Information for parents who receive Family Tax Benefit

Applying for child support

Parents have up to 13 weeks to work out parenting arrangements and apply for child support after they separate, to avoid a reduction in their Family Tax Benefit Part A payments. This gives parents enough time to get information, receive counselling or agree about post-separation arrangements, including the negotiation of a parenting plan.

If you don't apply for child support for a child from a previous relationship, you cannot receive more than the base rate of Family Tax Benefit Part A for that child. This requirement is called the Maintenance Action Test.

Income from child support

Any child support you receive for children in your care, even if you arrange it privately with the other parent, can affect your family assistance.

Your Family Tax Benefit is calculated according to how much child support you receive. Called the Maintenance Income Test, this test reduces the amount of your Family Tax Benefit Part A by 50 cents for every dollar you receive in child support above a certain exempt amount, known as the Maintenance Income Free Area (MIFA).

If you have a child support agreement with a previous partner, your Family Tax Benefit is worked out the same way except the calculation may use how much child support would have been paid to you had the agreement not been made.

The amount by which your Family Tax Benefit is reduced, under the Maintenance Income Test, cannot exceed the maximum amount of additional Family Tax Benefit you receive for your child support children. Children who are not child support children are not included when working out the MIFA.

Care and family assistance

Child support and family assistance work together to make sure the costs of the children are being met by both parents. If you have a child support assessment, each parent's level of care determines their entitlement to family assistance. Learn more about levels of care.

Help and information

To find out more about Family Tax Benefit:

• go to the Family Assistance Office website
• go to the Centrelink website
• call 136 150
• visit your local Family Assistance Office.

Print this page Top of page