Eligibility for Family Tax Benefit (FTB) for Approved Care Organisations (ACO) 007-07040030

An ACO is an organisation which provides or co-ordinates residential care services to young people in Australia and has received approval status from Services Australia.

An ACO may be eligible for Family Tax Benefit (FTB) if:

• the child is under 16 years, or
• all the following apply:
• a senior secondary school child aged 16-19 years
• a client of the organisation
• an Australian resident

For an organisation to become eligible for Family Tax Benefit (FTB) they must first receive ACO status. Applications are made by completing the ‘Application for Approved Care Organisation status (FA083), which is emailed through to the ACOs processing team.

To determine FTB eligibility, ACOs must complete the ‘Approved care organisation - Admission, transfer or discharge spreadsheet when a young person is admitted, transferred or discharged from your care’, which is emailed through to them once approval status has been granted

ACO’s cannot be paid:

• FTB Part A supplement
• bereavement payment of FTB
• FTB part B, and
• single income family supplement

FTB is also not payable to an ACO where an individual is eligible for the child, or where the child is receiving a payment.

FTB cannot be shared for a young person in the care of an ACO as shared care legislation only applies to individuals.

If a young person was previously receiving Youth Allowance (YA) and they are admitted to a juvenile custodial facility the YA should be suspended reason IMP to allow for the FTB to be granted to the ACO.

An ACO may be eligible for payment in temporary care situations (including less than 28 days) where the young person is legally in their care. The most common scenario would be where a young person has been placed in the care of a Youth Justice Centre through a court order. Care must be taken to determine if the temporary change in care is formal (legal/court order) or informal (customer has delegated their care temporarily to an ACO).

The Resources page contains FTB examples of legal responsibility and temporary care provisions.

ACOs must advise if a child or young person leaves their care. This can occur if the child or young person is transferred to another ACO, or if they are discharged or have absconded from the ACO. In these cases, FTB for the child must be cancelled. This process is managed by the ACOs processing team.