Family Tax Benefit advance payment

Important information if you were receiving a continuous advance payment before 1 July 2011.

From 1 July 2011, changes were made to the way continuous advances are calculated. If you were receiving continuous advances before 1st July 2011, you would have received a one-off transitional advance in early July, and your automatic arrangement stopped. If these changes affect you, you will receive a letter in November 2011 explaining the new regular advance arrangements that will begin from 1 January 2012.

What is the Family Tax Benefit advance payment?

If you are entitled to receive fortnightly payments of Family Tax Benefit Part A, or both Family Tax Benefit Part A and Part B, you may be eligible to receive part of your payment in advance as a lump sum.

There are two current types of advance payments for Family Tax Benefit:

• one-off advances, and
• regular advances.

Who is eligible to apply?

To be eligible to apply for a Family Tax Benefit advance payment, you must be entitled to receive Family Tax Benefit Part A fortnightly for at least one child under 18. If you only receive Family Tax Benefit Part B, you will not be eligible.

If you have an outstanding Centrelink debt, you will not be eligible for the Family Tax Benefit advance payment until your outstanding debt has been paid. This does not include recovery of a previous advance, unless you received it more than 12 months ago. Once you have repaid your outstanding debt, you will be able to make an application for the Family Tax Benefit advance payment.

What is a one-off advance?

A one-off advance is an advance payment you can receive on any day of the year. You can choose how much you receive, as long as the advance payment is within the minimum and maximum amount you are eligible for.

What is a continuous advance?

A continuous advance is now referred to as a regular advance.

What is a regular advance?

A regular advance is a fixed payment amount automatically paid to you every 26 weeks as long as you remain eligible.  The amount you receive as a regular advance will be the minimum advance amount, and you can have only one regular advance in place at any given time.

What do I need to do if I received a letter in November 2011 about the changes to FTB advance payments?

If you were paid a one-off transitional payment in early July 2011, and have not since applied for a regular advance, you may receive a letter in November 2011 to tell you about the changes to Family Tax Benefit advance payment. 

You do not have to do anything, but if you want to continue to receive advances automatically you will need to re-apply for a regular advance.  The letter will tell you how to do this. 

Please note that you may not eligible to receive a regular advance until you have paid off your existing outstanding advance. If you are not eligible now you can apply again in the future.

You can test your eligibility and check your existing advance details online at www.centrelink.gov.au by registering and logging on to Online Services.  If you have not registered for Online Services, you can use the one time access code provided in the letter to apply or check your details online. 

How much will I receive?

The maximum amount you can receive through a one-off advance is 7.5% of your annual entitlement of Family Tax Benefit Part A (including add-ons but excluding Family Tax Benefit Part A Supplement), capped at $1000.

The minimum amount is 3.75% of the standard rate of Family Tax Benefit Part A for one child under 13 years. This is the standard amount for a continuous advance and the minimum you can receive for a one-off advance.

If you request a second advance while you are still repaying an existing advance, you can receive the maximum amount you are eligible for (as described above) less the full amount of any advance you have not fully repaid.

What if I am member of a blended family?

If you are being paid Family Tax Benefit as a blended family, the minimum and maximum advance amounts are as described above, and you will receive your blended family percentage of the family's advance amount.

How do I repay an advance?

If you receive an advance payment, your fortnightly Family Tax Benefit payments will be automatically reduced over the following 26 weeks to repay it. You may choose to increase the rate at which you repay your advance or make cash repayments.

When can I apply?

You can apply for a Family Tax Benefit advance payment any day of the year.

How can I apply?

To apply for an advance payment, you can:

• log on to Centrelink Online Services
• phone Centrelink Self Service on 13 6240
• call the Family Assistance Office on 13 6150, or
• Visit your local Centrelink service centre and use the self service facilities.

Where can I go for more information?

For more information, view the Advance Payment page.

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