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If your family’s income is close to this amount, it is important you review your family income estimate carefully. If you don’t update your estimate and your income changes we may pay you too much. If this happens you will have to pay money back.
When you estimate less than $356,756 but earn more
If your estimate is under $356,756 but you end up earning more than this, we will overpay you. If this happens, we’ll recover the full amount of subsidy you got throughout the year.
Keep in mind, if your family income estimate is above $356,756 you won’t get any subsidy.
Read more about how your family income affects Child Care Subsidy.
Example where a family’s estimate is under $356,756 but actual income is over this
Sam and Maddie have a child in centre based care 3 days a week. They estimated their family income to be $345,000 when they applied for the subsidy. They haven’t updated their estimate since. During the year we pay $2,850 to their provider and withhold $150.
After balancing their payments, their actual income was $358,000. This means they should’ve paid full fees. They’re not entitled to any subsidy we paid to their child care service. They’ll need to pay back the full amount of subsidy. The $150 we withheld won’t reduce the overpayment as they were not eligible for this either. Sam and Maddie have to pay back $2,850.
As soon as Sam and Maddie knew their income would be more than their estimate they should’ve updated it. They could do this at any time in the financial year. This would’ve helped them avoid a debt or reduce the money they have to pay back.
When you estimate more than $356,756 but earn less
If you end up earning less than your family income estimate, we may not have paid you enough subsidy. If this happens, we’ll pay any outstanding amount directly to you when we balance your payments.
Read more about how your family income affects Child Care Subsidy.
What you need to do
You need to let us know when there’s a change to your family’s income. You may also want to update your withholding amount.
Update your family’s income estimate
Even a small change in your family’s income can affect your payment. As soon as you know there may be a change, update your estimate as soon as possible. We’ll adjust your payments so we don’t overpay you.
Remember, if you overestimate your family income, you’ll get any outstanding payments when we balance your subsidy.
You can update your family estimate at any time using your Centrelink online account through myGov. Use our online guide to help you update your estimate. You can also use the Express Plus Centrelink mobile app. It only takes a few minutes to do the update and you can do it yourself online.
Adjust the amount withheld
You can increase your withholding percentage. We withhold 5% of your subsidy payments to help reduce the chance of you owing money. You can increase your withholding online, up to 2 times a year.
You can update your withholding using your Centrelink online account through myGov. Use our online guide to help you change your withholding percentage for Child Care Subsidy. You can also use the Express Plus Centrelink mobile app. It only takes a few minutes to do the update and you can do it yourself online.