Action to obtain child support when the paying parent is overseas - Maintenance Action Test (MAT) 277-51070130
Expand allThis page contains information for Service Officers on applying the Maintenance Action Test (MAT) when a customer applies for a child support assessment, a child support agreement or seeks to register a registrable maintenance liability, including overseas maintenance liabilities (overseas court orders) for child support and the payer does not live in Australia.
On this page:
Payer lives overseas in a reciprocal jurisdiction
Payer lives overseas
Table 1: this table describes the process when a customer applies for a child support assessment, a child support agreement or seeks to register a registrable maintenance liability, including overseas maintenance liabilities for child support (overseas court orders, Stage 1) and the payer does not live in Australia.
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Step |
Action |
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1 |
Payer lives overseas + Read more ... Family Tax Benefit (FTB) customer is required to take reasonable action to obtain child support under the Maintenance Action Test (MAT) and the payer lives overseas. MAT requirements may differ depending on the customer's circumstances and which Stage of the Child Support Scheme applies (Stage 1 or Stage 2). Evidence of parentage can include these overseas documents if they are from a jurisdiction with a reciprocal arrangement with Australia:
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Does the payer live in a jurisdiction that has a reciprocal arrangement with Australia, or the country is unknown? + Read more ... See the References page for a list of jurisdictions. Note: some jurisdictions are reciprocal, but have provinces within the jurisdictions that are not reciprocal. For example, Canada is reciprocal, however the province of Quebec is non-reciprocal.
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3 |
Payer in a non-reciprocal jurisdiction (or is in an excluded jurisdiction) + Read more ... Applications for Australian child support assessments or child support agreements are ineligible where the payer is in:
For FTB maintenance action test purposes it is not considered reasonable to require the customer to take maintenance action where the payer is in:
The References page for a list of reciprocating jurisdictions. The following are excluded jurisdictions:
Where a customer obtains a court order for child support for a payer in an excluded jurisdiction, the Child Support Registrar can accept/register the order. The excluded jurisdictions have formally advised that under their laws they can commence maintenance proceedings based on a court order. Child Support will transmit the order to the excluded jurisdiction for that jurisdiction to commence maintenance proceedings. Importantly for FTB maintenance action test purposes it is not considered reasonable to require the customer to take maintenance action where the payer is in an excluded jurisdiction irrespective of whether they have a court order or not. |
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4 |
Payer in a non-reciprocal jurisdiction (or is in an excluded jurisdiction) initial contact + Read more ...
Update the MAT code for the children to OSN (exempt, payer overseas - non-reciprocal country) from the appropriate date of effect. See Family Tax Benefit (FTB) dates of effect for further details. Record any maintenance income as voluntary. DOC the following on the customer’s record:
Procedure ends here. |
Payer lives overseas in a reciprocal jurisdiction
Table 2: this table describes the process when a customer applies for a child support assessment, a child support agreement or seeks to register a registrable maintenance liability, including overseas maintenance liabilities for child support (overseas court orders, stage 1) and the payer is in a reciprocal jurisdiction.
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Step |
Action |
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1 |
Payer in a reciprocal jurisdiction + Read more ... Does the customer advise they are privately collecting 100% of an overseas court ordered amount and have elected not to register the order with Child Support?
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Payer in a reciprocal jurisdiction, customer is privately receiving 100% of the amount stated in the court order and elects not to register the order with Child Support + Read more ... Applying the Maintenance Action Test (MAT) Where the customer has confirmed they are receiving the amount as stated in the overseas court order, the customer is taking reasonable maintenance action and is entitled to more than the base rate of FTB Part A:
Applying the Maintenance Income Test (MIT) The amounts being received under the overseas court order must be included in the MIT. These amounts will need to be converted to Australian dollars and coded as voluntary maintenance.
