Recording private maintenance income on Centrelink systems 277-51030010
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Voluntary child support coded on or after 1 January 2011 is included in the MIT from the date the voluntary child support started. It is not applied from the start date of the DMA period, unless the child support and the Maintenance Action Test (MAT) have the same date of effect.
Table 1: this table describes how voluntary child support collected during a DMA period is assessed in the MIT and how to code discharged child support arrears.
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Example |
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1 |
Voluntary child support recorded (post 1 January 2011) A customer starts a DMA period on the 2 December 2020 and advises Centrelink on 10 January 2021 that they have been receiving voluntary child support payments of $250.00 per week since 24 December 2020. The voluntary child support is coded with a date of event and date of effect of 24 December 2020 on 10 January 2021.
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2 |
Coding discharged child support arrears Customer changed from Child Support collect to private collect in August 2020 and discharged child support arrears of $2000 on 1 September 2020. Current child support assessment amount is $5000 per annum. The customer does not have an exemption from the MAT.
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3 |
Coding discharged child support arrears when the case has ended Customer had a Child Support collect case and was owed $1500 arrears by the payer. Customer then ended the case on 20 February 2020. The arrears were not discharged until 25 February 2020. In scenarios where the case has ended before discharging arrears, the DOV used must be before the case end date.
The MNOI screen must also be coded to make sure the discharged amount is included in the customers FTB reconciliation calculation. See Amending maintenance income details on the Override Maintenance Income (MNOI) screen. |
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4 |
Coding voluntary maintenance where the customer has a partial exemption and no child support case A customer is in a DMA period and contacts on 20/03/21 to book an appointment with a Social Worker to discuss an exemption. MXR is coded from 20/03/21. Customer attends the appointment with the Social Worker on 01/04/21. During the appointment, the Social Worker determines that the customer could have been granted a full exemption due to violence, however the customer disclosed to the Social Worker that they are collecting $75.00 per fortnight from the other parent. The Social Worker therefore grants a partial exemption. The MAT code is updated to PMV from 22/03/2021 as this is the date the customer advised the voluntary maintenance payments started.
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5 |
Coding voluntary maintenance where the customer has a partial exemption and a private collect child support case A customer has a private collect child support case and recently had an increase in their child support assessment from $4000.00 per annum to $12,800.00 per annum. Customer contacts Centrelink and requests an appointment with a Social Worker to discuss an exemption from the MAT. During the appointment, the customer advises the Social Worker that they do not want to end their child support case as the payer is paying some, but not all, of the child support assessment. The Social Worker determines that there are grounds for granting a partial exemption from the MAT due to violence. The customer advises they are able to continue collecting $4000.00 per annum. The Social Worker grants a partial exemption (PMV) from 17/06/2021, which was the date the assessment increased.
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Text to include in the Free Text (Q888) letter to customer
Table 2: this table provides text for the (Q888) Free Text letter used if a customer is privately collecting an overseas court ordered amount of maintenance. The letter informs the customer that if the exchange rate used by the agency differs by more than 5%, from the current commercial rate, the rate may be reviewed upon request of the customer. It also advises that where the amount of maintenance collected changes, they must notify the agency.