Child Care Benefit - Payment Options

Approved Care
Registered Care
Reduced Fees and Lump Sum

Approved Care

Payment options

There are two ways to receive your Child Care Benefit:

All of your Child Care Benefit as reduced fees - your Child Care Benefit will be paid directly to your child care service who will pass it to you in the form of fee reductions so you pay less in fees. You will have to pay any ‘gap’ in outstanding fees. This may suit you best if your family income is stable and unlikely to change.
Lump sum - you will pay full child care fees to your child care service during the year and after the end of the income year you may make a claim for Child Care Benefit as a lump sum.

Note: You must claim Child Care Benefit as reduced fees if you want to receive your Child Care Rebate as a quarterly payment even if you are assessed at the zero rate of Child Care Benefit. If you choose to receive your Child Care Benefit as a lump sum payment, any Child Care Rebate will also be paid as a lump sum at the end of that year. You can change how you receive your Child Care Rebate at any time by contacting the Family Assistance Office on 13 6150.

Approved Care - payment options to reduce the risk of an overpayment

There are three options to reduce the risk of an overpayment of Child Care Benefit, as determined after the end of the financial year. Selecting a payment option will help you to reduce or recover any potential overpayment. You can change your payment option at any time during the financial year.

Receive a zero rate of Child Care Benefit and any entitlement at the end of the financial year.
You can choose to receive a zero rate of Child Care Benefit throughout the year and be assessed for any entitlement after the end of the financial year. You must lodge an income tax return before you can be paid.
This might suit you best if your family has a medium to high income and your income is likely to increase.
Adjusting your future Child Care Benefit percentage to recover or reduce any potential overpayment
This is a good idea if your family income increases during the year. We can check if you have already been paid too much, and adjust your Child Care Benefit percentage for the rest of the year, to recover or reduce the risk of overpayment.
Rounding your Child Care Benefit percentage
This choice is available to you if you receive your Child Care Benefit as reduced fees.

The options will help you match your payments to your family's circumstances and reduce the risk of overpayment. Choose the one that suits you best. You can change your choice at any time.

Registered Care

Registered care is care for work related purposes that is provided by grandparents, relatives, friends or nannies who are registered as carers with the Family Assistance Office. Registered care may also be provided by individuals in private preschools, kindergartens, some outside school hours care services and some occasional care centres. Carers or teachers in these services must be registered with the Family Assistance Office.

For more information regarding Registered Care

Reduced Fees and Lump Sum

Reduced Fees

If you choose to get your Child Care Benefit as reduced fees, your Child Care Benefit will be provided to you in the form of fee reduction so you pay less in fees.

How can I get my Child Care Benefit as reduced fees?

In some circumstances you can only get Child Care Benefit as reduced fees. For example, you must claim CCB as reduced fees if you want to claim:

more than 50 hours Child Care Benefit a week because you work long hours or have extended travelling time between work and your child care service.
more than 24 hours of assistance in a week because of family crisis circumstances

As fee reduction is calculated on the basis of an income estimate, after the end of the income year, your Child Care Benefit will be recalculated using your actual taxable income, to see if the correct rate of fee reduction has been made during the year.

Note: If you want to receive your Child Care Rebate as a quarterly payment you must claim Child Care Benefit as reduced fees even if you are assessed at the zero rate of Child Care Benefit. You can change how you receive your Child Care Rebate at any time by contacting the Family Assistance Office on 13 6150.

Lump Sum

If you choose to get your Child Care Benefit as a lump sum payment, you will have to pay full child care fees to your child care service during the year. After the end of the income year you may make a claim for Child Care Benefit as a lump sum. You must lodge your claim within two years from the end of the income year for which you are claiming.

Note: If you choose to receive your Child Care Benefit as a lump sum payment, any Child Care Rebate will also be paid as a lump sum at the end of that year.

How can I get my Child Care Benefit as a lump sum?

If you use a combination of approved care and registered care you need to claim Child Care Benefit separately for each type of care.

How can I get my Child Care Benefit as fees reduced?

If you choose to get your Child Care Benefit as reduced fees, your child care service will provide you with Child Care Benefit fee reductions. You will only need to pay the difference between your full child care fees and your Child Care Benefit fee reductions.

We will ask you to estimate your family's income. We use your income estimate to work out your Child Care Benefit percentage, which your child care service will use to calculate your fee reduction. We need an estimate because your family's income for the year will not be known until after the end of the financial year.

Note: If you are already receiving Family Tax Benefit as fortnightly payments you can claim Child Care Benefit as reduced fees over the phone. If you don't, you will need to complete and lodge a claim form.

How can I get my Child Care Benefit as a lump sum?

If you would like to claim your Child Care Benefit as a lump sum payment you need to lodge a claim for lump sum payment with us, within two years following the end of the financial year for which you are claiming. For example, if you are claiming a lump sum for the 2007-08 financial year you will need to lodge your claim by 30 June 2010.

We start assessing lump sum claims in July each year. To assess your entitlement to Child Care Benefit we need:

a completed claim for a lump sum payment of Child Care Benefit
information from your child care service about your child care usage
advice from the Australian Taxation Office about your and your partner's taxable incomes (if you are claiming more than the zero rate)

If you do not need to lodge a tax return with the Australian Taxation Office, please let us know. It could speed up your payment.

When we have worked out your entitlement we will pay your Child Care Benefit into your bank account. Any Child Care Rebate entitlement will also be paid into your bank account.

Please note: If you want to claim your Child Care Benefit as a lump sum you must lodge your claim within 2 years from the end of the financial year for which you are claiming.