Procedure ends here. |
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3 |
Payer in a reciprocal jurisdiction + Read more ... Where the payee contacts to advise that the payer has recently moved from a non-reciprocal to a reciprocal jurisdiction, go to Step 9. In all other cases: If the customer is not collecting 100% of an overseas court ordered maintenance amount, they can apply to Child Support to register their overseas court order, seek an overseas court order or apply for an Australian child support assessment. For overseas court orders made in reciprocating jurisdictions, the customer can make an application to Child Support for registration and collection of their court ordered maintenance. Child Support are not able to register court orders made in non-reciprocating jurisdictions. Where the customer is seeking an overseas court order, update the MAT code to 'OSS' (Payer overseas in a reciprocal country, customer seeking court order). This should be manually recorded from date court order is sought. A MFU (keywords: OSS MAI) will be generated after 1 year and 13 days (378 days). 'NMA' (no maintenance action) should be coded as of the date the MFU is produced. This will limit the Family Tax Benefit (FTB) Part A rate for the child to base rate. If the customer provides proof that court action is ongoing, refer details to the Families and Child Care Level 2 Policy Help Desk via the online enquiry form. The Resources Page contains a link to the Level 2 Policy Helpdesk online referral form. The online enquiry form must be lodged. Wait until referral outcome is complete before advising the customer of the decision. For applications for an Australian child support assessment If applying for an Australian child support assessment: Does proof of parentage exist?
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4 |
Payer is overseas - whereabouts unknown + Read more ... If the payer is not resident in Australia and there is not enough information available to determine the whereabouts of the payer, Child Support cannot accept an application for child support. This is because Child Support cannot determine if the payer resides in a reciprocating jurisdiction or not. The customer will have received a letter from Child Support advising of this decision. This information should be included in a DOC transferred from the Child Support Unit. Update the MAT code for the relevant children to 'CRR' (Child Support Refused Registration) from the appropriate date of effect. See Family Tax Benefit (FTB) dates of effect and Centrelink action when an application for child support assessment is rejected by Child Support, for further details). A referral to Legal Aid is not required. In Customer First, create a manual review on the Review Registration (RVR) screen and complete the fields as follows:
The review will mature on the Due Date coded in the RVR activity. Workload Management will allocate the review for manual action. The customer must also be advised in writing that if the whereabouts of the payer become known they need to re-apply with Child Support and advise Centrelink. The Resources page contains text to be used in the Q888 letter. Has the CRR review matured?
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CRR review matures + Read more ... Service Officers must make 2 genuine attempts to contact the customer to discuss the whereabouts of the payer. Was contact successful?
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Customer contact successful + Read more ... Is the paying parent’s overseas whereabouts still unknown?
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Child Support accepts application - payer overseas + Read more ... There is no guarantee child support can be collected, and long delays are possible. When Child Support refer a case to an overseas authority, collection is reliant on the ability of the overseas authority to collect and transfer child support as per the rules and legislation of the overseas authority. If child support is received from an overseas authority, Child Support will transfer that money to the payee. It may be months before any child support is collected. In the meantime, Child Support will advise Centrelink of the payee's entitlement. Once the application has been lodged, update the MAT code for child/ren to 'PRP' as a manual workaround from the earlier of:
Confirmation could include:
Child Support has 90 days in which to register the maintenance liability for these customers, therefore a minimum of 90 days is to be allowed before reviewing maintenance action in progress. The PRP code allows 99 days, which is a sufficient timeframe for the application to be processed by Child Support. Record details on a DOC. Include the name of the child, the payer and the date. The DOC must clearly state that the PRP code has been used as a manual workaround because the payer is overseas in a reciprocating country and Child Support has 90 days to register the case (rather than the usual 28 days). Finalise the activity on the Assessment Results (AR) screen. Go to Step 10. Advise Child Support collect customers about the choice of assessment methods. See Applying for Child Support collection. If the customer chooses the disbursement method and receives child support arrears, there may be a likelihood of FTB Part A overpayment. See Child Support collection customer wants to change assessment method: effect on Family Tax Benefit (FTB) for further details. |
