Maintenance income: trusts 277-51100050

A Family Tax Benefit (FTB) customer or their partner receives income from a trust as child support or spousal maintenance.

For action at initial contact, or to determine if a manual assessment is required, see Non-cash maintenance income assessment for Family Tax Benefit (FTB).

They must be a beneficiary to receive income from the trust.

• Yes, go to Step 3
• No, there is no income to assess. Procedure ends here
• Unsure, request trust documents. Go to Step 6

If the trust is a discretionary trust, has the discretion to release the payments been exercised?

• Yes, go to Step 4
• No, there is no income to assess. Procedure ends here
• Unsure, request trust documents. Go to Step 7

• Yes, the payment is not considered child support. Assess as ordinary income
• No, assess as maintenance income

See need to request trust documents

• Yes, go to Step 6
• No:
• to assess as ordinary income, go to Step 7
• to assess as maintenance income, go to Step 8

The documents are needed so that Centrelink can make a correct decision. These assessments are often complex and we need to know the complete picture.

• Check if trust documents already provided (check Document List (DL) screen for relevant DOCs)
• Issue a Module PT - Private Trust for income support customers only
• Ask customer to provide, if available:
• Trust Deed (contains information about the set up of the trust)
• most recent income tax return of the trust including balance sheets and profit and loss report
• most recent income tax return of the person (and partner)
• Send written request (Q777) via the Request Documents Q777 guided procedure
• Record details on a DOC
• In Customer First, create a manual review on the Review Registration (RVR) screen and complete the fields as follows:
• Service Reason: FTB
• Review Reason: MIT (Maintenance Income Follow-Up)
• Due Date:
  14 days from date Q777 is sent (allow extra time for mail delivery)
  21 days from date Q777 is sent for remote or overseas customers
• Source: INT
• Date of Receipt: today's date
• Notes: 'Q777 issued xx/xx/xxxx to request trust documents. Check response and return to OB 277-51100050 for action.'
• Keywords: MATREV
• Workgroup: leave blank
• Position: leave blank
• Transfer To Region: leave blank
• The review will mature on the Due Date coded in the RVR activity. Workload Management will allocate the review for manual action

If information has not been provided when the review is due:

• call customer to find out when documents will be available and in Customer First, create another manual review on the Review Registration (RVR) screen and complete the fields as follows:
• Service Reason: FTB
• Review Reason: MIT (Maintenance Income Follow-Up)
• Due Date: date customer states documents will be available
• Source: INT
• Date of Receipt: today's date
• Notes: 'Q777 not returned by due date. Customer states documents will be available xx/xx/xxxx. Check response and return to OB 277-51100050 for action.'
• Keywords: MATREV
• Workgroup: leave blank
• Position: leave blank
• Transfer To Region: leave blank
• the review will mature on the Due Date coded in the RVR activity. Workload Management will allocate the review for manual action
• send second request, or
• (as a last resort) cancel customer's FTB

When information is provided:

• to assess maintenance income, go to Step 8
• to assess ordinary income, go to Step 7

For information about assessing income from trusts and to refer case to a Complex Assessment Officer (CAO), see Income and assets from business structures.

If income received by customer or partner:

• invite customer to revise estimate for family assistance payments including taxable income from trust
• for income support customers, assess and record income and assets from trust

If income received by FTB child:

Check if the FTB child income limit applies to the child and whether their income for the financial year is under the limit. See FTB child income.

Procedure ends here.

To record the amount received as private child support, see Recording private maintenance income on Centrelink systems.

If case is complex, see Identifying and making suitable referrals to the Complex Assessment Officer (CAO).