Reissuing a rejected payment 103-04040090

While the payment will show as 'RTN' on the Payment Summary (PS) screen, the associated Manual Follow-up (MFU) will identify whether the payment has been rejected or returned.

When a payment is rejected and not issued to the customer, an MFU with a DOC containing the reason for the rejection (for example, the payment is above system arrears limits) will be placed on the customer's record to advise that action must be undertaken. Examples of MFU DOC text are on the Resources page as a guide.

Note: customer contact attempt is only required where new bank account details are required to reissue the rejected payment.

The MFU must be finalised after the payment has been issued to the customer.

If the rejected payment is:

• an ABSTUDY or AIC payment, go to Step 2
• to a former family assistance customer who has moved overseas and closed their Australian bank account, see Table 2 > Step 5
• to a customer paid outside Australia, Centrelink International Services (CIS) staff should see Delivery of payments to Centrelink customers outside Australia
• a Paid Parental Leave (PPL) payment delivered to an employer, see Table 2 > Step 6
• to a deceased customer, see Reissue a payment returned from a financial institution – includes deceased customers
• a real time payment using Priority Direct Credit (PDC), see Real time payment delivery to Centrelink customers
• a Centrepay (PINS) deduction, see Returned or rejected Centrepay payments
• any other payment, go to Step 3

• ABSTUDY and AIC payments can be made to either customers or third parties (for example, applicants, educational institutions, secondary boarding schools or hostels)
• Payment destination details are not always coded on the Payment Destination Summary (PAS) screen
• For staff not skilled in the relevant payment type, transfer customer to the relevant team for investigation:
• For rejected ABSTUDY payments, record details in an open Fast Note - select Auto text, use Students, ABSTUDY & Apprentices > Update > ABSTUDY Action request
• For rejected AIC payments, record details in an open Fast Note - select Auto Text, use Students, ABSTUDY and Apprentices > AIC > AIC rejected/returned payment
• Procedure ends here
• For staff skilled in the relevant payment type, go to Step 3

Where the term 'customer' is used, the following steps also apply if a request is received from a nominee.

Before reissuing the payment:

• Make sure the payment destination is correct:
• For Group Payments, see Group payments to organisations
• For AIC payments, see Payments to third parties and institutions for Assistance for Isolated Children (AIC)
• If the payment destination is not correct, update the details first. For more information, see Changing payment destination
• If the payment destination is correct, and the rejected payment is:
• a Group Payment, see Group payments to organisations
• to a customer, go to Step 4
• to a Third Party Organisation (TPO) or Income Managed customer, see Table 2 > Step 7

• Yes, see Table 2 > Step 1
• No, see Table 2 > Step 3

Before reissuing the rejected family assistance payments, check the Payment Details (PD) screen to make sure both Family Tax Benefit (FTB) Part A and Part B components have been rejected.

• If the entire payment has been rejected 'This payment has been rejected on ...' will show
• If only part of the payment has been rejected the message will specify an amount rejected. For example, $180.00 has been rejected on 28 May 2025

Have both family assistance components been rejected?

• Yes, go to Step 3
• No:
• in Customer First, create a manual review on the Review Registration (RVR) screen and complete the fields as follows:
  Service Reason: FTB
  Review Reason: OTH (Other)
  Due Date: 3 working days from today's date
  Source: INT
  Date of Receipt: today's date
  Notes: 'Check if family assistance payments have been rejected. Return to OB 103-04040090 for action.'
  Keywords: REJPYMT
  Workgroup: leave blank
  Position: leave blank
  Transfer to Region: leave blank
• The review will mature on the Due Date code in the RVR activity. Workload Management will allocate the review for manual action
• Update the DOC detailing the reason the RVR activity has been created
• Place the MFU/DOC on hold for 3 days
• Procedure ends here until manual review elapses in 3 days, then go to Step 2

Where both family assistance components rejected in full, go to Step 3.

