FAO Income Previous year (FIPY) and Parental Income Test (PIT) processing for Youth Allowance (YA), ABSTUDY and Assistance for Isolated Children (AIC) 010-18062122

If:

• determining if the Household Income and Assets (NHI) screen was recorded from a PIT Copy for an annual review or from a FIPY Copy for a new claim, go to Step 2
• assessing a new claim in Process Direct, go to Step 4
• assessing a new claim in Customer First or Customer Record, go to Step 6
• assessing a PIT Copy MFU (CLI/MFU - Check FIPY ATO data for parent(s). Update to ATO FIPY data received but not updated on NHI screen), see Step 1 in Table 2

PIT Copy occurs for all dependent customers, where the parent/guardians FIPY data is returned by the ATO, between 1 July and 31 December.

FIPY Copy occurs during dependent YA, ABSTUDY and AIC new claim processing when the parents/guardians are PIT linked.

To determine if a PIT Copy or a FIPY Copy has populated the income on the Household Income and Assets (NHI) screen:

• review the completed Activity ID (AMR number) on the NHI screen in Customer First
• search for the corresponding activity via AMR (for example NCL – New Claim or REA – Reassessment) using the Event Summary (ES) or History Activity Details (HAY) screens

If the Activity ID has a Keyword attached of:

• PITCPY, a PIT Copy has occurred, go to Step 3
• FIPYCOPY, a FIPY Copy has occurred as part of a new claim, go to Step 4

A PIT Copy will occur when:

• a parent/guardian, of a dependent customer, received Family Tax Benefit or Child Care Benefit in the most recently completed financial year
• all assessable parents/guardians PIT linked to the customer have finalised their income tax returns and the ATO have returned this data to the parent(s)/guardian(s) FIPY screen
• the ATO assessed actual income is greater than zero for a single parent/guardian or for both parents/guardians if they are both PIT linked, and
• none of the following income is recorded on the FIPY screen or the relevant Family Assistance screens for the appropriate tax year:
• Tax Exempt Foreign income (FEF) screen
• Foreign Income (FFI) screen
• Tax Free Pension/Benefit (FTF) screen
• Deductible Child Maintenance Expenditure (FDM) screen

Note: if a customer is linked to two parents/guardians, a PIT Copy will only occur when both parents/guardians have had their income tax returns finalised by the ATO and both sets of income data have been returned to both parent/guardian records. If one parent/guardian has had their tax return finalised by the ATO, and the other one has not, a PIT Copy will not occur. Check the parent's FIPY details to confirm that all the information has transferred correctly.

A FIPY Copy occurs during new claim processing when parental income information is available to be imported from FIPY.

The system will import the data to Parental Income (NHI) for claims when the PIT links have been confirmed using the PIT Parent Selection (NPPS) screen.

If assessing parental income for a new claim processed in:

• Process Direct, go to Step 5
• Customer First or Customer Record, go to Step 6

If processing a new claim in Process Direct, and there is FIPY data available for any parent/guardian that is PIT linked to the customer, the system will import this data into the Manage Parental Income (NHI) screen in Process Direct.

Note: this process will copy any Family Assistance data from the FIPY screen, for the appropriate tax year, to the customer's claim. If only one parent has completed an income tax return and the other parent has not, then the data for the first parent will be copied. The data for the second parent will need to be collected from the online or paper MOD JY and verified, if it is actual parental income data, or recorded as an estimate. Check the parent's FIPY details to confirm that all the information has transferred correctly.

If there is no FIPY data loaded for one or both parents, navigate to the parents FIPY screen, by selecting the parent from the Relationship menu, and entering FIPY in the Super Key.

If processing a new claim in Customer First or Customer Record, and there is FIPY data available for any parent/guardian that is PIT linked to the customer, the system will copy this data into the Household Income and Assets (NHI) screen automatically when navigating from the PIT Parent Selection (NPPS) or PIT Sibling Selection (NPSS) screen to the NHI screen.

Note: this process will copy any Family Assistance data from the FIPY screen, for the appropriate tax year, to the customer's claim. If only one parent has completed an income tax return and the other parent has not, then the data for the first parent will be copied. The data for the second parent will need to be collected from the online or paper MOD JY and verified, if it is actual parental income data, or recorded as an estimate. Check the parent's FIPY details to confirm that all the information has transferred correctly.

A PIT Manual Follow Up which displays as 'CLI/MFU - Check FIPY ATO data for parent(s). Update to ATO FIPY data received but not updated on NHI screen' occurs when the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) sends new data to a parent/guardian's Family Assistance record (FIPY) screen and a previous PIT Copy has occurred on the record because:

• a reassessment of an income tax return
• the parent/guardian objecting to an ATO decision
• the review of a decision from the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) or the Federal Court of Australia

Review the FIPY for each parent/guardian, and the dependent customer's NHI screen to determine if the incomes recorded are the same.

If the amount of income for the relevant financial year on the FIPY screen(s) are:

• not the same as the income coded on the NHI screen, go to Step 3
• the same as the income coded on the NHI screen:
• return to the customer's record
• cancel the CLI/MFU activity from the Activity List (AL) screen, and
• ensure the Notes state 'NFA as NHI income for YYYY/YYYY Financial Year matches income on FIPY'. Report any incidences of unnecessary CLI/MFUs via mySupport. Procedure ends here

Note: if there is more than one FIPY screen (for either parent/guardian) the ATO has sent more than one set of income figures due to an income tax return assessment.

Return to the dependent customer record using one of the following steps:

• the Client List (CL) option in the Next field and reselecting the customer from the list
• the Flip record option by entering 'FL' in the Next field
• linking back to the customer record by accessing the Link Summary (LS) screen, locating the customer and using the 'L' option to link back to the customer

From the AL screen, select the CLI/MFU activity:

• go to the NHI screen
• if the assessment is being processed:
• before 1 January, go to Step 5
• on or after 1 January, and there is not a current tax year estimate recorded for the current tax year, go to Step 5
• on or after 1 January, and there is a current tax year estimate recorded for the current tax year, go to Step 6

On the NHI screen:

• update the figures with the income from the FIPY screen. The system will automatically determine the correct Event Date for the new figures
• in the Action field in Customer First, select Update
• select Confirm

Go to Step 7.

On the NHI screen:

• review the historical NHI screens to determine if there is previous actual income recorded for the same financial year
• if the historical actual income is recorded for the same financial year, update the actual income with the new figures obtained from FIPY:
• in the Action field in Customer First, select Update
• select Confirm
• the system will automatically determine the correct Event Date for the new figures
• if the historical actual income is not recorded for the same financial year, no updates are required and the activity can be cancelled

Go to Step 7.

Finalise the activity from the Assessment Results (AR) screen, if the system is:

• paying arrears due to the change in parental income, ensure the arrears are correct. See Payment of arrears after reassessment and stopping a payment
• creating a debt, select 'Investigation Reqd' in the Debt Action field and send the debt for investigation. The debt is likely to have occurred when the income is 125% higher in the new base tax year, when compared to the previous base tax year. The debt cannot be raised – see Raising Parental Income Test (PIT) debts

Service Officers must ensure all dependent sibling records are updated where appropriate, using the CLI/MFU activities on those records if present.