Dependent Children for Single Income Family supplement(SIFS)

A qualifying child for SIFS is a Family Tax Benefit child or a child who would be a Family Tax Benefit child except that the child (or someone on the child's behalf) is receiving an 'at home' rate of one of the following payments:

Dependent Children (for all claim types except SIFS)

A dependent child is a child that is (or was during the period you are claiming for):

Wholly or substantially dependent on you

A child could be considered to be substantially dependent on you if you:

In your care

Care is having the legal responsibility for the day-to-day care, welfare and development of the child. Day-to-day care generally includes:

Principal carer

The principal carer is generally the person with the greater degree of care and control of a dependent child aged under 16.

Only one person at a time can be the principal carer of a particular child.

If you are the person who has legal responsibility for the day-to-day care, welfare and development of the child and the child is in your care, then you may be considered the principal carer.

In some cases grandparents or relatives who have taken on responsibility of caring for a child can be determined to be the principal carer where the person with legal responsibility is unable or unwilling to care the child.

You may remain the principal carer of a child during a temporary absence from the child, e.g. during school holidays, while you are away working or attending training, or where care of the child is disputed or the child has been abducted.

Primary carer

A child's primary carer is the person who most meets the child's physical needs. This will usually be the mother of a newborn child or the initial primary carer of an adopted child.

There can only be one primary carer for a child at one time.

A person may still be eligible for Parental Leave Pay in the event of a stillbirth or infant death.

If you are the birth mother, there are some circumstances in which you can receive Parental Leave Pay for up to 18 weeks after the birth, even if you are not the primary carer of your child. This may occur if you are unable to care for your child due to illness, or you may be a birth mother in an adoption or surrogacy arrangement.

Note: You are considered to be the primary carer of your child even if your child is in hospital

Resides in Australia

'Resides in Australia' means that Australia is where a person lives. This is shown by family, property and financial ties, the nature of accommodation, intentions, travel patterns, etc. An Australian resident is a person who resides in Australia and is either:

If the child was born outside Australia, is temporarily outside Australia or has spent significant periods outside Australia, you may need to provide details of:

Dependent child 0-15 years of age

A person under 16 years of age is a dependent child if you have legal responsibility, either alone or jointly with another person, for the day-to-day care, welfare and development of the child and the child is in your care or was in your care for a previous period you are claiming for.

From 1 May 2014

Dependent child aged 16 to 19 years of age

FTB is payable for a young person until the end of the calendar year in which they turn 19 if:

From 1 January 2013 to 30 April 2014

Dependent child aged 16 years or 17 years of age

A young person aged 16 years or 17 years of age can be a dependent child for Family Tax Benefit purposes if:

Dependent child aged 18 to 19 years

FTB is payable for a young person until the end of the calendar year in which they turn 19 if:

From 1 January 2012 to 31 December 2012

Dependent child aged 16 years but under 21 years of age

A young person aged 16 years but under 21 years of age can be a dependent child for Family Assistance payments if:

Dependent child aged 21 years

A young person aged 21 years can be a dependent child for Family Assistance payment if all of the following apply:

Dependent child aged 22 years but under 25 years of age

From 1 January 2012, Family Tax Benefit (FTB) Part A is no longer payable for a young person turning 22 years of age on or after 1 January 2012. For a young person aged 22-24 years to be considered eligible for Family Tax Benefit, the following needs to apply:

Once a young person aged 22-24 ceases full-time study, earns over the child income limit or changes their course of study they will no longer be eligible for Family Tax Benefit.

From 1 July 2010 to 31 December 2011

Dependent child aged 16 years but under 21 years of age

A young person aged 16 years but under 21 years of age can be a dependent child for Family Assistance payments if:

Dependent child aged 21 years but under 25 years of age

A young person aged 21 years can be a dependent child for Family Tax Benefit purposes if all of the following apply:

Child cannot be Dependent

Changes from 1 May 2014 for children aged 16 - 19

Prior to 1 May 2014

A child aged over 5 and under 16 cannot be a dependent child if the child is:

A child aged 16 - 17 cannot be a dependent child if any of the following apply:

A child aged 18 and over cannot be a dependent child if any of the following apply:

Enter your care

This is where you will have a dependent child enter your care and you will have legal responsibility for the day to day care of the child.

Entered your primary care

A child's primary carer is the person who is most meeting the child's physical needs. This will usually be the mother of a newborn child or the initial primary carer of an adopted child. There can only be one primary carer for a child at one time.

A person may still be eligible for Parental Leave Pay in the event of a stillbirth or infant death.

If you are the birth mother, there are some circumstances in which you can receive Parental Leave Pay for up to 18 weeks after the birth, even if you are not the primary carer of your child. This may occur if you are unable to care for your child due to illness, or you may be a birth mother in an adoption or surrogacy arrangement.

