Payment options
You can choose to get your Family Tax Benefit either:
- paid fortnightly into your bank or credit union account, or
- paid as a lump sum payment after the end of the financial year.
If you get your Family Tax Benefit paid fortnightly, there are a number of choices for how and when you can get your payments. All families are different so these choices have been designed to help you match your payments to your family's circumstances and to reduce the risk of being overpaid.
Your instalment payments may be stopped
From 1 January 2010, your Family Tax Benefit instalment payments may be stopped if you and/or your partner have not lodged income tax returns or informed the Family Assistance Office that you are not required to do so within the required timeframe.
Your payment options to reduce the risk of an overpayment
There are many options available to you to reduce your risk of an overpayment of Family Tax Benefit. The options provide you with the flexibility to adjust your payments as your income and family's circumstances change throughout the year. Selecting a payment option will help to reduce or recover any potential overpayment. You can change your payment option at any time.
Automatic adjustment of your Family Tax Benefit payments
Generally Family Tax Benefit recipients can choose to receive their payments fortnightly through the Family Assistance Office or claim Family Tax Benefit as a lump sum payment at the end of the financial year.
If you receive FTB by fortnightly instalments and your family’s income estimate or circumstances change part way through the financial year, you may have already been paid too much.
When your income estimate increases part way through the year, your Family Tax Benefit payments for the remainder of the year will be automatically adjusted. This automatic adjustment aims to reduce potential overpayments and the need for families to pay back Family Tax Benefit debts after the end of the financial year.
This automatic adjustment will not apply to Child Care Benefit. However, you can reduce the chance of overpayment by telling the Family Assistance Office to adjust your Child Care Benefit to account for an increase in income.
Your payment choices for Family Tax Benefit
Deferring payment of one FTB fortnightly payment:
You may choose to receive one FTB payment (Part A or Part B) as a fortnightly payment and the other as a lump sum payment at the end of the financial year
Your payment choices for FTB Part A
There are three different ways you can get Family Tax Benefit Part A:
Option 1 Base Rate of Family Tax Benefit Part A paid fortnightly
You may like to be paid the base rate of your Family Tax Benefit Part A fortnightly and receive the rest after the end of the financial year. This is a particularly good choice if your income is above the lower income threshold (that is the income limit at which you can receive the maximum rate of Family Tax Benefit Part A).
Please Note: If you pay private rent you can choose to receive any Rent Assistance you are entitled to either as a fortnightly payment or after the end of the financial year.
Option 2 - Receive all Family Tax Benefit Part A as an annual payment
If your income is extremely variable, or you are not confident that you can estimate your income accurately, this may be the best choice for you. You may also like to take this option if you have one child and your family's income is above the higher income threshold (that is the income limit at which the base rate of FTB Part A begins to reduce)
Option 3- Continue to receive Rent Assistance fortnightly and defer payment of more than base rate Family Tax Benefit Part A
If you receive rent assistance with more than base rate FTB Part A, you can choose to retain fortnightly payment of the rent assistance and receive base rate FTB Part A only and defer the rest of the more than base rate FTB Part A until the end of the financial year.
Option 4- Deferring FTB Part A other than rent assistance:
If you receive rent assistance with your FTB Part A you are able to choose to retain fortnightly payment of your rent assistance and defer the payment of FTB Part A until the end of the year financial.
Your payment choices for Family Tax Benefit Part B
There are two different ways you can get Family Tax Benefit Part B.
Option 1 - All of your Family Tax Benefit Part B as a fortnightly payment
If you are a single parent or a stay-at-home parent with a partner who works full-time, you may like to receive all of your Family Tax Benefit Part B as a fortnightly payment. This is a particularly suitable choice if your partner earns less than the primary earner income limit and you do not expect to earn an income at any time during the financial year.
Option 2 – receive ALL Family Tax Benefit Part B as an annual payment
Taking all of your Family Tax Benefit Part B annually is a good choice for couple families where the primary earner’s income is close to the primary earner income limit and one member of the couple is out of the work force temporarily to care for the children. It is also a good choice if the lower income earner is not confident about estimating their income accurately.
Your payment choice for dependent children with income
If you have older children, you can be at risk of being overpaid if your child earns over the child income limit in the financial year. This limit applies to children aged between 5 and 15 who are not studying full-time, as well as all dependants aged between 16 and 24.
If your child does earn more than the child income limit, all of the Family Tax Benefit Part A paid for that child in that financial year will need to be repaid. If you also get Family Tax Benefit Part B and this is your only child, you will also need to repay all of the Family Tax Benefit Part B you received.
To reduce the risk of having to repay Family Tax Benefit for the child with income, the family can choose not to receive any Family Tax Benefit for that child throughout the financial year. At the end of the financial year, when the child's actual income is known, the family may receive a top-up payment if the child has earned less than child income limit.
How to elect or change a payment option
You can choose or change your payment option at any time.
For more information, contact us to discuss the options that might help you, or change your payment option online.