Changing Australian residence details for family assistance and Parental Leave Pay (PPL) customer/child 007-02080030

The CCS residence rules also apply to Additional Child Care Subsidy (ACCS) entitlement such as ACCS (grandparent), ACCS (temporary financial hardship), ACCS (transition to work) as eligibility for CCS is required before a customer can be assessed for ACCS.

Customers receiving family assistance and/or PPL will generally continue to be entitled to these payments if they and/or their children temporarily leave Australia, provided they are not return rule affected.

Note: a customer generally cannot access PPL days if:

• they are overseas without the child, or
• the child is overseas without them

In these circumstances, they are not considered to be caring for the child. There are exceptions to this, such as when the travel is due to a serious illness or medical treatment.

The maximum portability period for FTB and Double Orphan Pension (DOP) is 6 weeks for temporary overseas absences. For PPL, the maximum portability period for temporary absences is 56 weeks. These periods can be extended for up to 3 years if the customer is deployed overseas.

Eligibility for CCS will cease if a customer is overseas for more than 6 weeks. However, this period can be extended for up to 3 years if return to Australia is delayed due to a number of limited circumstances.

For FTB, CCS, DOP and PPL some customers can only receive payments overseas if they are travelling for an approved reason. See Family Tax Benefit (FTB), Child Care Subsidy (CCS) and Parental Leave Pay (PPL) customer/child going overseas.

If a temporary absence changes as the customer is now living overseas, family assistance and PPL cease to be payable.

A customer may initially intend for their or their child/ren's absence from Australia to be temporary and therefore payment can continue for the maximum portability period, subject to ongoing entitlement. However, a customer can no longer be considered Australian resident if:

• the customer subsequently decides that they and/or their children are now living outside Australia, or
• a Service Officer subsequently decides that they and/or their children are now living outside Australia, or
• the customer's legal residence status changes, for example, their permanent visa expires

Determining whether a customer is residing in Australia, and whether a customer can still be considered an Australian resident can be very difficult. Take great care when making this decision.

A customer in Australia may also lose entitlement to family assistance payments if their legal residence status changes, for example, they are granted a new, non-qualifying visa.

The decision to change the customer's residence status can be made by the customer or by a Service Officer. However, unless the customer has misrepresented their circumstances, or failed in their notification obligations, a change in the residence status is usually not backdated.