Service Officer role in setting up Employer Withholding (EW) linking 277-04140010

An employer is identifiable and confirmed when:

• a customer provides the details
• an on-boarding form has been signed within the past 3 months, or
• a POSSIBLE EW – SINGLETOUCHPAYROLL or POSSIBLE EWA SINGLETOUCHPAYROLL intray has details about a recent payroll event resulting in the customer receiving a payment

When employment is confirmed, document the details in the Collection window. Employer Services may review these details to ensure it matches the linking referral.

When linking with Single Touch Payroll information, copy and transfer the employment information:

• from the POSSIBLE EW (or EWA) – SINGLETOUCHPAYROLL intray
• to the Collection window

To transfer the information:

• Document as Level 1 > Information Gathering > Phone > Other
• In the Third Party Details field:
• record POSSIBLE EW – SINGLETOUCHPAYROLL
• Paste the notepad into the Additional Information field
• Select OK to close the form

Note: Service Officers must copy and transfer the POSSIBLE EW - SINGLETOUCHPAYROLL or POSSIBLE EWA SINGLETOUCHPAYROLL intray data into the collection window, even if an EW link is not being referred.

Has the customer failed to meet required payments?

• Yes, go to Step 2
• No, go to Step 3

Customer contact is not required if:

• an Election for EW not to apply was accepted, and
• the customer failed to meet the required payments

Ensure the following has also been considered when making this decision:

• A decision has been made to revoke the EW not to apply election. See Employer Withholding (EW) - Election for EW not to apply
• A current employer is identifiable and confirmed within the past 3 months. For example, details in the EW Not to Apply declaration, or an on-boarding form signed within the past 3 months, and
• They do not fall into the following categories:
• Culturally and Linguistically Diverse
• Indigenous and Remote
• Family and Domestic Violence
• Personalised Services

Does the customer need to be contacted?

• Yes, go to Step 3
• No, go to Step 6

Contact the customer to discuss their circumstances and options.

To maximise the possibility of successful contact with the customer, call all available numbers including their place of employment, see Contact with Child Support customers.

When speaking to an employed customer without EW in place, explain Services Australia is required to set up deductions today from their pay.

The EW payment method:

• is convenient and saves time - deductions are automatic
• has no fees
• is effective, as payments are automatically varied when the assessment varies
• allows for increased deductions to make payments for arrears (EWA)
• makes budgeting easier for both customers
• reduces the risk of payment defaults

Tell the customer:

• employers are obliged to treat their details confidentially and not to discriminate against them because of their child support deductions
• the agency may call their employer to gather payroll details
• it will take 2-4 weeks for deductions to begin
• they must make voluntary manual payments until employer deductions begin. This includes the ongoing liability and the payment arrangement amount if they have a debt. To negotiate a payment arrangement, see Debt repayment

Document the discussion in the Collection window.

Payers who do not want EW, must make an election for EW not to apply if they are employed or receiving Parental Leave Payments (PLP) from their employer. See Employer Withholding (EW) - Election for EW not to apply.

If the customer’s employment is new or recently confirmed, check the income used in the assessment. If the income used in the assessment is:

• an estimate, check it reflects the customer's current earnings. Check if they are receiving PLP or their employment status has changed since the estimate. See Child support estimates review (post 1 July 2010)
• a default income, check it is based on the best information available, see Income processing for Child Support customers

Has contact been successful?

• Yes, and:
• employment confirmed and there is no debt, go to Step 6
• employment confirmed and there is a debt, go to Step 5
• employment details need to be obtained go to Step 4
• No, record all contact attempts in the Collection window. If:
• employment confirmed and there is no debt, go to Step 6
• employment confirmed and there is a debt, go to Step 5
• an employer is not confirmed another collection avenue is required, send a MX1-1 Request for client to contact CSA letter using the preset letter text. See Child Support’s information gathering powers to identify an appropriate collection avenue

Get the following details from the customer to help set up EW:

• Employer’s name including company, legal, business or trading names
• Employer’s Australian Business Number (ABN)
• Address of the business (not the accountant or tax agent)
• Contact phone number for the business
• Employment status that is, full time, part time, casual or contractor
• If the customer is a contractor:
• confirm the business structure they are using, see Business structures and financial statements for child support debt recovery
• get their ABN number
• confirm regular pay dates
• confirm if they have a Pay As You Go (PAYG) arrangement. If the customer is unsure what PAYG is, send a link referral to Employer Services. Employer Services will advise if the customer is suitable to link

Document any details obtained in the Collection window.

Does the customer have a debt to repay?

• Yes, go to Step 5
• No, go to Step 6

Employer Withholding can be used to recover child support debt, child support related debt and carer debt, even when there is no ongoing liability payable.

