Determining the Date of Event for employment income 108-07010040

A separate procedure applies:

• for customers working under the Supported Wage System (SWS)
• for Low Income Health Care Card (LIC) customers not receiving an income support payment

It is important to understand the difference between the date of event (DOV) and the date of effect (DOE):

• DOV is the date the event actually occurred, that is, the date employment income is paid by the employer (this is not necessarily the date the customer received the income)
• DOE is the date a particular change first affects the customer's entitlement

• A notification reporter is a customer who has to report any income or other changes within 14 days. When they start work, they must advise Services Australia within 14 days of when their employer first pays them
• A statement reporter is a customer who reports via a Reporting Statement. They must advise any paid employment income, hours worked (if required) and any other changes on their reporting day, which is usually their Entitlement Period End Day (EPED). They may advise in advance that they will be starting work but will still have to report their paid gross employment income and hours on their reporting day
• Customers who are on variable reporting are statement reporters. They are required to report any changes, which might affect their payment on the EPED of the period that change occurred

Note: notification rules for students in receipt of ABSTUDY payments are slightly different to other payments.

All income support payments are calculated on a fortnightly arrears basis, using a 14 day entitlement calculation. If the customer's EPED has been changed, payment will be calculated for the actual period of entitlement based on the gross income paid during that shorter period only.

If a customer is paid employment income for an employer pay period greater than the length of their entitlement period, the income must be assessed for a period equal to the entire employer pay period. The start and end date of the employer pay period must be recorded to correctly assess income that is paid for a period greater than the customer's entitlement period.

Employment income is assessed once it is paid by an employer to their employee. This is the 'Pay Date' or 'Date Paid' on the customer's payslip. If the customer does not receive a payslip, they would need to confirm this information with their employer.

Even if there is a delay between when an employer pays their employee and when the employee receives the pay i.e. due to the time it takes to transfer funds between banks, employment income is still considered paid on the date the employer makes the payment to the employee ( the date recorded as the payday on the employees payslip).

If payment of employment income is intentionally deferred to gain a social security advantage, it is considered to be paid at the point at which it was able to be received.

Customers who have their employment income reported through the Employer Electronic Reporting (EER) process will have a date of event (DOV) which may not be the date paid. Employment income is coded from electronic advice on the day it is provided and this will be the DOV used.

Service Officers must ensure the DOV is the date paid when running the Earnings and Reporting workflow for customers who have early reporting dates, due to holiday processing. The procedure Earnings and reporting tool, has further information.

Service Officers must ensure the correct DOV is used when running the Earnings and Reporting workflow for customers who are reporting early, due to leaving Australia temporarily or permanently.

For more information about coding employment income for an overseas absence, see Recording and correcting employment income details.

For customers reporting foreign employment income, see Foreign income and assets.

The Centrelink system uses a notification handler (often referred to as NOHL) to calculate a customer's payments. NOHL uses the date the information was provided (such as DOV and date of notification) to calculate the DOE of the payment rate change. The Review of Assessment (ROA) screen assists with the process of determining the correct date of effect from which to apply a change in entitlement.

From 6 September 2010, changes to NOHL allow the Service Officer to check reassessments coded for date of effect processing:

• where either the DOV is before the primary DOV
• no primary DOV exists, or
• a customer's circumstances have been corrected or deleted as the result of a review of a decision

Once the DOV has been correctly determined, follow the relevant assessment and coding procedure.

Employment income paid in an entitlement period before 7 December 2020 must be assessed using the pre 'Changing the Social Security Income Assessment Model' rules. Officers must ensure the correct DOV is used when coding employment income for an entitlement period before 7 December 2020.

Further information regarding retrospective coding, see Resources.