Initial contact by customers claiming Family Tax Benefit (FTB) as a lump sum for a previous year 007-01010030

Customers have until 30 June of the lodgement year to lodge their FTB lump sum claim for the previous financial year, for example, by 30 June 2025 for the 2023-24 financial year.

Customers with special circumstances preventing them from lodging their claim by the end of the lodgement year, in limited situations, may be granted an extension of time to meet the claim lodgement requirements. See Assessing special circumstances extensions for families unable to meet lodgement and other specific requirements for Family Tax Benefit (FTB) and Single Income Family Supplement (SIFS).

The customer must lodge a lump sum claim for the relevant financial year before a request for and decision about special circumstances extensions can be undertaken.

Claiming FTB

• If the claim is after the death of a child, see Initial contact after the death of a dependent child
• If the claim is on behalf of a deceased potential FTB person, an appropriate person can claim FTB for the period up until their death. The claim needs to be made in the name of the deceased person and entitlement is based on the deceased person's income and other circumstances

New claimants and current customers are encouraged to make an online claim for FTB for the previous financial year.

If making an online claim for FTB only, authenticated customers can make a single claim for the current and previous financial years.

This online claim option is only available until 30 June of the lodgement year.

Is the customer able to claim online?

For some customers it may be unreasonable to claim online.

• Yes, see Online or Assisted Customer Claim (ACC) for family assistance and Parental Leave Pay (PPL). Procedure ends here
• No, go to Step 3

Each financial year has its own claim form.

Is it within the lodgement year, for example, before 1 July 2025 if the customer is claiming for 2023-24?

• Yes, issue a FA048 Claim for an annual lump sum payment of Family Tax Benefit
• Run the Mail Forms macro to issue FA048
• Manually issue FA048 and record details on a DOC
• Go to Step 5
• No, go to Step 4

Advise the customer:

• they will need to complete a paper claim (FA054)
• a special circumstances assessment cannot be undertaken until a claim has been lodged. The claim will be rejected (late lodgement) unless a special circumstances extension is granted
• they (and their partner) must also lodge their tax returns with the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) or advise they are not required to lodge in the claim form
• to be assessed for a special circumstance extension, the claim and tax returns must be lodged by the end of the extended lodgement year. For example, before 30 June 2025 if customer is claiming for the 2022-23 financial year

Service Officers will need to:

• print a Claim for an annual lump sum payment of Family Tax Benefit (FA054), and
• send it to the customer via post, or
• provide the form to the customer if they are in a Service Centre
• create a DOC on the customer record with the reason(s) the customer was unable to lodge the claim within the lodgement year

Note: the FA054 claim form is not directly available to customers.

Advise the customer:

• their FTB lump sum claim must be lodged by 30 June of the lodgement year
• they (and their partner) must lodge their tax returns with the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) or advise they are not required to lodge by the end of the lodgement year
• a tax return does not need to be lodged before lodgement of their FTB claim

Lump sum claims lodged after the end of the lodgement year will be rejected unless the customer is granted an extension of time to meet the lodgement requirement. A request for and decision about special circumstances cannot be made until the customer has lodged their lump sum claim for the relevant financial year.

An FTB lump sum claim for an additional child for a period during which the customer received FTB instalments can be granted back to 1 July of the preceding financial year. FTB instalment customers should claim for an additional child before the end of the lodgement year, for example, by 30 June 2024 for 2022-23.

Customers should not be discouraged from lodging a claim for FTB even though it will be too late for the claim to be effective. The customer will have access to the review and appeal process.

Earlier versions of the annual lump sum payment of Family Tax Benefit can be obtained by sending an email request to the Forms Production team. The Resources page contains a link to Online forms for contact details.

See Receipt of claims, forms and documentation for family assistance.

For assessment and processing information, see Processing FTB lump sum claims.