Income Apportionment Resolution Scheme

What the Resolution Scheme is

The Income Apportionment Resolution Scheme (the Resolution Scheme) offers compensation for people to recognise that income apportionment was not consistent with the social security law at the time.

This will be through one-off payments of up to $600 for each eligible debt affected by income apportionment.

The amount you’re eligible for will depend on the total value of your debt as of 30 January 2026. If you’ve already repaid money towards the debt, this won’t affect the amount of your Resolution Scheme payment.

The table below shows how much you may receive for each eligible debt.

Resolution Scheme payments aren’t taxable and won’t be assessed as income. You don’t need to report your Resolution Scheme payment to us.

Who is eligible for the Resolution Scheme

You may be eligible for the Resolution Scheme if all the following apply:

• you received an employment income debt for a debt period between 20 September 2003 and 6 December 2020
• your debt was likely to be affected by income apportionment and raised before 5 December 2025
• you haven’t been prosecuted and found guilty of fraud in relation to your debt
• your debt has not been previously waived in full or zeroed before 30 January 2026.

You can apply for the Resolution Scheme if your employment income debt was affected by income apportionment between 20 September 2003 and 6 December 2020.

If you have multiple eligible debts, you can apply for a Resolution Scheme payment for each debt.

To check if you’re eligible, follow the steps to apply for the Resolution Scheme.

How to apply for the Resolution Scheme

Applications for the Resolution Scheme opened on 30 January 2026 and close on 29 January 2027.

If your Centrelink online account is linked to myGov you can apply online. To do this, sign into myGov, select Money you owe, and then select Apply for Resolution Scheme. If you have eligible debts, they will show here.

Sign in to myGov

If you don’t have a myGov account or a Centrelink online account, you’ll need to create them.

When you submit an application online for the Resolution Scheme, we’ll give you a receipt ID and send you a confirmation letter.

You can also call us and apply over the phone. Contact us on the Income Apportionment line.

You’ll also need to call us on this line if:

• you only want to apply for a Resolution Scheme payment for some of your eligible debts
• you can’t see a debt listed that you think should be eligible.

Let us know if you need an interpreter and we’ll arrange one for free.

When we’ll contact you

After your claim has been submitted, we’ll contact you from July 2026 to let you know if you’ll get a payment and the amount.

You can choose to accept or decline the Resolution Scheme payment.

How the Resolution Scheme impacts your legal rights

If you choose to accept a Resolution Scheme payment for a debt, you’ll be agreeing to all the following:

• to release the Commonwealth from all liability for claims regarding the use of income apportionment to calculate your debt
• not to bring, or continue, any legal action in relation to the Commonwealth’s use of income apportionment in raising that debt
• not to seek compensation in relation to that debt.

We recommend seeking independent legal advice if you’re concerned about the impact of accepting an offer of a Resolution Scheme payment.

Applying for the Resolution Scheme doesn’t impact your right to review or appeal your debt. This means that you can still seek review of the decision to raise the debt or the decision to recover the debt.

Download the Income Apportionment Resolution Scheme factsheet.

What happens to criminal prosecutions

The Resolution Scheme isn’t open to debts calculated using income apportionment that occurred due to fraud. That means that people convicted of fraud won’t be eligible to receive a one-off payment for those debts.

This is because people are not prosecuted because of a debt alone. Prosecution requires evidence that the person engaged in fraudulent behaviour to get more money than they were entitled to.

While income apportionment may have affected the amount of their debt, it doesn’t change the intent to commit fraud.

People can appeal their conviction or sentence related to a debt impacted by income apportionment. People who want to do this should seek independent legal advice and contact the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions (CDPP).

If people want their debt to be recalculated for their appeal, they can call our Income apportionment line.

People can apply to the Resolution Scheme for debts impacted by income apportionment that weren’t the result of fraud.