Before discussing or enforcing debt repayment:

• Review the accounting screens to understand what is payable
• Check if there is a history of non-agency payment (NAP). If so, contact the payee to ask if further NAPS have been made

If contact was successful negotiate the repayment of debt in the shortest possible time, see Debt repayment.

To minimise the impact on the employer, set up EW and EWA at the same time. Update and include the EWA amount in the Linking Referral dialogue box in the Employer Relationship window.

If the customer is not employed full-time and has a debt, when negotiating the debt repayment, discuss the:

• number of hours worked, and
• amount earned

Employer Services may discuss hours worked and rates with the employer when actioning the link referral. A linking response will be provided if EW is not an appropriate method of collection.

If contact was unsuccessful or the customer refused to pay, take enforcement action:

• Use the Collection and debt macro to calculate the payment arrangement amount
• If the customer has:
• refused to pay, set the instalment amount at the upper amount of the acceptable range
• not spoken with child support, set the instalment amount within the acceptable range, at an amount that gives consideration to the time it will take to repay the debt.
• See Debt repayment
• Include the instalment amount in the linking referral form when establishing employer withholding

Use the Collection and debt macro to document the repayment by instalments decision in the Collection window.

If required, get approval from the appropriate delegate.

Go to Step 6.

EW is appropriate if:

• there is an ongoing collectable liability and/or there is child support debt, child support related debt or carer debt (an overpayment), and
• the customer is an employee (this includes receiving PLP or compensation payments from the employer) or independent contractor, and
• the customer has expected weekly earnings that exceed the ‘protected earnings amount’ (PEA), see Basic values, and
• the amount to deduct by the employer is greater than $20 per month for this employee

EW is not an appropriate method if the customer is:

• a sole trader
• a contractor with no PAYG arrangement with their employer
• a partner in a contracting partnership not in receipt of a wage
• earning less than the PEA amount and/or is not paid regularly, or
• they have no ongoing liability and their outstanding debt will be recovered in one deduction

Consider other collection avenues such as issuing a s72A notice. For details about issuing s72A notices, see Collection of child support debts through third parties (s72A and s72AC).

Is another collection method in place?

• Yes, go to Step 7
• No, and:
• employment confirmed, see Table 3
• an employer needs to be identified, see Table 2

Determine the most appropriate collection method when collection action is already in place.

Generally, this will be EW for salary and wage earners as this ensures regular and timely payments.

If EW is appropriate and the customer has Centrelink deductions in place:

• stop the deductions, see Centrelink Deductions Cuba Process Help
• add a Special Recovery Condition to prevent automatic requests for Centrelink deductions being actioned while setting up EW. Set a Finalisation Date of 4 to 6 weeks. See Table 2 Record a special recovery condition in TRIP Cuba Process Help

For debt repayment, consider the method that recovers the debt in the shortest possible time.

Collect the arrears via a s72A notice to the employer when EW is not appropriate,

If EW will be effective, and

• employment is confirmed, see Table 3
• an employer needs to be identified, see Table 2

From the Organisation Find window search for an Employer/Organisation by using the:

• ABN
• CSRN
• Employer/Organisation name

Note: when searching for an existing employer, add more details such as postcode range or state to refine the search. For help with employer/organisations naming conventions, see A Guide to Organisation Naming Conventions in ESO role in setting up EW linking.

For a name search to be most effective, use the exact spelling, spacing, punctuation and acronyms. Use wild cards (*) at the beginning and/or end of the name for a list of all employers/organisations containing those words within their Cuba name.

If the employer is not in Cuba, search:

• ATO systems for employer details see the External searches guide. If the search only locates the employer's accountant, send an FS30.00 External Organisation schedule to the accountant requesting the employer’s contact details. See Child Support's information gathering powers
• search for an ABN using the Australian Business Register
• the employer’s business name and address via a Google search

Document all details in the Employer Relationship window.

If the employer is:

• recorded in Cuba, go to Step 2
• not recorded in Cuba, go to Step 3

Check the employer account status in the employer’s Organisation Details and Organisation windows:

• ACTIVE - an organisation that is current and active
• INSOLVENT - an organisation that is in liquidation (or similar) and is no longer trading
• CEASED - an organisation that has stopped trading
• DUPLICATE - a duplicate record, do not use
• BLANK - transferred record to Cuba from a previous computer system
• FINANCIAL INST – a financial institution, only used to issue s72A and s120 notices

Linking cannot occur where an employer has a status of duplicate, insolvent, ceased or a Financial Institution indicator. Consider another employer or an alternative collection method. For example a company has ceased due to insolvency but the owners have created a new company to continue business.

For help:

• contact the ES queue line via Services Australia Workspace, or
• create an Organisation Follow up intray. Record details of the issue and organisations including ABN and CSRN in the notepad

Go to Step 3.