If only part of the payment is rejected, and the customer is:

• entitled to the payment:
• Try to reissue the rejected component (as per Step 4). Do not reissue the component that was not rejected
• If the system prevents this or, the amount allowed to be reissued by the system looks incorrect:
  - discuss with LPS or SSO for escalation to the Centrelink Payment Support Team (CPST) via a mySupport webform, and
  - record details in a DOC
• Procedure ends here
• not entitled to the payment (or part of):
• Reissue any amount the customer is entitled to via the Payment Adjustment (PYAJ) screen. See Using the Payment Adjustment (PYAJ) screen
• The remaining rejected payment must be blocked to prevent it being reissued from the Payment Summary (PS) screen, go to Step 8

Smart centre telephony staff are to follow normal escalation processes for referral to Service Support Officer (SSO). See Tier 0 technical support - self-sufficiency.

Check the calculation of the payment to ensure it is accurate. If the payment is correct and can be reissued:

• Reissue the payment to the customer (as per Step 4)
• If the system will not allow the payment to be reissued:
• Discuss with LPS or SSO for escalation to the Centrelink Payment Support Team (CPST) via a mySupport webform
• Record details in a DOC
• Procedure ends here
• If the customer is not entitled to the payment (or part of):
• Reissue any amount the customer is entitled to via the Payment Adjustment (PYAJ) screen. See Using the Payment Adjustment (PYAJ) screen
• The rejected payment must be blocked to prevent it being reissued from the Payment Summary (PS) screen, go to Step 8

Smart centre telephony staff are to follow normal escalation processes for referral to Service Support Officer (SSO). See Tier 0 technical support - self-sufficiency.

Before attempting to reissue the payment, make sure the correct payment system is selected (for example, Age Pension payments can only be reissued in the PEN system).

For payments in the ISS system, the correct subsystem must also be selected. For details on how to access the ISS subsystem, see Customer First navigation, common screens and functions.

• Go to the PS screen
• Select the payment that has rejected by placing an 'R' in the selection field next to the payment and select [Enter], the Issue Payment Select (IPPRE) screen will show
• The system will automatically 'S'elect the 'Re-deliver Rejected Payment' field and the Destination type will automatically default to 'Direct Credit'
• Select [Enter] and the Re-deliver Rejected Payment (RDRP) screen will show

On the Re-deliver Rejected Payment (RDRP) screen code the following:

• If reissuing multiple payments/components, use Next and Back to locate the page that has the Reissue All field. This field may not appear for all payments being reissued
• Key 'Y' in the Reissue All (Y/N): field if reissuing all rejected
  Note: when reissuing family assistance payments that have not been received, choose either Family Tax Benefit (FTB) Part A or Part B or both by selecting 'reissue all' and answer 'Y'
• Reason: 'RTN'
• A short description as to why the payment was rejected and is now being reissued is to be entered in the Notes: field
• Record how the customer made contact in the Source field, and the date of the contact in the Date of Receipt (DOR): field and select [Enter]
• The Finished (Y/Q/N) field will show, answer 'Y' then [Enter] to complete the activity

Note: if the payment amount is too large (System arrears limits) to issue in one payment, the system will automatically break into 2 or more payments. These will issue on consecutive days.

Once the payment has been issued to the customer:

• Finalise the MFU
• Complete the Reissue Rejected Payment DOC via Fast Note - select Auto text, use Generic > Enquiry > Reissue Rejected Payment
• If a manual advice (Q999) is also required, this activity must be completed once the letter is issued. See Creating a manual letter or Online Advice (OLA) for more details on creating a letter
• Cancel any incomplete advice letter on the record that was created to advise of the rejected payment

Manual advice to customer

If the system has not issued a letter, a manual advice (Q999) may be required to advise the customer of:

• the grant of payment, or
• the payment amount due

Note: a separate activity will be created if required, 'Send manual advice - Payment rejected as it exceeds system limit'.

If the payment still rejects after required action is completed, discuss with Local Peer Support (LPS). Service Officers may need to refer to a Service Support Officer (SSO) for escalation to the Centrelink Payment Support Team (CPST) via a mySupport webform

Procedure ends here.

