Let's just go through the components of Adjusted Taxable Income again….

All these will be on the tax return form, so they will be available to the Tax Office to allow the claim to be assessed.

However the following will not be on the tax return form, so you will have to provide details.

These are the amounts of any of the following payments that you receive through:

NB Tax-free pensions or benefits do not include bereavement payment, pharmaceutical allowance, rent assistance or remote area allowance.

In other words, target foreign income is foreign income, in Australian dollars, (exchange rate applying at start of year) from sources outside Australia except for any amounts you have already included in your taxable income and any foreign income received in the form of a fringe benefit.

Child maintenance expenditure is the amount of child maintenance (also known as child support) you pay to another person to maintain your natural or adopted child. Write the total of your child maintenance expenditure on your FTB tax claim where required. The Family Assistance Office (FAO) will adjust amount to the deductible amount.

 Maintenance income—including child support—is the total of

It does not include an amount of disability expenses maintenance.

Where your Part A rate is greater than the Part A base rate after the income test reduction, include maintenance income received for each of your dependent children until the date they turned 16.

To find out if your rate will be reduced to Part A base rate you will need to check your family adjusted taxable income (ATI) in the table below. Look along the row corresponding to the number of children you have under 13 years old and down the column corresponding to the number of children you have 13 to 15 years old (whether you receive maintenance income for those children or not). If your family ATI is less than the fi gure quoted your rate will be greater than Part A base rate and you will need to include maintenance income received for all your dependent children aged under 16. Where you have a dependent child 15 or under who:

you will need to reassess whether to include your maintenance income based on the number of dependants under 15 in your care at that time.

Maintenance income also includes

Not all maintenance income received is subject to the maintenance income test. Exclude all maintenance income for the period you or your spouse received

the blind rate of social security pension or the blind rate of service pension or income support supplement from the Department of Veterans’ Affairs.

If you were not receiving maintenance income for the whole income year the FAO will annualise the amount you provide on your FTB tax claim before calculating your FTB entitlement.

Capitalised maintenance is a capital item that is given in lieu of maintenance over a specified period—for example, a car. It is maintenance income that is neither a periodic amount nor a benefit provided on a periodic basis and the amount or value exceeds $1500.

Multiply the value of the capitalised maintenance by the number of days in the relevant period

and divide that by the number of days in the capitalised maintenance period—that is, the maintenance period covered by the capital item.

EXAMPLE

Danielle receives a car worth $20 000 as capitalised maintenance. The car is for 2 years maintenance commencing 15 May 2001. To determine the capitalised maintenance income from 15 May 2001 until the end of the income year use the formula:

$20 000 is the value of the car.

47 is the number of days from 15 May 2001 until the end of the income year.

(365 x 2) is the capitalised maintenance period of 2 years.

Danielle includes $1287.67 in the amount she writes at D on her FTB tax claim.

Add the amount you calculate to any other maintenance payments you received.

If you travel overseas at any time during the income year it may affect how much FTB you receive. If you travelled overseas prior to the income year it may also affect the amount you receive.

If you traveled overseas for a continuous period of 26 weeks or more from July 1997 write your departure date and return date.

If you are still overseas and cannot state your return date write the departure date and leave the return date blank.

If you have any further trips of any duration overseas—including holidays write your departure date and return date

If you were overseas on 30 June 2001 and you returned to Australia after that date write the date you returned. If you are still overseas and cannot state your return date write the departure date and leave the return date blank.

If you return to Australia after 30 June 2001this will not affect your claim for the 2000–01 year. If you departed permanently overseas you are not eligible for FTB from the date of departure.

If you were overseas on 30 June 2001 and you returned to Australia after that date write the date you returned. If you are still overseas and cannot state your return date write the departure date and leave the return date blank..

Only 1 parent can claim a daily entitlement for the child even if both parents care for that child on a daily basis.

The FTB payment cannot be split between the two carers.

Example

Rebecca and Jim are married and both care for their two dependent children. Even though Rebecca and Jim both care for the children on each day only one parent can claim FTB for the children for that day.