Note: You are considered to be the primary carer of your child even if your child is in hospital


Expected dependent children

An expected dependent child is a child that you expect to be:

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Child's personal details

These screens are used to identify your dependent children and their circumstances. If you currently receive or have previously received Family Tax Benefit, then the children's details that you have provided to us may be displayed for you to confirm for your claim.

Child's Family Name

You must enter your child's family or last name, for example, Katie Jane Citizen. You can enter blanks, hyphens and apostrophes, but not in a consecutive order. You cannot type a blank, hyphen or apostrophe as the first character. For example, 'OShea cannot be accepted but O'Shea can be.

Child's First Name

You must enter your child's first name, for example, Katie Jane Citizen.
You can enter blanks, hyphens and apostrophes, but not in a consecutive order. You cannot type a blank, hyphen or apostrophe as the first character. For example, 'OShea cannot be accepted but O'Shea can be.

Child's Middle Name

You can enter your child's middle name in this field, for example, Katie Jane Citizen. You do not have to provide your child's middle name if you do not wish to. You can enter blanks, hyphens and apostrophes, but not in a consecutive order. You cannot type a blank, hyphen or apostrophe as the first character. For example, 'OShea cannot be accepted but O'Shea can be.

Child's date of birth

This is the date when your child was born. This is entered in the format DD/MM/YYYY. For example, a birth date of 8 May 2004 can be entered as 08/05/2004 or 8/5/2004.

Sex

Select your child's sex. Click on either Female or Male.

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Relationship to child

This indicates your relationship to the dependent child you are including in your claim.
Parent - The term 'parent' refers to a natural parent or a person who is legally responsible for a child born through an artificial conception procedure or where a surrogacy court order is in place.
Adoptive parent - you have legally adopted the child. The adoption may have occurred in Australia or in a foreign country.
Step parent - you are the partner of one of the child's parents or adoptive parents
Grandparent - you are the natural, adoptive, step grandparent or legal grandparent (a grandchild born through assisted conception procedure or where a surrogacy court order is in place) of the child. You may also be a great-grandparent or current and former partner of the child's grandparent.
Foster carer - A child is considered to be in foster care if:

Foster care may be either formal or informal.
Foster carer (Formal) - includes children in formal foster care provided by social welfare authorities or approved agencies (e.g. Barnados, Anglicare).
Foster carer (Informal) - includes informal care arrangements, for example:

Relative - you are not the parent, adoptive parent, grandparent or sibling of the child and you are related to the child. For example:

Non-Related Carer - you are not related to the child, not a foster carer, step parent or relative.

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Paid Parental Leave period start date

Paid Parental Leave period may start from:

Note:

Your first payment will be backdated to your Paid Parental Leave period start date. The start date will not be the first date your payment occurs but when it will start being calculated from. If someone is transferring the full 18 weeks of Parental Leave Pay to you, they will provide the start date for your Paid Parental Leave period. If you are receiving a partial transfer of Parental leave Pay, this date will be based on the date you take over primary care of the child. The Paid Parental period must be a continuous period.

You can receive Parental Leave Pay before, after or at the same time as employer provided paid and unpaid leave, such as maternity, recreation or annual leave and long service leave.

If you are paid by Centrelink we will withhold PAYG at the rate of 15 per cent. You can nominate a different PAYG tax rate if you are paid by Centrelink, please contact Centrelink for further details.

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Formal foster care arrangement

Formal foster care is the placement, by the State, of a child away from their parents or guardians into the temporary care of a person or family that are trained and supervised by social services. Informal foster care could include situations where the carer is not necessarily related to the child but is temporarily caring for a child full time.

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Known adoption

Known adoptions are situations where a child has lived continuously with a prospective adoptive parent prior to the date upon which the process of adoption is commenced and the adoption is more in the nature of formalising the parental relationship. In these cases, it would normally be expected that this child would not be regarded as being placed with the adoptive parents as part of the process of adoption. Known adoptions for Paid Parental Leave Pay and Dad and Partner Pay purposes include step-child adoptions.

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Transfer of Paid Parental Leave to another person

Any unused amount of Parental Leave Pay may be transferred to another person, including the full 18 weeks if you are no longer the primary carer of the child (this could include when you return to work). The new primary carer must meet the relevant eligibility rules and make a claim.

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Intend to claim Paid Parental Leave for this child

Parental Leave Pay is an entitlement for working parents who have a newborn child or who have adopted a child. The Parental Leave Pay is a taxable payment paid at the National Minimum Wage rate for a maximum period of 18 weeks.

