Creating, updating and ending Parental Income Test (PIT) links for dependent student, Australian Apprentice and job seeker customers 108-02010100

This document outlines information relating to linking records of those deemed to be a parent for the purpose of applying the PIT for dependent people receiving or claiming:

ABSTUDY
Assistance for Isolated Children (AIC)
Tertiary Access Payment (TAP)
Youth Allowance (YA)

This is commonly known as PIT linking.

Automatic transfer information

Linking parents and guardians to the ABSTUDY, AIC, TAP and YA dependent child allows recorded information relevant to the PIT to be automatically transferred between records.

Advantages of automatic transfer

Advantages include:

a family only needs to notify Services Australia of changes in circumstances once for the changes to be updated for all linked family members
linked records will contain up-to-date information, ensuring they are receiving their correct entitlement
a reduction in the number of debts incurred, for example, in cases where the PIT exemption ceases automatically after notification of changes

Change in circumstances which may affect the PIT

Changes in circumstances, which may affect the PIT include:

a parent/guardian is granted an income support payment
a parent/guardian ceases to receive an income support payment

a dependent customer loses or gains a PIT parent/guardian

a substantial increase or decrease in parental income
changes to the family pool

Updating customer records

Records can be updated to:

create links with any parent(s)/guardian(s) for the PIT, if a link has not been created, or
end links when a parent/guardian leaves the family situation and is no longer regarded as a PIT parent

ABSTUDY customers placed in State Care (including supported accommodation, hostels, or boarding schools) who do not have a parent or carer require a PIT link to be made to the organisation. To create the link, a dummy person record is required for the organisation.

A dependent YA customer may have an Indigenous student in their care who meets the eligibility criteria for Schooling A Award (ABT).

Requirement for CRNs

It is a requirement that all parents and dependent siblings are linked on the ABSTUDY or YA customer's record. In some cases, a parent/guardian may not have received family assistance, a Social Security pension or benefit, or a child record was archived due to not being in use for a significant period of time.

It is important to conduct a thorough search to locate the correct customer record before updating the customer's details, or to confirm that no record exists before adding a new record for the customer.

See Searching for a customer on the system.

The requirement of a Customer Reference Number (CRN) is due to:

the data matching of parent income details with the Australian Taxation Office (ATO)
changes to the parent and sibling statuses, if they are or have been in receipt of a Low Income Health Care Card (LIC), pension or benefit from Services Australia, to determine the rate of payment for YA or ABSTUDY

Parent(s)/guardian(s) CRNs are a compulsory component of the coding of dependent ABSTUDY and YA new claims.