Processing Family Tax Benefit (FTB) claims from Approved Care Organisations (ACO) 007-07030060

Approved Care Organisations (ACO) may be eligible for Family Tax Benefit (FTB) for children in their care.

Claim requirements for ACOs are similar to those for an individual, except that ACOs do not need to provide a tax file number or income details.

An 'ACO Admission, transfer or discharge spreadsheet' is required for the initial FTB claim by an ACO. An ACO may lodge an ACO admission, transfer or discharge spreadsheet (provided by the agency when claiming for additional children. The spreadsheet is available from the ACO Smart Centre Processing team, after an organisation has had their ACO status approved.

ACOs are:

• paid FTB fortnightly
• eligible for the base rate of FTB Part A for each FTB child in their care
• eligible for Energy Supplement Part A in some circumstances
• not entitled to any other components of FTB
• not entitled to bereavement payment of FTB

The rate is not income tested.

If an Approved Care Organisation (ACO) arranges long term foster care with a carer family, the foster family is eligible for Family Tax Benefit (FTB), not the ACO, as the foster carer has legal responsibility for the day to day care, welfare and development of the child. However, foster carers working as employees in a group home would not be eligible for FTB for the child as the body responsible for the group home is responsible for the care of the child.

ACOs receive fortnightly rate letters which details the children currently in care and the FTB payment for the current period.

Quarterly reports can be issued to ACOs when requested. The Entitlement Report includes the following:

• The full names of the children in care
• The dates of birth (DOB) of the children in care
• The period the children were in care for during the period of the report
• The type of benefit paid for each child in care: Family Tax Benefit (FTB), Double Orphans Pension (DOP) and Energy Supplement
• The calculated entitlement total for each benefit paid
• The total number of children in care for the period of the report (per benefit)
• The total number of admissions (per benefit)