It is recommended that you use the Paid Parental Leave Comparison Estimator to assist in making an informed decision about whether to claim Parental Leave Pay or not based on your individual circumstances.

You can access the Estimator from www.servicesaustralia.gov.au/customer/enablers/centrelink/parental-leave-pay/paid-parental-leave-comparison-estimator

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Circumstances

Your child's circumstances includes all factors which effect the assessment of your child as a dependent child:

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Continuous care

If your dependent child was in your care for all of the financial year you are claiming for, the child has been in your continuous care.

If the child was born during the financial year you are claiming for, or has entered your care from someone else, the child was not in your continuous care and you need to show the dates the child was your dependant.

Note: If you had a care arrangement where you shared the care of the child with another person (other than your partner), this is considered to be continuous care. Details of the care arrangement will be requested later in the claim.

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Currently in your care

This is where a dependent child is in your care and you are responsible for the day to day care and decisions for that child.

You can say the child is in your care even if you share the care of the child with your partner or, in the case of 'Shared Care' another person other than your partner.

Please note that you and your partner (and/or another person e.g. the child's other legal parent) can both be considered as having care of a child at the same time but for the purposes of Paid Parental Leave, only one person can be the child's 'Primary Carer' at any one time.

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Dad and Partner Pay relationship to child

It is important you select the first category in the list that describes your relationship to this child.

Biological father - Select this option if you are the biological father of this child.
Partner of birth mother - Select this option if you are in a marriage, registered or de facto relationship with this child's birth mother.
Adoptive parent - Select this option if you are legally adopting this child.
Partner of adoptive parent - Select this option if your partner is legally adopting this child.
Legal parent - Select this option you are a legal parent of this child. This category includes where you are the commissioning parent in a surrogacy arrangement.
Partner of legal parent - Select this option if you are the partner of a legal parent of this child. This includes where you are the partner of the biological father or the partner of a commissioning parent in a surrogacy arrangement.
None of the above - Select this option if your relationship to this child is not described by an option above. For example, grandparent, aunt, uncle, foster carer.

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Dad and Partner Pay period

The Dad and Partner Pay period is for a maximum of 14 days beginning on the day you nominate the Dad and Partner Pay to start. If you are not eligible on one of the days during the 14 day maximum period you will not be eligible for that day and any remaining days of the maximum period.

To be eligible for Dad and Partner Pay on a day, you must have care of the child and you must not work on, or take paid leave for, that day. Note: exceptions apply in the case of child bereavement.

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Care

To be eligible for Dad and Partner Pay, you must be caring for the child on each day of the Dad and Partner Pay period. More than one person may be caring for the same child on a particular day. You may be the primary carer of the child or providing care for the child at the same time as another person (e.g. the child's birth mother) who is providing primary care for the child.

Work on, or take paid leave

To be eligible for Dad and Partner Pay, you must not be working or taking paid leave (such as employer provided paid paternity leave or annual leave) during the Dad and Partner Pay period.

Dad and Partner Pay Verification of birth or adoption

Originals of the following documents are also acceptable as proof of birth or adoption for Dad and Partner Pay:

If you or another person have previously provided these details for this child, you do not need to give these again. You may contact us to confirm this if unsure.
For Dad and Partner Pay, the Newborn Child Claim for Paid Parental Leave, Family Assistance and Medicare (FA101) form cannot be used to provide proof of birth and birth registration if no other Paid Parental Leave scheme or family assistance payment is being claimed in respect of the child.
Please Note: If the child was born overseas the documents supplied must be either the originals or copies sighted and certified by an Australian Embassy, Consulate or High Commission. They don't need to be translated into English.
The documents listed below are acceptable as proof of birth for children born overseas:

Residing in Australia

Country of Birth

This is the country in which your child was born. Select from the dropdown list provided.

Lived or travelled outside Australia

The answer to this question may enable us to access electronic records held by Australia's immigration department. These records will help us to verify your child's Australian residence to assist with your claim.

Passport number

Enter your child's passport/travel document number in this field. This is the number that identifies your child's passport/travel document.

Enter the passport/travel document number without spaces using alphanumeric characters. If your child's passport/travel document number includes dashes or other special characters do not enter these characters.

Example:
If your child's passport/ travel document number is A123-4567, then enter A1234567

This number can be from an expired passport or travel document.

If a child has travelled on their parent's passport, please leave the child's passport field blank.

Country that issued passport

Select the country that issued your child's passport.

The country of issue for a passport is always the country that is issuing the passport, not necessarily the country in which the passport is physically issued. For example, a Chinese passport issued from the Chinese embassy in France is considered to be issued by China.

If the country that issued your child's passport is not listed in the drop down box, please select 'unspecified'.

