Employment income confirmation

Do you have a letter that says We need you to check and update your past income information? If so, don’t read any further. Read how to check and update your past income instead.

We have a duty to protect the Australian welfare system. Our compliance program helps to identify incorrect payments, adjust payments or recover money owed.

We match information with the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) and other government agencies as part of this process.

You can view our online guides for help:

• logging in to your Employment Income Confirmation using your Confirmation Code
• checking your employment details
• checking and entering your employment income details
• getting more time to do the Employment Income Confirmation.

Getting a letter

We’ll send you a letter if the income details we have for you don’t match. This means the employment income information we get from the ATO are different to the details you gave us.

It’s important to know this letter is not a debt letter. Our letter asks you to check the details provided by the ATO carefully. You need to check the all of the following information:

• name of your employer or employers
• dates you worked for them
• amount of income you earned.

You should check if your employer uses a name other than their registered business name. You might find this information on any of the following documents that belong to you:

• bank statements
• pay slips
• group certificates
• payment summary.

You should also confirm the dates you worked for your employer. The dates you worked and how much you earned affect how we calculate your payment amount.

Make sure you enter your income for each fortnight. How much you earn may vary so you should check your pay slips or bank statements for the correct details. We may ask you to send us copies of these.

Getting your details ready

You’ll need to have your employment and income details ready before you start the review.

Employment income, also known as earnings, is what an employee gets in return for work they’ve done.

Examples of employment income include all of the following:

• salary or wages
• commissions
• allowance in excess of relevant expenses
• pay for piece work, for example, pay for an amount of fruit picked
• fixed and variable price contracts
• fringe benefits related to employment.

Other examples of employment income include:

• payment from your own private trusts, but not distributions
• payment from your own company, but not dividends
• regular drawings of income we recognise as being for work performed, even if they may be non-remunerative lump sums.

Employment income you and your partner earn may affect your rate of payment from us.

You may need all of the following paperwork about your income:

• pay slips
• separation certificates
• group certificate or payment summary
• bank statements for the account or accounts your employer pays your income into.

If your employer pays your income into more than 1 account, make sure you have statements for all these accounts. You can get these from your bank or financial provider for up to 7 years.

Confirming your employment income

Use our Employment Income Confirmation service to confirm or update your employment details online.

There are 2 ways to do this. You can use your Centrelink online account through myGov or use the URL and confirmation code.

Using your Centrelink online account

If you have a Centrelink online account sign in to myGov and select Centrelink. Then select either of the following:

• Employment Income Confirmation then Employment Income from the MENU
• the Review employment information task.

Use our online guide for checking your employment details if you need help.

Sign in

Using the URL and confirmation code

Use the URL and confirmation code in your letter to log in to the Employment Income Confirmation, if either:

• you don’t have a Centrelink online account
• you don’t want to use it.

You’ll need all of these things to log in:

• your Customer Reference Number (CRN) and confirmation code from your letter
• your current Medicare card number
• a current Australian driver licence or Australian passport to prove your identity
• an email address or mobile phone number so we can send you a security code.

Read our online guide for logging in using Confirmation Code for more information.

Confirm your employment details

You’ll need to check your employment details and confirm if you worked for each employer listed.

Read our online guide for checking your employment details.

Confirm and enter your employment income details

You’ll need to confirm and enter your employment income details for each employer listed.

Read the online guide for Checking and entering your employment income details.

Requesting an extension

You have 28 days from the day you get your letter to check your details. If you haven’t checked your details by the date on your letter, we’ll send you a reminder letter. We’ll do this 14 days after your initial due date.

If you need more time, you can ask for an extension online. After you’ve logged into the Employment Income Confirmation service, select Need more time?

Or you can call us on the Customer Compliance line.

Read our online guide for requesting more time.

Understanding your assessment result

Once you’ve completed your employment income confirmation, you’ll get an assessment result.

The Assessment Result page helps you understand the assessment. You’ll find all of these tabs on the page:

• Debt explanation gives details on how we calculated the debt
• Centrelink payment history shows the Centrelink payments you got each fortnight
• You reported to Centrelink shows the income you’ve reported to us in the past
• What you just told us is a summary of the details you entered in the review

Call us on the Customer Compliance line if you either:

• believe the assessment result is incorrect
• think you’ve made a mistake.

You can give us new details and we’ll reassess your situation. You can also ask for a review at any time.

It’s important you tell us if your circumstances change. Keeping us up to date means we can assess your circumstances correctly and make the right payment.

You need to tell us if there are changes to any of the following:

• your personal and contact details
• your bank details
• your relationship status, for example if you become partnered or separate from your partner
• care arrangements for anyone in your care, including your children
• your work status and income your earn.

You also need to tell us if any of the following things happen:

• you’re leaving the country, temporarily or permanently
• you get a lump sum payment
• your income or assets change, including your partner's income and assets
• you’ve started or finished studying.

Finding help

If you need help with your Employment Income Confirmation, call the Customer Compliance line and talk to a Compliance Officer. Please make sure you have all your relevant employment income details ready.

You can call us on the Customer Compliance line if you need help.

You can call us if you’ve lost or forgotten your confirmation code. You may need to answer some questions to help us identify you.

Remember, you can call us yourself or appoint someone to deal with us on your behalf.

If you don’t have internet access, you can go to any of our service centres. We also offer a referral service to our social work services.