Centrelink action when an application for child support assessment is rejected by Child Support 277-51010040

When Child Support rejects an application, they advise the customer of the decision and also advise Centrelink so that child support action can be followed up.

Service Officers should:

• ensure information on the customer's record is correct
• check that an application for child support assessment is needed
• contact the customer to advise what action the customer needs to take to satisfy the Maintenance Action Test (MAT)

The most common reasons for rejecting a child support application are:

• the paying parent was not proven nor presumed to be parent of the claimed child
• the paying parent was not a resident of Australia for tax purposes on the day of the application
• the receiving parent was not an eligible carer on the day of the application, for example the child was not in their care, or they had less than 35% care
• both parents were still in a genuine domestic relationship with each other on the day of the application
• the child has completed year 12 or equivalent or is not in full-time study, or the child is a full-time secondary student aged over 18 years and an application to extend the child support assessment has not been lodged

If customer does not know the identity of the other parent, they may need to be referred to a social worker to seek a parentage unknown (PNK) exemption. See Exemptions from seeking child support for Family Tax Benefit (FTB) customers.

If the customer has named the parent but cannot obtain evidence, the customer should be referred to legal advice to discuss their options. A check should be made whether the paying parent is in a reciprocating country and proof of parentage does not exist.