Ending a Child Support assessment 277-03150000

Item

Example

1

Payee calls on 3 June 2025 and requests that the case be ended immediately:

• Notification date: 3 June 2025
• Date Liability Ends On: 3 June 2025

This achieves the requested outcome. Liability will be raised for 3 June 2025 and will cease from 4 June 2025.

2

Payee calls on 1 June 2025 and requests to end the case on 15 June 2025:

• Notification date: 1 June 2025
• Date Liability Ends On: 14 June 2025

This achieves the requested outcome. Liability will be raised for 14 June 2025 and will cease from 15 June 2025.

Note: Cuba will not allow a future end date to be recorded.

3

Referral to Parent Support Team

Payee Laura contacts Child Support and advises that they were granted an exemption earlier this year, however at the time chose not to end the case due to the financial impact.

After further consideration and due to their safety concerns, Laura advises they no longer want to collect child support from the other parent.

Laura should be referred to the Parent Support Team to process the election to end. This will ensure the right steps are taken for ending a case where a parent has Family and Domestic Violence concerns.

4

Shared or Divided care and its effect on ending an Assessment.

Payee Priya has 3 children, Aisha, Anika and Rakesh

Priya has 100% care of Aisha and Anika, and payer Marik has 100% care of Rakesh who is 15 years old.

Priya has an income of $65,000 and Marik has an income of $110,000

Priya has been granted exemption through a social worker for Aisha and Anika and is looking to end the case.

As Marik has 100% care of child Rakesh this will result in role reversal and Priya would be assessed to pay Marik $590.00 per month for child Rakesh.

Before ending the case, this needs to be discussed with payee Priya, and they may choose to withdraw the election to end or move case to private collect instead of ending the case.

If a parent makes an election to end the assessment for children in their care, with the effect that this causes the parents’ roles to change with regards to the remaining child, a reverse case should be created as part of giving effect to that end election.

Item

Description

1

Meaning of a person or their partner receiving FTB at more than the base rate

A person may be considered to be entitled to FTB at more than the base rate even though they may not be receiving their full entitlement by instalments. A person can choose to receive less than their fortnightly entitlement by taking up an option under More Choice For Families. The person is choosing to receive a notional entitlement as opposed to their legislative entitlement. The decision about whether they are receiving more than the base rate for the purpose of subsection 151A should be based on the person’s legislative entitlement.

A blended family is a couple with more than 1 child in their care, where:

• 1 child is from a previous relationship of 1 member of the couple, and
• another child is from the current relationship, or from the previous relationship of the other member of the couple

Members of a blended family may choose for 1 person to claim FTB or for each member of the couple to claim and receive a nominated percentage of the family's FTB entitlement. Therefore, the situation may arise where the partner of the payee is receiving FTB in respect of the child support child.

Up to 30 June 2018, section 151A applied to payees where they or their current partner were entitled to receive more than the base rate FTB for the child and restricted their option to elect the end a child support assessment. This is because the maintenance action test (MAT) applies to both the FTB recipient and their partner, that is, the case ending may cause FTB recipient to fail the MAT.

From 1 July 2018 section 151A has been removed, and there is no restriction on a payee electing to end their child support assessment, no matter what Centrelink benefits or FTB rate they or their partner are entitled to receive.

However, if a payee or their current partner is receiving, or is entitled to receive more than the base rate of Family Tax Benefit (FTB) Part A, and they end the child support assessment, they will only be entitled to the base rate of FTB. Ending the child support assessment may also impact their eligibility for other Centrelink Benefits.

If the customer wants more information, transfer them to the Centrelink families line.