Currently in Australia

Indicate whether your child is currently in Australia. Australia includes all Australian States, mainland Territories and the Territory of Cocos (Keeling) Islands, the Territory of Christmas Island and Lord Howe Island BUT NOT Norfolk Island.

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Same entry into care process

More than one child may have entered your care in the same process as the child you are claiming for.

If arrangements for entry into care were made by the same authorised party and the intention was that they enter care together (similar to a multiple birth) the children will have entered care as part of the same process (even if this occurred at different times).

For example:

Evidence from the authorised party, confirming the children entered care as part of the same process will need to be provided.

Care arrangements

Care arrangements include shared care and change of care situations where another party is involved or has recently been involved in the day to day care of the child. To correctly assess the child, details of your care arrangements and the other party involved need to be provided.

Share the care

Where a child you are claiming for is also being cared for by another person, the care of the child is shared. A shared care arrangement may exist if:

If a child you are claiming for is in a shared care arrangement, additional information about the care arrangements and the other carer are required. Your care arrangements may need to be confirmed before payment can be made for the child.

Care from Someone Else

If a child you are claiming for has recently come into your care from someone else, additional information about the care arrangements and the former carer are required. Your care arrangements may need to be confirmed before payment can be made for the child.

Care Arrangement Finishes

The date the care arrangement ended or you expect the care arrangement to end.

Percentage of Time

The percentage of time the child is in your care is based on the pattern of care that exists over the assessment period.

The percentage of care is either:

Assessment period

An assessment period commencing prior to 1 July 2010:

An assessment period commencing after 1 July 2010:

If the pattern of care changes before the end of the year, you must advise the change and the percentage of care will be reassessed from the date the care arrangement changes.

Parenting Plan or Court Order

This includes any evidence of a formal arrangement, and may include:

Family Name

You must enter the other carer's family or last name in this field. For example, if the other carer's name is Katie Jane Citizen, enter Citizen as the other carer's family name.

You can enter blanks, hyphens and apostrophes, but not consecutively. You cannot type a blank, hyphen or apostrophe first. For example, 'Oshea cannot be accepted but O'Shea can.

First Name

You must enter the other carer's first name in this field. For example, if the other carer's name is Katie Jane Citizen, enter Katie as the other carer's first name.

You can enter blanks, hyphens and apostrophes, but not consecutively. You cannot type a blank, hyphen or apostrophe first. For example, 'Oshea cannot be accepted but O'Shea can.

Middle Name

You can enter the other carer's middle name in this field. For example, Katie Jane Citizen, enter Jane as the other carer's middle name.

This field is optional.

You can enter blanks, hyphens and apostrophes, but not consecutively. You cannot type a blank, hyphen or apostrophe first. For example, 'Oshea cannot be accepted but O'Shea can.

Hospital Name

Use this field to enter the name of the hospital.
You can enter blanks, hyphens and apostrophes, but not consecutively. You cannot type a blank, hyphen or apostrophe first. For example, 'Oshea cannot be accepted but O'Shea can.

Other Carer Contact Address

We need to know the details of where the other carer lives, so that we are able to confirm the care arrangements you state in your claim. If you have concerns about us contacting the other carer, you can provide details of your concerns on the next page.

Other Person Contact Address

We need to know the details of where the other person lives, so that we are able to confirm the lodgement of birth verifcation documents for the child you are claiming for.

Hospital Contact Address

If you can provide the hospital contact address, use the fields below to enter the street number and street address, town or suburb, state or territory and postcode.

Address lines

This is the contact address street number and the street address.

For example 12 Banks St, Hopetown.

Here are some tips on how to enter the contact address where the address contains things like Unit or Flat numbers, Lot numbers, Road Side Delivery, Section addresses or other special address combinations:

Town/Suburb

This is the town or suburb where the contact address is located. For example, if the other carer's contact address is 12 Banks Street, Hopetown, enter Hopetown as the Town/suburb.

State/Territory

Select the state in the dropdown box that matches the other carer's contact address details.

Choices are Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia or Not in Australia.

Postcode

This is the four digit postcode of the town or suburb. For example, 2073.

Country

This is the country where the other carer or other person lives.

Home phone number

Use this field to enter the home phone number if you know this number. You will need to also include the area code or country code. For example: 0212345678.

Mobile phone number

Use this field to enter the mobile phone number if you know this number. Enter as shown in the following example: 0411123456.

Contact phone number

Use this field to enter the other carer's mobile phone number if you know this number. Enter as shown in the following example: for landline number include are code 0212345678; for mobile phone number 0411123456.

Contact person at the hospital

Use this field to enter the name of a contact person at the hospital who can assist us in confirming your child's date of stillbirth or death. For example, a treating doctor, social worker, or nurse manager.