• If a former family assistance customer is entitled to arrears (for example, from family assistance reconciliation) but has moved overseas and closed their Australian bank account these payments will reject
• Centrelink International Services (CIS) staff can issue a one-off payment to a customer’s overseas:
• address, or
• estates for certain payments if no alternative option is available.
  Note: see Delivery of payments to Centrelink customers outside Australia
• If the customer is not entitled to the payment, the payment must be blocked to prevent it being reissued. Do not reissue the payment and go to Step 8

Is there an overseas address recorded or can it be obtained by contacting the customer overseas or a nominee?

• Yes, see Issuing a one-off payment or arrears to a Centrelink beneficiary outside Australia
• No, do not reissue the payment:
• Record on a DOC:
  - the rejected payment information, and
  - the reason why the payment cannot be reissued
  (for example, customer has closed account, is overseas and overseas contact details are unknown)
• Finalise the MFU
• Complete the Reissued Rejected Payment DOC via Fast Note - select Auto text, use Generic > Enquiry > Reissue Rejected Payment
• Procedure ends here

For Paid Parental Leave Employer Processing Team (PPLEPT) staff, go to Delivery of Parental Leave Pay (PPL).

For Non PPLEPT staff:

• Add keyword ACTPEP to the MFU
• Procedure ends here

Payments to third parties such as ABSTUDY boarding payments to schools, or arrears for Income Management customers may reject when the arrears payable is higher than the system limit.

Note: this step does not apply to payments to income managed customers' discretionary account. For payments made directly to Income Management customers, go to Step 3.

If the customer is:

• entitled to the payment:
• Go to the Payment Summary (PS) screen
• Check the amount is correct
• 'S'elect the payment that has rejected and select [Enter] and then select [Enter] again
• On the Third Party Payment Details (PDD) screen, place an 'R' against the line to be reissued
• Complete the Reissue All (Y/N) field by placing a 'Y' in the input field, complete the Notes field
• If the Reissue All field is not visible, select [F8] to go to the next page
• Make sure Source type and Date of Receipt (DOR) fields are complete and select [Enter]
• If the payment is over $10,000 the system will split the amount to prevent it rejecting again
• Finalise the MFU
• Complete the Reissued Rejected Payment DOC via Fast Note - select Auto text, use Generic > Enquiry > Reissue Rejected Payment
• Procedure ends here
• not entitled to the payment:
• Do not reissue the payment
• The payment must be blocked to prevent it being reissued from the Third Party Payment Details (PDD) screen. Go to Step 8

Where the customer is not entitled to the rejected payment, it must be escalated to Centrelink Payment Support Team (CPST) so the payment can be blocked to prevent it being reissued.

Note: blocking payments and stopping payments are different processes. Make sure all references in the DOC and mySupport correctly reference blocking the payment.

• Create a detailed DOC on the customer's record with the following details:
• Title: Block payment - not entitled to reissue
• payment type/delivery date/payment amount
• the reason the payment is not to be reissued
  Note:
  - Recording 'customer not entitled' is not sufficient. The DOC must fully explain why the customer is not entitled
  - This is mandatory, as it is required for audit purposes. The Centrelink Payment Support Team (CPST) are not able to action any request until the DOC has been completed
• Once the DOC is completed:
• Escalate to Centrelink Payment Support Team (CPST) via mySupport using the ‘Stop Customer Payment’ ICT form. The Resources page contains a link to mySupport
• Annotate the DOC to include the relevant Service Desk (SD) number
• Finalise the MFU
• Complete the Reissued Rejected Payment DOC via Fast Note - select Auto text, use Generic > Enquiry > Reissue Rejected Payment
• If a manual advice (Q999) is also required, this activity must be completed once the letter is issued. See Creating a manual letter or Online Advice (OLA) for more details on creating a letter
• If the payment is FTB/CCS, the payment must be excluded from the reconciliation result. See Returned payments and their effect on family assistance reconciliation
• Procedure ends here