Media Release
Sunday 2 July, 2006
Lodge your tax return to ensure child support accuracy
General Manager of the Child Support Agency (CSA), Matt Miller, is urging separated parents to submit their tax return promptly.
"Submitting your tax return as soon as you can after July 1 will ensure any changes in your income or situation can be used to re-calculate child support payments accurately and quickly," Mr Miller said.
"Parents who delay lodging their return could end up with a child support debt which they may have difficulty repaying," he said.
Taxable income forms the basis for calculating the amount of child support that should be paid or received by separated parents.
He said parents who have outstanding child support payments may also have that debt reduced or cleared by their income tax refund.
"If parents have outstanding payments, any tax refund automatically goes to the Child Support Agency for the benefit of the children."
The Australian Government has provided the CSA with $143 million over four years to focus on compliance.
CSA will use part of this funding to augment its work with the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) to help parents who are behind in lodging tax returns.
Mr Miller said thanks to this extra funding, the CSA has recently referred more than 50,000 customers (both payers and payees who have failed to submit a tax return from previous years) to the ATO. The CSA is now planning to refer an additional 75,000 parents in August 2006.
Parents with concerns or questions about their child support payments can contact the CSA on 13 12 72, or visit our website www.csa.gov.au.
Media contact:
Ph (07) 300 14633; 0419 448 306
Media enquiries should be directed to media@csa.gov.au
