Partner of a Family Tax Benefit (FTB) customer claims family assistance and/or Parental Leave Pay (PPL) 007-07030030

• Yes, go to Step 3
• No, the claim is processed as normal. See Assessing family assistance and Paid Parental Leave scheme claims. Procedure ends here

Do they wish to be paid as a blended family (each receive a percentage of FTB)?

• Yes, go to Step 5
• No, go to Step 6

If their partner is FTB current, the blended family assessment can only start from their partner's Date Paid To (DPT) + 1.

Advise the claimant their claim will be held until their partner (FTB current customer) submits an online claim or lodges a completed Claim for Paid Leave Pay and Family Tax Benefit (FA100) to be paid FTB for the past period.

Smart Centre Processing staff only

Current system problem - claims are paying FTB arrears in the above scenario. Normally an 'Edit' should stop the claim assessing FTB for the claimant/customer from a date in the past where the partner is already current, that is, with no blend being applied. Refer these cases to the Champion or Subject Matter Expert.

To establish the blend from DPT + 1, in Customer First access the partner's record:

• Code child as 'TOP' (transfer out to partner) on the Child Override/Claim (CHOC) screen in the partner's record. The claimant's claim can then be processed from DPT+ 1 to apply blend
• Finalise the update
• When the blended claim is ready to be assessed, process claim for the non-FTB current claimant, see Processing standalone and combined claims for family assistance and/or Paid Parental Leave scheme payments

Procedure ends here.

Make a genuine attempt to contact claimant and partner to advise that members of a couple cannot both receive FTB for the same period unless they are a blended family or are claiming for a past period during which they were separated.

Before calling, staff can use Desktop Electronic Messaging Capability (DEMC) to advise the customer they will be receiving a phone call. See Centrelink letters online and Electronic Messaging.

Note: check their partner has given permission to enquire before giving out the partner's information. See Resources for information on what to discuss when one or both members of the couple have a PPE of No.

If the customer or partner are not contactable issue them a Q164 - Request to contact letter. This may be both the customer and partner if neither could be reached. Manually place the claim on hold. Claim activities must be held for a minimum of 22 days to allow extra time for mail delivery and for customers to respond.

Record details in the Progress of claim Note/DOC. Details must include:

• details of all contact attempts made to both the customer and partner
• what information must be asked of the customer when they make contact
• what information must be asked of the partner when they make contact
• details of what information the Service Officer receiving the call must document to enable the claim to progress

Note: if the claim for the additional child covers a period before DPT + 1, the FTB current partner must be paid for that period. An FTB claim for an additional child can only be backdated to 1 July of the preceding year.

• If the customer is claiming since their partner has travelled overseas, all children must be coded as 'TOP' (transfer out to partner) on the Child Override/Claim (CHOC) screen in the partner's record, even if a child(ren) has travelled with the customer. This will ensure that FTB is not auto restored on the partner’s record when they return to Australia

If no response received within the time frame requested:

• the FTB claim must be made Not Effective as per existing process. See Not effective, rejection, or withdrawal of claim for Family Tax Benefit or Stillborn Baby Payment

If the family chooses for the FTB current partner to:

• cancel their family assistance, and for the claimant to also claim FTB for the other child/children, go to Step 7
• claim for the additional child/ren for a period before DPT + 1 and ongoing, go to Step 8
• continue to get FTB, and there are no additional children, the partner’s FTB claim will need to be withdrawn, or processed and rejected. See Not effective, rejection, or withdrawal of claim for Family Tax Benefit or Stillborn Baby Payment

See Online and Assisted Customer Claims (ACC) for Family Assistance and Parental Leave Pay (PPL).

The FTB current partner will need to contact the agency to cancel their FTB date paid to + 1.

In Customer First:

• select the child from the Child Selection (CHS) screen
• go to the Child Override/Claim (CHOC) screen and code:
• Date: Date Paid To + 1
• Service Reason: FTB
• Reason: TOP (Transfer out to partner)
• finalise the update
• the customer's claim can then be processed from DPT + 1 of partner FTB payment. An EOV (end override) line is also required on the CHOC screen if the customer had previously transferred the FTB to their partner
• the customer is a step-parent and P24845 - Step-parent workaround needs to be applied

Procedure ends here.

The FTB claim for the claimant can be rejected or withdrawn:

• FTB only claim - FTB can then be reassessed for their FTB current partner. See Processing proof of a child's birth. Procedure ends here
• PPL only or combined PPL/FTB claim - once the FTB claim for the PPL claimant is rejected or withdrawn the PPL claim can still be assessed if all relevant information has been provided

Has the customer lodged a PPL Pre-Birth claim and the claim is assessed?

• Yes, go to Step 10
• No,
• annotate the claim progress Note/DOC stating that the PPL claimant has withdrawn the FTB claim and the child is to be added to the FTB current partner
• Smart Centre Processing staff only, go to Step 9

Smart Centre Processing staff only

Reject FTB claim on the FTB Status Override (FYSO) screen:

• In Process Direct:
• Select Add
• Start Date and End Date: key or select using calendar
• Status: 'REJ'
• Reason: 'OTH'
• Any associated lines on the FAO Early Claim Details (FECD) screen may also need to be deleted
• In Customer First, code
• Start Date: with the date that FTB is assessing from
• End Date: if required
• Status: 'REJ'
• Reason: 'OTH'
• Any associated lines on the FAO Early Claims Summary (FECS) screen may also need to be removed

If all relevant information has been provided to assess PPL for the child or expected child, the PPL claim can be finalised for the claimant. See Pre-processing checks for standalone and combined claims for family assistance and/or Paid Parental Leave payments

Procedure ends here.