You can enter blanks, hyphens and apostrophes, but not consecutively. You cannot type a blank, hyphen or apostrophe first. For example, 'Oshea cannot be accepted but O'Shea can.

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Disability

Select whether your child has a disability. The disability may be a physical, intellectual and/or psychiatric disability. The child must be likely to suffer from the disability permanently or for an extended period.

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Orphan

Select whether the child is an orphan. The child may be an orphan if:

A child with refugee status (or with similar circumstances to a refugee, who has been admitted into Australia under an approved special humanitarian program) can be considered an orphan if:

Births, Deaths and Marriages

If you are the parent of a newborn child, you must register the child's birth as required by the Births, Deaths and Marriages Registry in your state or territory. Parents are responsible for registering the birth of their child within 60 days of the child's birth.

There is no cost for registering the birth of your baby.

To receive Parental Leave Pay or the Newborn Supplement component of Family Tax Benefit Part A, you must apply to register the birth of your child.

Birth registration forms are given to parents in hospital. You must complete and forward this form to the relevant Births, Deaths and Marriages Registry in your state or territory.

The requirement to register the birth does not apply where the child was stillborn, born outside Australia or has been adopted.

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Blended Family(for SIFS claims)

A blended family for Single Income Family Supplement is a family with 2 or more dependent children and:

If you would like to be assessed as a blended family, you and your partner must each have an eligible Single Income Family Supplement child in your care for at least 35 per cent of the time.

If your family is blended you can choose:

Note: : If you choose to split the payment, you and your partner will need to complete separate claim forms. Both claims will be assessed before either of you are paid.

Blended Family(for FTB claims)

A blended family is a family with two or more dependent Family Tax Benefit children and:

You and your partner must have an eligible Family Tax Benefit child in your care for at least 35 per cent of the time. If your family is blended you can choose:

Note: if you choose this option, you and your partner will need to complete separate claims.

Both claims will be assessed before either of you are paid.

Type of claim

If you decide to split the payment between each parent, the type of claim for Family Tax Benefit made by each parent must be the same.

Types of claim include:

Family Tax Benefit child

A Family Tax Benefit child is a dependent child who is assessed to be in your care for at least 35% of the assessment period.

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Child's study details

Year 12 or equivalent qualification

Approved courses include:

A young person will be considered to be in full-time secondary study for Family Tax Benefit purposes, where they have not already completed Year 12 and are studying one of the following courses:

Full-time education or training

Full-time education typically commences from around five years of age, when a child starts primary school and lasts for a minimum of ten years. It does not include sessional education such as pre-school education.

Full-time education means that the child is enrolled in a course of study and that the study is at least 75% of the standard full-time load for a student in that course.

For older children, you may be required to advise the type of full-time education your child is attending. This may be secondary education (such as high school), tertiary education (such as college or university) or other types of education (such as correspondence or vocational courses).

If the education institution considers the young person full-time, we will accept this. Generally, for secondary students, circumstances regarded as constituting full-time study (where full-time study is a set amount of work accepted by the school as being full-time for any given period) are:

Students undertaking competency based training/open learning courses will have varied weekly hours and the institution is best placed to determine the study load the student is undertaking during a period.

For tertiary students, full-time study is defined as at least 3/4 of the standard full-time load. The standard full-time load differs depending on whether the course is a Commonwealth supported course (previously known as HECS course) or a fee-paying course.

Apprenticeships or traineeships

For Family Tax Benefit and concession card claims, an apprenticeship means a school based course of combining training (both formal and on-the-job) and paid work undertaken by a person (a trainee or an apprentice) under an industrial instrument. Income earned from Apprenticeships is included in the income test for Youth Allowance and Family Tax Benefit.

Apprenticeships and traineeships:

Less than full-time education or training

Less than full-time study is when the young person carries less than what would normally be considered a full-time study load. Generally the education institution will regard the student as part-time.

Date the young person first enrolled or started study, whichever is earlier

This date represents when the young person will start study. However, the young person may have enrolled in the course before they commence study. If the enrolment date is earlier, use the enrolment date.

Example - Bill enrolled in Cert II Construction 1/10/09 but starts the course 28/02/10. The start date you should record is 1/10/09.

If the child has studied continuously since on or before their 16th birthday, then record the 16th birthday or earlier date.

If more than one course is being studied concurrently, then the main course that the child is undertaking towards their Year 12 or equivalent qualification should be recorded. If the child changes educational institutions a new occurrence is to be inserted containing the new start date.

Study Details for children aged 16-19

Changes to Study Details from 1 May 2014

If your child is aged 16-19 (up until the end of the calendar year in which they turn 19), they must be studying towards attaining a Year 12 certificate or equivalent qualification in order for you to receive Family Tax Benefit Part A for them.

