Under 16 ABSTUDY customers and the Personal Income Test 010-08010040

Is the customer under 16 years of age and an independent Australian Apprentice?

• Yes, ABSTUDY customers who are under 16 years of age and an independent Australian Apprentices are subject to the Personal Income Test. See Personal Income Test and Income Bank for ABSTUDY, Austudy and Youth Allowance (YA) students and Australian Apprentices. Procedure ends here.
• No, go to Step 2.

ABSTUDY customers who are under 16 years of age (except for independent Australian Apprentice customers) are not subject to the Personal Income Test, therefore their personal income will not have an effect upon their entitlement.

Where a customer who is under 16 years of age contacts to advise of personal income, details of this income must be recorded on the customer's record.

The following is an interim process that is subject to change.

Currently, ABSTUDY customers under 16 years of age are incorrectly accruing an Income Bank.

As the Income Bank only accrues if the income is below the income free area and there is no income free area in these circumstances, the Income Bank cannot accrue.

The Income Bank can be viewed on the ABSTUDY Income Bank (EYIB) screen.

Does the customer have an Income Bank recorded on the EYIB screen?

• Yes, go to Step 3.
• No, go to Step 4.

If a record is found where an under 16 years of age student or a dependent Australian Apprentice has accrued an amount in the Income Bank, manually re-set the balance back to nil.

Go to the Rate Component Override (EPRC) screen and update the fields as follows:

• Start Date: enter the start date to be the date that you wish to change the balance
• End Date: the end date is to be the same date as start date
• Component: enter VIB (Income bank Balance)
• Reason: enter SYS (System Fault)
• Amount: enter 0.00
• update Source: and DOR: as appropriate

Normally, a customer's income would be recorded on the Employment Income Details (EAN) screen, Other Income (OIN) and Other Government Payments (OGP) screens as appropriate. However, this would cause the system to incorrectly apply the personal Income Test to the ABSTUDY entitlement.

The following alternative procedure applies when an ABSTUDY customer under 16 years of age who is not subject to the Personal Income Test advises of personal income:

• Advise the customer they will need to contact Services Australia up to 14 days prior to their 16^th birthday to report any earnings, as their personal income does not have an effect on their entitlement until they turn 16
• Once the customer turns 16 years of age, any personal income will need to be coded on the EAN, OIN and/or OGP screens as appropriate. See Personal/Partner Income Tests for students, trainees or Australian Apprentices. Continuing income which commences prior to the 16th birthday should be coded only from the date of the 16th birthday.