Has the lodged FA081 been fully completed?

• Yes, FA081 will be automatically allocated for processing, go to Step 11
• No, issue a request for information and request them to either:
• go online and complete the Add Newborn service (for PPL), or
• use the Express Plus app Add Newborn service (for PPL), or
• for the partner's FTB, go online to lodge an FTB claim, or
• complete the full FA081 and return for the PPL claim to be assessed and the partner's FTB to be reassessed

Smart Centre Processing staff only

If all relevant information has been provided to assess FTB for the child, the PPL claim can be finalised for the claimant and the FTB can be reassessed for their FTB current partner. See Processing proof of a child's birth. Procedure ends here.

Appropriately trained Families and Child Care Smart Centre staff only

Ensure the appropriate payments are rejected and that no payment is generated.

Finalise the activity on the Entitlement (ELD) screen in Process Direct or Assessment Results (AR) screen in Customer First.

Appropriately trained Families and Child Care Smart Centre staff only

Issue a Free Text (Q999) letter to the claimant detailing the reason for rejection of their claim.

Include the following text for the rejection paragraph:

Note: adapt the text below depending on which payments have been claimed.

'Your claim for Family Tax Benefit has been rejected. Section 26 of the Family Assistance Act 1999 states that only one member of a couple can be eligible for Family Tax Benefit.'

'Our records indicate that your partner should lodge a claim for Family Tax Benefit in respect of [CHILD/REN].

A claim can be made by going to my.gov.au and signing into your account to access Centrelink services. If you do not have a myGov account, you will need to create one first and link it to Centrelink.'

Include the appeal paragraph.

Procedure ends here.

A claim lodged in this way is to be made not effective (NEF). The claim is likely to have caused the record to become intertwined. Any information uploaded or updated by the incorrect claim must be deleted and the record used incorrectly must be referred to the Data Quality Unit (DQU) Intertwined Team for follow-up.

Phone the customer to discuss Self Service. The Resources page contains a link to Centrelink online accounts.

If appropriate, register the correct customer for Self Service during this contact.

Digitisation Support Unit (DSU)

Transfer claim activity or Manual Follow-up (MFU) to the Processing Service. Look up local Processing Service details for: FTB PPL BBY and DAP Claims - Processing.

Smart Centre Processing

• For an authenticated claim, in Process Direct:
• Go to the Transaction Summary (TS) screen
• Select Status
• Select Edit
• In the Change Status dialogue box, select Not Effective from the drop down box
• Select Save
• Go to the TS screen and check the status of the claim is NEF
• Go to the Activity List (AL) screen
• Select Cancel. A pop up dialogue box will confirm claim has been cancelled
• Select OK
• DOC the claim details
• DOC the NEF decision on the correct records as the agency does not have the correct digital signature for this claim to be effective
• The person whose name is on the claim must lodge an additional claim using their own online account
• Refer the record to the DQU (NA8) Intertwined Team via the Intertwined Referral Form for follow up. The Resources page contains links to the form and Office Locator for contact details
• Create and issue manual NEF letter to the claimant. Go to Step 4
• For an unauthenticated claim, in Customer First:
• Cancel the MFU activity on the incorrect record and DOC the claim details
• DOC the NEF decision on the correct record, as the agency does not have the correct digital signature for this claim to be effective
• The person whose name is on the claim must lodge an additional claim using their own online account
• Refer the record to the DQU (NA8) Intertwined Team via the Intertwined Referral Form for follow up. The Resources page contains links to the form and Office Locator for contact details
• Create and issue manual NEF letter to the claimant. Go to Step 4

For help, see Viewing and processing online and Assisted Customer Claims (ACC).

Issue a Free Text (Q999) letter to the claimant detailing the reason for their claim being made NEF and include the appeal paragraph.

Include the following text in the Q999. Note: adapt the text below depending on whether FTB or PPL or both have been claimed.

PPL NEF letter:

• Your claim for Parental Leave Pay has been made not effective. This is because you have used another person's online account to lodge a claim. This means that your claim does not comply with sections 10 and 53 Paid Parental Leave Act 2010 which requires that claims be made in the approved manner and form
• If you wish to claim Parental Leave Pay using the online claim, you will need to log in to your my.gov.au account to access Centrelink services. If you do not have a myGov account, you will need to create one first and link it to Centrelink

FTB NEF letter:

• Your claim for FTB has been made not effective. This is because you have used another person's online account to lodge a claim. This means that your claim does not comply with sections 7(2) and 38(2) of A New Tax System (Family Assistance) (Administration) Act 1999 which requires that claims be made in the approved manner and form
• If your partner is currently in receipt of family payments, the claim for this child should be made by them. This is because under Family Assistance Law, only one member of a couple can be eligible for family payments
• If your partner is not in receipt of family payments and you wish to proceed with a claim, please log in to your my.gov.au account in your own name to access Centrelink services, and complete a claim for family assistance. If you do not have a myGov account, you will need to create one first and link it to Centrelink