Prior to 1 May 2014

Study Details for 16-17 year olds

If your child is aged 16-17 they must have attained or be studying towards attaining a Year 12 certificate or equivalent qualification in order for you to receive Family Tax Benefit Part A for them. An equivalent qualification is Certificate II under the Australian Qualifications Framework.

If your child is not studying full-time, you need to tell us the reason because some exemptions apply from this requirement.

If your youngest child is aged 16-18 they must be studying in order for you to receive Family Tax Benefit Part B.

If your child is aged 16-17 is in full-time secondary study, they may be eligible for Youth Allowance if they:

Once your child turns 18 or has attained a Year 12 certificate or equivalent qualification, they may be eligible for Youth Allowance.

Study Details for 18-19 year olds

If your child is aged 18-19 they must be studying towards attaining a Year 12 certificate or equivalent qualification in order for you to receive Family Tax Benefit Part A for them. An equivalent qualification is Certificate II under the Australian Qualifications Framework.

If your child has not attained a Year 12 certificate or equivalent qualification and is not studying full-time, you need to tell us the reason because some exemptions apply from this requirement.

Date the young person will complete Year 12 or equivalent qualification

This will be the date you think the young person will obtain the qualification. If you are unsure, please use the second Friday in November of the final year of study. If the young person has already obtained the qualification, use that date. If the young person intends to cease study before completing Year 12 or equivalent qualification, then enter the date the child will cease to study.

Date completed / will complete or ceased / will cease Year 12 or equivalent qualification

To be paid a Schoolkids Bonus School Leaver payment the date completed or ceased Year 12 or an equivalent qualification must be entered. This will be the actual date you completed / will complete or ceased / will cease year 12 or equivalent qualification.

Exemption from study granted by State/Territory education authority

Where a child has been granted an exemption from attending school by the State or Territory education authority

Registered home schooling

Applies where a child is enrolled or registered by the State or Territory education authority to receive education at home instead of attending school.

Special education

This excludes children who are undertaking primary or secondary education. Special education is primarily for individuals with a disability, who are undertaking education specialised to their needs and capacity that is designed to assist the individual to function better in society.

Repeating Year 12

If a young person chooses to repeat Year 12 or undertake Year 13 (e.g. to improve their tertiary entrance score), they may be considered to be in full time secondary study from the day they start study.

Where a young person returns to study after completing Year 12 or equivalent qualification in a course of study other than Year 12 or Year 13, the young person will be considered to be in post secondary study and if they are 18 years of age or over, they are not considered to be a dependent child for Family Tax Benefit purposes.

16-19 year olds studying outside Australia

If your child is studying outside Australia, you may be eligible to receive Family Tax Benefit Part A for them if they are:

An approved course of education or study is an approved foreign course of education or study if:

Child's course details

You might be claiming at a time your child is in between education or training (e.g. school holidays). If so you will need to provide details of both courses.

Example - It's the Christmas holidays and Suzie has just finished Year 10 at QLD Academy. After the Christmas holidays Suzie will be starting Year 11 at NSW College. In this circumstance we will need details of both schools and will regard Suzie as a continuing student.

If the young person's study details change in the future you are required to advise us when the change occurs.

Date Commenced

The date your child commenced school or full time college or university study. This is usually the start of the school year. If your child is older than the minimum school age and has not commenced school or full time study, you will be asked to provide the date they are expected to start. This must be within two years of today's date.

Overlapping study periods

Overlapping study periods cannot be entered. You can either adjust the dates on the current course or go back to the previous study details you have entered and adjust those dates.

Overlapping non-attendance periods

Overlapping non-attendance periods cannot be entered. You can either adjust the dates for the current period or go back to the previous periods you have entered and adjust those dates.

Minimum school age

The table following shows the minimum school entry ages for each State and Territory.

State/TerritoryMinimum Primary School Entry Age
ACTAt least 4 ½ years at 1 January
NSWAt least 4 ½ years at 1 January
NTYear in which the child turns 5 years
QLDAt least 4 ½ years at 1 January
SAYear in which the child turns 5 years
TASAt least 4 ½ years at 1 January
VICAt least 4 ½ years at 1 January
WAYear in which the child turns 5 years

Education Allowance or Payment from Centrelink

Select whether your child is currently receiving an education allowance or payment from us. If you answer 'Yes' to this question, you will then be asked to select the type of education allowance or payment your child receives from us.

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Secondary Study

Secondary study is an approved course of education or study that assists or allows an individual to complete the final year of secondary study or an equivalent level of education.

Child's income details

Prior to 1 May 2014

The amount of income that a child earns during an income year can affect eligibility for Family Tax Benefit.