Before creating the linking request, ensure:

• employment has been confirmed, or enough details have been gathered to reasonably believe the employment is current
• the employer is correctly identified as either a new or existing employer
• a stop withholding indicator is not active. If itis active remove the Stop Withholding indicator
• Centrelink deductions are not active. If they are active, end the deductions and wait until confirmed in the Payment Options window before sending linking request
• the customer has been de-linked from a previous employer. If the customer has not been de-linked:
• create an Organisation Follow Up intray on the employer
• change the due date on the intray to 2 days
• in the intray notepad record the customer’s name, CSRN and date they ceased employment
• there are no current s72A notices to the employer for the customer. Withdraw any current s72A notices

If the Employer Relationship window is populated with details of another employer, seek SSO assistance if:

• the status is EW not Appropriate or Unconfirmed
• the window is clear, but the Linking Referral dialogue box is populated with a previous employer that exists in Cuba. See Step 3 in Removing invalid links from Cuba table

If the Link Referral dialogue box is still populated and the employer does not exist in Cuba:

• create a General follow up intray, short dated to 2 business day
• add a notepad asking Employer Services clear the link referral window to enable a new link request to be keyed. Add a note that the organisation does not yet have a Cuba record
• route the intray to:
• Region: NATIONAL
• Office: NATIONAL OFFICE
• Stream/Team: MC SEW NAT EMP SERVICES
• Position: A-ES POOL

See Table 3.

Create a linking referral. For help see Employer withholding (linking) Cuba Process Help.

Note: the process for creating a link to set up PLP deductions is the same as for setting up EW.

To request a link for:

• existing employers, go to Step 2
• new employers, go to Step 3

If an employer exists in Cuba, create a referral using the Linking Referral dialogue box in the Employer Relationship window.

The following intrays automatically create:

• An Employer Linking Referral intray creates on the organisation. The intray automatically routes to the ESO locked to the employer. If the organisation is not locked to an ESO the intray automatically allocates
• a Linking Referral intray on the customer. Do not delete the intray or route it to Employer Services. Use the intray to monitor the linking referral. Deleting this intray, prior to the completion of the linking process will delete the Employer Linking Referral intray, which is actioned by Employer Services

Go to Step 4.

Create a referral using the Linking Referral dialogue box in the Employer Relationship window for new employers when either:

• setting up EW, or
• issuing an EF1

In the linking referral form:

• select No for the organisation existing in Cuba
• enter the employer legal name (not the trading name)
• ABN, and
• address

A New Org Link intray automatically creates on the customer and routes to Employer Services to action.

Go to Step 4.

Record the following information in the Linking Referral Dialogue box:

• if the customer confirmed employment
• the appropriate source of employment information:
• STP (Single Touch Payroll information)
• Customer (customer provided information)
• ATO
• s120
• Other (other party or third party information)
• EWA amount and frequency when a debt exists

The Employer Linking Referral or New Org Link intray is now with Employer Services for processing.

Note: do not delete the Employer Linking Referral, Linking Referral or the New Org Link intray. If the intray is deleted, Employer Services will not process the link.

Monitor for ESO response:

• Link unable to be actioned, go to Step 5
• Link has been finalised, go to Step 6

If the link is unable to be actioned, the ESO will:

• finalise and route a Linking Attributes Response intray to the Service Officer
• document in the intray the reason and may suggest issuing a s72A as a collection option

Delete the intray:

• when the response has been actioned
• after a new linking referral has been completed. Delete the Linking/Attributes intray and send a new linking referral request if needed

To check that a link has been finalised, see the Collection window or Payment Options window.

EW must be ended (de-linked) when the:

• customer ceases employment
• conditions of employment change so that EW cannot continue. For example the customer becomes an independent contractor with no PAYG arrangement with their employer
• customer's employment changes and:
• because of the PEA, EW is not an efficient collection method
• it is no longer appropriate to be linked to the previous employer
• customer's PLP entitlement has ended and is not receiving paid leave or returning to work
• customer is deceased
• case has:
• ended, and there is no debt
• become private collect, and there is no debt
• ongoing deduction of zero is requested, and there is no debt
• youngest child of the case has turned 18 and there has been no application to extend the assessment past the age of 18, unless a debt remains and EWA is already in place. Note: a new linking requests is needed if an A18 application is accepted after the child turns 18

Request a delink

To request a delink:

• create an Organisation Follow Up intray on the employer
• record the customer’s name, CSRN and reason for the delink on the intray notepad
• change the intray due date to 2 business days from the date of the request

Note: in some instances EWA and manual payments are failing to ‘auto’ extend or ‘end’ as required. Service Officers will become aware of this when reviewing the Payment Arrangement window – the Last Instalment Date and No. of Equal Instalments fields are not updating.

If the payment arrangement was not extended or ended correctly, manually end the arrangement in Cuba.

If the customer still has a debt, determine if the link can remain to recover the debt in equal instalments. Negotiate a new arrangement and process in Cuba, see Debt repayment.