Kiddipedia
2 July 2018 is the due date as far as the new Child Care system is concerned. If you are already receiving some form of Child Care Benefit or Child Care Rebate, you won’t automatically transfer over to the new system without completing a set of questions set by Centrelink.
You can find these questions in your myGov account under the ‘Tasks’ area. This can be done in the Centrelink App or through the desktop version of myGov. It’s a very basic task that steps you through the information that Centrelink needs to gather from you so that they can correctly measure the amount of Childcare Subsidy that you are entitled to.
The three questions that you will be asked involve:
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Combined Family Income
You need to look toward the 2018/19 financial year and estimate what your combined family income will be. This means adding together the income of both partners in the family if this is the case. Centrelink suggest that you look at your previous year income tax return to use as a good starting point to estimate what your income could be. Remember to include one-off income items such as Paid Parental Leave.
Don’t underestimate too much as at the end of the financial year, the amount of income on your tax return will be compared to the amount of your estimate and if you have received too much Subsidy you will have a Centrelink debt. If in doubt, overestimate and get less now. Better to get some back at the end of the year!
To avoid too much debt to Centrelink, 5% of your Subsidy will be withheld during the year.
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Activity Test
The amount of Subsidy you receive is also dependent on the number of activity hours of work you perform per fortnight. Activity hour can include working, studying, looking for work, volunteering and parental leave. The more hours that you undertake your activity than the more hours a fortnight of Subsidy you will be entitled to.
If you work irregular hours then you can use the fortnight with the highest number of hours over the next three months. Throughout the year you should continuously update your activity hours to ensure that it accurately reflects your working pattern and that you are not overpaid any Subsidy that creates a debt to Centrelink.
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Service Type
As the amount of Subsidy that is paid is slightly different depending on what type of service you use, you will need to show which services you are using such as long day care, family day care etc.
You may also like to read:
The changes to Child Care Payments are coming!
Toddlers – the benefits in teaching structure
