9

Where the debt is based on an estimate of income, the excess payment is not a debt.

A debt activity can occur if a customer returns of the SY012A after 1 October. This is because the system will backdate the change in income to the pay fortnight that includes 1 October. It does this if the combined parental income exceeds:

• 125% of the base tax year, and
• 125% of parental income free area

There is also no legislative basis to allow for the raising of such debts.

The debt may be recoverable, if:

• the debt period extends beyond 1 January, and
• the customer did not notify of actual parental income within their notification provisions

See Raising Parental Income Test (PIT) debts.

Does the debt period extend beyond 1 January and the customer did not notify of actual parental income details?

• Yes, create a new debt record on the DMIS
• No, finalise any debt activity as FND. See Step 1 in Table 2

Did the customer have a FTB and RA arrears adjusted to prevent a duplicate RA payment?

This can occur when a customer receives RA with an income support payment. This is due to an arrears of FTB and RA calculating for the same period. Staff must adjust the arrears before they finalise the FTB claim. This will prevent a duplicate RA payment from issuing.

• Yes, as there has been an adjustment, there is no excess payment. Finalise any debt activity as FND. In the FND Reason field, key COD. See Step 2 in Table 2
• No, see Step 1 in Table 2

Check if the debt should be:

• FND
• raised, or
• waived

To finalise an Undetermined Debt Activity (UND) as 'finalised no debt' in Process Direct, see Raising Child Care Subsidy (CCS) debts in Process Direct.

Should the debt be finalised 'no debt' (FND)?

• Yes, go to Step 2
• No, see Table 2 in Actioning an undetermined debt on the Debt Management and Information System (DMIS)

Note: smart centre staff are to follow this procedure when the UND generates due to restoring ABSTUDY Schooling A payments.

Use the Debt Action script to FND or amend the debt to zero.

If the script is unavailable or cannot be used for:

• undetermined debts:
• select the relevant Debt ID from the Activity List (AL) screen
• go to the Modify/Assess Debt (OPMA) screen
• for the Calculated Amount $, key 0.00. For the FND Reason, use field help (?) or see the Resources page. Go to Step 3
• determined debt, see Step 7 in Table 1 of Changing account details on debts raised in the Debt Management Information System (DMIS)

Go to the Assessment Finalisation (OPAF) screen:

• in the Finished? field, key Y > [Enter]
• record details on a DOC

There is no manual tax adjustment if the UND debt has been FND.

Where the UND has been caused by incorrect coding:

• leave constructive feedback for the staff member responsible for the initial incorrect coding that created the UND
• where possible, include guidance on corrective action and which references apply
• see the Resources page for a link to the Staff Feedback Tool