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We have information in different languages about Balancing Family Tax Benefit
For Centrelink payments and services, you can call our multilingual phone service.
The financial year runs from 1 July to 30 June. We start balancing FTB payments after the financial year ends and you get your last payment.
You usually need to confirm your income before we can balance your payments. If you have a partner, they’ll need to do this too.
If you’re unsure what you need to do to balance your payments, you can check using our what families need to do at tax time tool.
If you lodge a tax return
Once you or your partner lodge your tax returns, the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) will tell us your incomes. We’ll use this information to balance your FTB.
Some Centrelink payments won’t pre-fill in your tax return and won’t show on your Centrelink payment summary. Find out more about payments that don’t show on it.
If you don’t need to lodge a tax return
You need to tell us if you or your partner, if you have one, don’t need to lodge a tax return.
In some cases, we can’t balance your FTB unless you tell us how much income you or your partner got.
If you have a Centrelink online account linked to myGov, you can sign in and tell us if you and your partner don’t need to lodge a tax return and confirm your income for the financial year.
If you don’t have a myGov account or a Centrelink online account, you’ll need to create them.
You can also tell us using the Express Plus Centrelink mobile app or myGov app.
When you tell us you don’t need to lodge a tax return online, some of our payments won’t pre-fill. They also won’t appear on your Centrelink payment summary. You must include all adjusted taxable income you got from Centrelink and any other income you had. This is so we can balance your payments correctly.
If you were affected by a declared natural disaster and got a government payment, you may need to include this as income. You must also include any taxable payments and tax-free pension or benefits you got from other government departments, including some payments from the Department of Veterans’ Affairs.
Find out more about payments that don’t show on your Centrelink payment summary.
If you separated from your partner during the financial year
If you separated from your partner during the financial year, we’ll balance your FTB after you confirm your income. We’ll use the income estimate provided for your ex-partner if they haven’t lodged a tax return yet.
If they lodge a tax return later, we may balance your FTB again using their actual income. There are special rules in place to make sure you’re not disadvantaged if your ex-partner’s actual income is higher than their estimated income.
If you also got Child Care Subsidy (CCS), find out more about how we balance CCS if you separated from a partner.
If your partner died during the financial year
If your partner died during the financial year, we’ll balance your FTB after you confirm your income. We’ll use the income estimate provided for your partner.
If you need support, there are services to help you.
If you were single and got an income support payment
If you were single and got an income support payment for the financial year, you might not have to do anything for your FTB to balance. You may still need to lodge a tax return or confirm your income for another reason, such as if you got CCS or have a child support assessment.
Find out more about FTB balancing dates if you were single and got an income support payment.
If you got Child Care Subsidy
It’s important to keep in mind that we balance FTB and CCS separately.
If you got CCS, you’ll need to confirm your income, even if you don’t need to for FTB. Find out more about balancing CCS.