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MAT exemption - proof of parentage does not exist + Read more ... As the payer is in a reciprocating country but proof of parentage for an Australian child support assessment does not exist, it is considered unreasonable to force the customer to continue to pursue child support because of the expense and length of time involved. Update the MAT code for the relevant children to 'OSR' (exempt, payer overseas - reciprocal country). A referral to Legal Aid is not required. If the customer's rate has not been affected, the date of event will be the date that Centrelink are advised, either by the customer or Child Support. If the customer's FTB Part A has been reduced to the base rate due to failing the MAT and Centrelink is advised (either by the customer or Child Support) that this is due to proof of parentage not existing, OSR should be input from the date the customer's rate reduced, providing Centrelink is notified before the end of the subsequent financial year from when their rate was reduced. Note: if the date of event of the MAT exemption is prior to 1 July of the previous financial year, see Backdating a Maintenance Action Test (MAT) exemption to take action to receive child support prior to 1 July of the previous financial year for backdating provisions and hand off protocols. Advise the customer that if the payer commences residing in Australia, they are required to contact as soon as they become aware. Is the payee contacting to advise that the payer has entered or commenced residing in Australia?
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Payee advises payer now in a reciprocal jurisdiction or has commenced residing in Australia - Manual DMA period to be implemented (previous OSN or OSR casse) + Read more ... If the customer advises the payer has entered a reciprocal jurisdiction or commenced residing in Australia), a 'DMA' period needs to be manually triggered in order to restart the MAT. The Resources page contains an example where this would apply. Confirm with the customer when they became aware of the payer's change of residency. The date the customer (payee) became aware of the payer's change in residency may differ from the actual date the payer entered Australia or a reciprocal jurisdiction. In these cases, the customer should be given a DMA period (13 weeks or 91 days) from the date they became aware of the payer's change of residency. This acknowledges that the customer had maintenance action test requirements from the date they became aware the payer had returned to Australia/moved to a reciprocating jurisdiction. If the customer advises of the change of residency more than 91 days after they became aware, the customer may incur an FTB debt due to retrospectively failing the MAT. If policy advice is needed, refer the case to the Families and Childcare Level 2 Policy Helpdesk via an online form. Once the commencement date of the grace period is determined: Service Support Officers (SSO) should refer the case details to the ICT via referral protocols. See Tier 2 technical support - Service Support Officer (SSO), if required. Where appropriate the NIRO will apply the 'PDE' (Pseudo DMA Event) manual MAT code to simulate a DMA period for the customer. The PDE code manually initiates a DMA period, which will trigger the automatic issue of Maintenance Action Requirement Notification Letters (MARNL) and creation of reviews. The MARNL letter will only issue if the PDE/DMA period has not already expired, that is, it is less than 91 days since the PDE date. The letter advises the customer of the action required and the effect on the FTB rate if they do not take action. Note: PDE appears on the Maintenance Action (MNMA) screen and results in DMA on the Maintenance Action Result (MNMR) screen. Coding of the PDE MAT code is restricted to National ICT Referral Officers and Families Business Division Staff. The Resources page contains a link to the Level 2 Policy Helpdesk homepage for the online form. |
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10 |
Automatic review + Read more ... The MAT code 'PRP' generates an automatic review 85 days from the date of event on the MNMA screen which is the date the customer applied for the Child Support assessment. If Child Support has not confirmed via the FAO system acceptance or rejection of the application, the automatic review will update the MAT code to 'NMA' (no maintenance Action) 99 days after the 'PRP' code was applied. Does the customer state they have an active child support case, but data has not loaded onto their record?
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Customer states they have active child support case, but data has not loaded onto record + Read more ... Confirmation that the customer has an active child support case is required, for example, a letter from Child Support. Once received, verify the child support assessment amount and check whether it is below the Maintenance Income Free Area (MIFA). Is the child support assessment amount below the MIFA?
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