Shared care is where the client cared for a child for some of the time during the assessment period and someone other than their current spouse —for example, their former spouse—cared for the child for the rest of the assessment period.

The general rule still applies in cases of shared care.

Example

Jack and Abbey are separated and share the care of their 3 dependent children. Jack and Abbey share their FTB entitlement in a 50/50 split. On any one day only Jack or Abbey is able to claim FTB for that day.

This is the amount of time during the assessment period that a client cared for a dependent child, expressed as a percentage of the assessment period. A client cannot claim FTB for a child if their shared care percentage is less than 10 per cent.

A pattern of care can be established using one of 3 ways and must be considered in sequence, beginning with Method 1.

Should be used when a family law order, registered parenting plan or court order exists and the care arrangements it specifies reflect the agreed pattern of care declared by the claimant.

Should be used when:

• There is an order or plan in place, BUT the care arrangements have been varied by agreement between the carers and they agree on their respective percentages of care, OR
• There is NO family law order, parenting plan, or court order and the carers of the child have agreed on their respective percentages of care.

Should be used when the carers have NO agreed percentages of care. The Family Assistance Office will need to determine the pattern of care. The decision may be based on a number of factors and the family law order, parenting plan or court order may be used as a guide, if one is in place.

If an individual caring for a child is a shift worker, for example, and the number of nights the child is in their care does not accurately represent the amount of care provided by the individual, then the care percentage should be determined by the number of hours spent in their care.

To calculate the shared care percentage use the following formula:

Number of days in the assessment period

If the shared care percentage is greater than 10 per cent, round to the nearest whole percentage.

In the following circumstances a client may agree to share the FTB entitlement with their spouse:

• if they are a ‘blended family’
• during a period prior to separation

If a client chooses to share the FTB entitlement with their spouse they agree with their spouse what percentage that each will claim. This is called an agreed percentage.

Blended families are an exception to the general rule, as outlined above.

A blended family is a family where there are 2 or more dependent children AND

• at least one of the children is a child of one member of the couple from a previous relationship AND
• at least one of the other children is a child of the couple or the child of the other member of the couple from a previous relationship.

In a blended family, both spouses can share not just the care of the child but the FTB entitlement. They must claim their split of the FTB entitlement in the same way — either both claim via tax delivery or both claim direct fortnightly payments.

Example 1

Bronwyn and Nigel have a blended family with 4 children. Bronwyn shares the care of Selina with her ex-husband. Bronwyn claims 60% of the FTB entitlement and her ex-husband claims 40%. Nigel has full care of his 3 children from a previous relationship. Bronwyn and Nigel have agreed to be paid FTB in a 50/50 split. The total amount of FTB for the family is worked out taking into account the full rate of FTB for Nigel’s children, plus 60% of the rate of FTB for Selina. The total amount is income tested and half the rate is paid to Bronwyn and half to Nigel.

Example 2

Jodie and Thomas have a blended family with 2 children. Thomas shares the care of his son Sam with his ex-wife. Thomas claims 25% of the FTB entitlement and his ex-wife claims 75%. Jodie and Thomas also have a child, Lisa, from their relationship and have agreed to be paid their FTB in a 60/40 split. The total amount of FTB for the family is calculated taking into account the full rate of FTB for Lisa and 25% of the rate for Sam. The total amount is income tested and 60% paid to Jodie and 40% paid to Thomas.

The other exception to the general rule is when adults who have separated both make a claim for FTB for a past period, during which they were still a couple.

Example

Paul and Catherine separated on the 26th August and share the care of their 3 dependent children with Paul claiming 35% and Catherine claiming 65%. Neither have claimed FTB for the period they were together. Paul and Catherine have agreed to share their FTB entitlement for the period 1st July – 25th August in a 50/50 split.

Paul’s full FTB entitlement is calculated taking into account the 35% shared care amount and half of the entitlement for the period prior to separation. Catherine’s full FTB entitlement is calculated taking into account her 65% shared care amount and half of the FTB entitlement for the period prior to separation