Transmittal of Child Support information (excluding New Zealand) - Transmittal referral and decision to transmit 277-08320010

Cases can only be referred for transmittal when the payer is resident of a reciprocating jurisdiction.

Cases are referred to the International Central Authority team as a result of:

• proactive case selection, or
• referral from International Operations when a payee applies under Section 30A of the Child Support (Registration and Collection) Act 1988, or
• escalation from the Business Manager, Assistant Business Manager, Ministers, Ombudsman or customer complaint

For additional information see also The Guide 1.5.1: Australia's international maintenance arrangements.

To refer the case for transmittal:

• confirm the residency of both parents, go to Step 2
• check the case status, go to Step 5
• prepare the case for referral, go to Step 6

Review residency of both parents to ensure the eligibility for a child support assessment has been considered.

Note: the residency status of one or both parents can affect the eligibility of a case by:

• making a case retrospectively ineligible
• resulting in a terminating event for an active case, or
• resulting in a terminating event that pre-dates the original terminating event that ended the case

Make a residency decision for the payee only where there is information/evidence to suggest that the payee is not a resident of Australia. See Residency decisions for Child Support customers.

Check that a payer residency decision has been made prior to transmittal except in the following circumstances:

• the case is ended with arrears and there is no information or evidence to suggest that making a new residency decision could have any effect on the eligibility of the case:
• at the time of registration, or
• by resulting in an earlier terminating event date for the case

Make a residency decision if one has not been recorded. See Residency decisions for Child Support customers.

Note: in most circumstances a payer’s residency for child support purposes recorded in Cuba, is the reciprocating jurisdiction where the case(s) will be transmitted to if a referral to the International Central Authority team is accepted.

A case can be transmitted to a reciprocating jurisdiction that is different to the payer’s recorded country of residence in the following situations:

• ended cases where the payer’s residency changed after the case end date
• cases where the payer has been determined to be a resident of Australia for child support purposes but is habitually resident in an overseas reciprocating jurisdiction, and
• ended cases where the payer’s residency changed before the case end date but a new residency decision would not affect the eligibility of the case nor result in an earlier terminating event date

Example

The payer’s residency is recorded as USA with an effective date before the case end date.

Child Support has information that the payer left the USA after the case ended and immediately became a resident of Canada, confirmed by recent contact with the payer. A new residency decision is not required as there will be no impact on the eligibility of the case. Despite the payer’s residency being recorded as USA the case would be transmitted to Canada where the payer habitually resides.

Check Cuba to confirm:

• the case is still active and/or has debt outstanding
• taxable income information for the payee and payer has been obtained for use in determining adjusted taxable incomes for relevant financial years or appropriate attempts to obtain the information have been made. See Income processing for Child Support customers
• the payer is not deceased
• the payer is not on tracing. If the payer is on tracing, undertake customer location activities. See Customer location (Tracing) (CS)

Note: where a payer is a resident of US or Canada and the payer is on tracing, a transmittal can be sent as US (excluding California) and Canada will complete customer location activities

• US (excluding California) and Canada can transmit on tracing. If the payer is located in California, tracing request must be sent prior to transmittal.
• if contact with the payer has been attempted in order to determine if they are in a current Priority Country. See Transmittal of Child Support information (excluding New Zealand) Resources - External websites and guides

Note: country priorities are set by business decision and determine the priority of cases for Transmittal

• address the accuracy of the debt, see Income processing for Child Support customers, and
• address debt through negotiation and administrative collection where suitable, see Debt repayment (CS). Consider a referral for a Departure Prohibition Order

• the payer has been advised that enforcement action may be taken which could include transmittal to a reciprocating jurisdiction, or appropriate attempts have been made to contact the payer
• ‘Request for contact to discuss outstanding payments’ letter has been sent

Note: all of the above must be undertaken prior to referral.

If the case is not suitable for transmittal complete a Non Pursuit. See Non-pursuit of individual child support debts.

Prior to referral:

• run Eligibility to confirm there are no outstanding liability issues
• action outstanding intrays for the customer

Create a Client Transfer intray and route to:

Region: International

Office: International Hobart

Stream/Team: MC S003 CENT AUTH TM1

Position: NONE

Procedure ends here

The team leader of the Central Authority team will allocate the Client Transfer intray.

Accept the referral if the steps in referral process have been completed. If the referral is accepted:

• lock the customer in line with Customer Management Approach (CMA) for Child Support customers
• delete the Client Transfer intray, and
• create and lock Potential Transmittal OS/seas intray

See Transmittal of Child Support information (excluding New Zealand) - Contact customers and issue documents (CS).

The team leader of the Central Authority team will allocate the Client Transfer intray.

Reject the referral if the steps in the referral process have not been completed. If the referral is rejected:

• document the reasons for rejection in the Customer Transfer window, and
• route the Client Transfer intray to the Central Authority Team Leader

The Central Authority Team Leader will:

• review the recommendation for rejection
• document their authorisation in the Customer Transfer window
• update the status in the Customer Transfer window to Rejected
• route the Client Transfer intray back to the originating International Operations Service Officer, and
• notify the owning Service Officer and Service Officers Team Leader via email that the referral has been rejected

Procedure ends here