The child income limit does not apply to children aged under 5, children aged 5-15 years who are undertaking full-time study or primary education and children aged 16 and over who are undertaking full-time secondary study.

The child income limit does apply for a child aged 16-19 years who is exempt from the Family Tax Benefit activity test or for children aged 16 - 17 years who have completed full time secondary study.

You will still need to provide the income that your child earns or receives. This amount will depend on the circumstances of the income received by you and your child.

Gross personal income

This is the expected taxable income the child will receive for the current financial year. Enter the income figure in Australian dollars as a whole dollar amount. For example, an annual income of $4667.20 gross can be entered as $4667.

Weekly Income

You need to provide the gross income amount that your child earns on a weekly basis. Enter the income figure in Australian dollars as a whole dollar amount. For example, a weekly income of $47.80 gross can be entered as $48.

Weekly income dependency limit

Weekly income limit is $165.60 per week. Some income received by or on behalf of a dependent child may be exempt income.

Personal annual income

You need to provide the personal gross income that your child earns or receives on an annual basis. Enter the income figure in Australian dollars as a whole dollar amount. For example, an annual income of $4667.20 gross can be entered as $4667.

Personal income test

Personal annual income limit is $9076.35 per annum. However some income received by or on behalf of a dependent child may be exempt income.

Annual taxable income

You need to provide the annual taxable income that your child will earn in the current financial year. Enter the income figure in Australian dollars as a whole dollar amount. For example, an annual income of $4667.20 gross can be entered as $4667.

Annual taxable income test

Annual taxable income limit is $11929 per annum. However some income received by or on behalf of a dependent child may be exempt income.

Gross income

This is the child's total income before tax is deducted.

Taxable income

This is the child's income as assessed by the Australian Taxation Office (ATO).

Financial Year

The financial year runs from 1 July to 30 June of each year.

Exempt child income

The following payments received by or on behalf of a dependent child do not reduce your additional free income area for Social Security Pensioners or those receiving Parenting Payment Single:

Scholarships, bursary or Educational Assistance

Scholarship payments may be treated as income (unless otherwise excluded). For Youth Allowance and Austudy purposes, a scholarship may not be included as income if the scholarship:

Certain scholarships awarded outside Australia have been exempted from the income test by the Minister for Families Community Services and Indegenous Affairs.

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Primary School

Primary School concludes at the end of year 6 for children in NSW, VIC, QLD, WA, TAS, ACT or NT and year 7 for children in SA.

This includes children who are:

State/TerritoryRecognised Primary LevelNot recognised as Primary Level
NSWKindergartenyears 1-6Preschool
VICPreparatoryYears 1-6Kindergarten
QLDPreparatoryYears 1-6Kindergarten/Preschool
SAReceptionYears 1-7Kindergarten
WAPre-primaryYears 1-6Kindergarten
TASPreparatoryYears 1-6Kindergarten
NTTransitionYears 1-6Preschool
ACTKindergartenYears 1-6Preschool

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Secondary School

Secondary School commences in year 7 for children in NSW, VIC, QLD, WA, TAS, ACT or NT and year 8 for children in SA.

This includes children who are:

Child Support action and income

Your child is from a previous relationship if either of the following apply:

Child Support Events

You must take initial Child Support action within 13 weeks (91 days) of the latest of the following events occurring:

Other Parent

The other parent is the person liable to pay child support for the child. Child support can only be claimed from a person who is:

Child support assessment

When you have a child support assessment, Child Support Services will send the information about your assessment to us to help assess your Family Tax Benefit.

Child Support Services works out how much child support the other parent (the payer) should pay you (the payee) for child support.

The amount payable is based on a formula that takes into account the number of children applied for, the time the children spend in each parent's care, other children the paying parent supports, and each parent's income.

Child Support Services advises you and the payer how much child support is payable. You can choose to collect that amount privately or ask Child Support Services to collect it from the payer and forward it to your account.

Care determination

A care determination can be made by either Centrelink or Child Support Services. The care determination is then applied by both agencies.

If your care determination is assessed by Child Support Services you are advised of a care determination on your child support assessment. Centrelink will use Child Support Services care determination to assess care arrangements for Family Assistance.

Date of Change

The Date of Change is the date notified to Child Support Services by you (or the other parent) of:

Centrelink will use details of Child Support Services care assessment to assess your Family Tax Benefit from the date of change advised.

Child support assessment Unsuccessful

Child Support Services may refuse to register your application for a child support assessment in some circumstances where the identity of the paying parent cannot be legally proven. If this occurs, you may be asked to provide evidence that you application has been refused or legal documentation supporting your statement.

Exemptions

Exemptions from seeking a child support assessment may be sought where you do not know the identity of the child's other parent or where circumstances make it unreasonable for you to seek a child support assessment from the other parent.

