Farm Financial Assessment

After you claim

After you claim, we’ll assign you a Farm Household Case Officer (FHCO). Your FHCO will talk to you about the Farm Financial Assessment (FFA).

You’ll usually have one month from the date of our request to complete your FFA. Talk to your FHCO as soon as possible if you need more time.

About the assessment

We’ll send you a letter about your FFA telling you what you need to complete the assessment. It’ll include both:

a Farm Financial Assessment Supplement voucher
your One Time Access Code.

You’ll need to meet with a qualified or experienced financial assessor to complete the assessment.

Financial assessor

This type of financial assessor is someone who either:

normally provides this kind of advice or assessment
has qualifications or expertise in a relevant field.

Examples of relevant fields include:

agronomy
accounting
financial planning
farm consultancy
rural financial counselling.

A financial assessor doesn’t need to:

be a member of a professional association
hold an Australian financial services licence.

The financial assessor can’t have a conflict of interest. This means they can’t either:

have an interest in the farm, including a business or trust that owns the farm
be an immediate family member of yours or anyone else who has an interest in the farm.

Check with your FHCO about who can be a financial assessor.

You may need to pay a fee to the financial assessor who completes your assessment. The financial assessor sets the fee. You should agree to this fee before you get them to do your FFA. The Farm Financial Assessment Supplement voucher will help you pay the fee.

Farm Financial Assessment Supplement voucher

We’ll send you a Farm Financial Assessment Supplement voucher to help you pay your financial assessor’s fee. You can use this voucher to pay up to $1,500 for the assessment. You can’t use the voucher to cover additional costs. There are 2 parts of the voucher you’ll need to complete. You’ll need to complete Part A and your financial assessor will need to complete Part B.

If the voucher doesn’t cover the full fee, you’ll need to pay the rest.

Before the assessment

You should do a few things before your assessment.

Complete the Farm Financial Assessment - Part A

The first thing you should do is complete the Farm Financial Assessment - Part A section of the assessment form. It’s best to do this online. If you don’t have a myGov account or Centrelink online account you’ll need to create them.

You’ll need to provide all of the following details:

farm description
property use
condition of your assets
labour input
environmental factors
farming future.

If your Centrelink online account is linked to myGov you can complete the Farm Financial Assessment - Part A section online.

To do this:

Sign in to myGov.
Select Make a claim or view claim status, then Make a claim.
Under Farm Financial Assessment select Get started then follow the prompts to complete your claim.

If you need help with your Centrelink online account use our online help guides.

If you don’t have internet access

If you can’t complete Part A online, you can print the assessment form. This form is just for Part A of the assessment. You need to fill it in and take it to your financial assessor. Don’t send it to us.

Set up an appointment

Once you’ve completed Part A of the form, make an appointment with your financial assessor.

Your financial assessor will complete the full FFA online. They’ll talk to you about your financial position before sending the assessment to us.

Get your documents ready

You’ll need to take some documents and details with you to your appointment. These include all of the following:

a copy of your FFA letter and voucher
your myGov details
any current or recent plans, for example business, agronomy or financial
copies of your tax returns and financial statements from the past 3 years
any superannuation payments, annuities and other income
copies of financial details you provided for your application for Farm Household Allowance.

You’ll also need details of all the following:

any personal or business debts
planned expenses such as your children’s education expenses
current income, including payments from us, income from non-farm employment, and rental income
assets and investments.

Assets and investments can include any of these:

bank and building society accounts
farm management deposits
shares, including any shares your farm enterprise must hold
managed investments.

At the assessment

During the assessment, you and your financial assessor will work through the relevant parts of the assessment together.

Farm Financial Assessment - Part A

If you couldn’t complete this section online your financial assessor will help you complete Part A. Your financial assessor will discuss all of these:

your and your partner’s personal financial position
the financial position of your farm
your place in the farm business
the strengths and weaknesses of your farm
the profitability of your farm business
what factors are causing you financial hardship
any suggestions that may help improve your financial position.

Farm information section

You and your financial assessor will complete the farm information section. Your financial assessor will complete most of this section. To do this you’ll need to give them both of the following:

the One Time Access Code we sent you with your assessment letter
your Customer Reference Number.

You can use your One Time Access Code as many times as needed, until your financial assessor submits your assessment.

Your financial assessor will complete the following steps:

Access the Farm Financial Assessment portal.
Enter your Customer Reference Number.
Enter your One Time Access Code.
Select Log In.
Complete the questions.

Financial position section

You and your financial assessor will complete the Financial position section. It’s a detailed summary of your, your partner’s and your farm’s current financial position. This helps your financial assessor estimate your position financially over the next 3 years.

Once complete, your financial assessor will:

assess your current financial position
complete a strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats evaluation of your overall financial position
summarise the factors affecting your financial position
fill out a report of the financial potential of your farm
offer their qualified opinion of its long term viability
discuss with you the assessment of your financial position.

Where to get advice

The Farm Financial Assessment Companion Guide on the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry website provides lots of advice.

Once you’ve completed the assessment

You or your financial assessor must submit your FFA by the due date. If you need more time call your FHCO. Use the Farm Financial Assessment Supplement voucher we sent in your letter to help you pay the financial assessor.

Your financial assessor will issue you with an invoice for their services. You must provide this to us within 2 months of the invoice date. Please address unpaid invoices to Services Australia.

Return your completed voucher with the invoice. If you’ve already paid the financial assessor, return your payment receipt with the voucher and invoice. You can return these to us either by:

You can also post them to:

Services Australia
Rural and Climate Change Services
Reply Paid 7816
CANBERRA BC ACT 2610

When we pay

Our standard payment terms are 30 days from when you send us a correctly rendered tax invoice. For payment enquiries call our Shared services support desk on 1800 906 144. Follow these prompts:

select option 1 for Services Australia enquiries
then select option 3 for finance services
then select option 2 for financial shared services team
then select option 3 for accounts payable.

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