When you apply for an exemption from seeking a child support assessment, in most cases you will be referred to a Social Worker or, if appropriate, an Indigenous Services Officer. It is up to the Social Worker or Indigenous Services Officer to either grant or reject your application for an exemption from seeking a child support assessment.

You should consider making an application for a child support assessment as Child Support Services will not back date a child support application if your exemption is not granted.

Deciding what Child Support action to take

You have 13 weeks (91 days) from the date of a Child Support event to decide what child support action you will be taking for a child.

You can take action to obtain a child support assessment by applying for a child support assessment with Child Support Services, or by contacting Centrelink to apply for an exemption.

If you have not already done so, you should make an application for a child support assessment, as Child Support Servcies will not backdate your application if your request for an exemption is unsuccessful.

You can link to the Child Support Services website to make an Application for a child support assessment after you lodge this claim.

If you do not take child support action within 13 weeks (91 days) of a Child Support event, you may not be entitled to more than the base rate of Family Tax Benefit part A.

Cash child support

You may choose to make your own arrangements to collect child support directly from the paying parent either in cash or as non-cash child support.

If a child support assessment has not yet been made for this child, the amount of cash child support you have received must be included.

If a child support assessment has been made for this child, you only need to advise amounts received in excess of the assessment amount.

Capitalised maintenance

Capitalised maintenance is child support received by way of:

Examples could be a home, car or business.

Centrelink will contact you for further information if this circumstance applies to you.

Reasonable Action

You must take reasonable action to obtain child support if any of the following events occur:

Reasonable action can be taken by:

Disability or Learning Difficulty

A payment or benefit is disability expenses child support if you receive the payment of benefit for expenses arising directly from:

For more information about this subject, please Contact Us.

Child Support

Child support is the amount of a payment or the value of a benefit you and/or your partner receive to support and maintain your child from a previous relationship. It includes:

You should keep proof of the child support you receive as you may be asked to show evidence of it.

Family Name

You must enter the other person's family or last name in this field. For example, Katie Jane Citizen.

You can enter blanks, hyphens and apostrophes, but not in a consecutive series. You cannot type a blank, hyphen or apostrophe first. For example, 'Oshea cannot be accepted but O'Shea can be.

First Name

You must enter the other person's first name in this field. For example, Katie Jane Citizen.

You can enter blanks, hyphens and apostrophes, but not in a consecutive series. You cannot type a blank, hyphen or apostrophe first. For example, 'Oshea cannot be accepted but O'Shea can be.

Spousal Maintenance

This is the amount of a payment or the value of a benefit you receive from your partner or former partner for your own support.

Child support received through Child Support Services

Prior to or during the financial year you are claiming for, you registered with Child Support Services to collect your child support entitlements from the paying parent on your behalf. Payments are made by to you by bank transfer from Child Support Services.

Receive any child support privately

You have a private arrangement with the paying parent to collect your child support.

Payments may be made to you by:

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Partner

For Centrelink purposes, a person is considered to be your partner if you and the person are living together, or usually live together, and are married; or in a registered relationship; or in a de facto relationship.

Centrelink considers a person to be in a de facto relationship from the time they commence living with another person as a member of a couple.

From 1 July 2009 Centrelink recognises all couples, opposite-sex and same-sex.

Parent

The term 'parent' refers to a natural parent or a person who is legally responsible for a child born through an artificial conception procedure or where a surrogacy court order is in place.

Age of consent rules

You will be presented with an 'age of consent' warning page if you enter your or your partner's date of birth as a date that is less than the allowable age of consent rules for the State or Territory you that you live in. For the purposes of this online claim, you will be considered single and no further details about your partner will be recorded.

The following table lists the age of consent in all States and Territories, including the higher age that applies in some States where a person is in a position of authority over the other person. For example: a guardian or schoolteacher.

Age of consent in all States and Territories, including the higher age that applies in some States where a person is in a position of authority over the other person.
State/TerritoryAge of ConsentHigher Age of Consent
ACT16 yearsDoes not apply
NSW16 years17 years
NT16 yearsDoes not apply
QLD16 yearsDoes not apply
SA17 years18 years
TAS17 yearsDoes not apply
VIC16 years18 years
WA16 years17 years

Member of a couple

For Centrelink purposes, a person is considered to be your partner if you and another person are living together, or usually live together, and are:

A de facto relationship is where two people who are not married are living together - or usually live together - and are members of a couple. Centrelink consider a couple to be in a de facto relationship from the time they commence living together as a member of a couple.

Establishing whether two people are members of a couple involves consideration of:

Evidence relating to these factors is considered, although not all factors need to be present for a decision to be made that a person is a member of a couple.

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Last Updated March 2015