Paying child support when you live outside Australia

We’ll try to contact you if all of the following apply. You:

• have an Australian child support assessment
• are a paying parent
• live in another country.

We’ll ask about your income and circumstances. We do this to make sure your Australian child support assessment is correct.

What to tell us

You need to tell us:

• about your circumstances, including any other children you may be responsible for
• your income in the currency you earned it in, this may not be in Australian dollars
• what you earned in the financial year where you live, this may not be the same as the Australian financial year
• about documents you have that prove your income.

We use average exchange rates to convert your income into Australian dollars.

We’ll also talk to you about making payments, including making a payment arrangement for any amounts you may owe.

If you don’t give us the information we need we may ask the maintenance authority in your country.

How to tell us

You can tell us by:

• filling in the Income declaration – Income earned outside Australia form
• calling one of our Child Support international lines
• writing to us.

How to pay

You can pay from outside Australia by:

• EasyPay
• bank transfer
• mail.

Once we get your payment, we add it as a credit to your child support account. We then transfer the money to the other parent, normally into their bank account.

EasyPay

Pay safely online 24/7 through Australian Government EasyPay. You can use your credit or debit card. There’s a small card payment fee. Read the Child Support Government EasyPay Terms and Conditions.

Bank transfer

It’s safe and easy to transfer money from your overseas bank to Australia.

Your bank statement will show a record of each transfer.

Bank transfers can cost more than bank drafts. This is because your bank and the Australian bank will both charge fees.

You must use your 16 digit payment reference number without spaces as your reference description. You can find this number on your payer account statement. This makes sure your payment is made correctly and on time.

Transfer payments to:

Account name: Services Australia – Child Support
BSB number: 092 009
Account number: 116 755
SWIFT Code (if needed): RSBKAU2S

Convert to Australian dollars

We pay the bank fee to convert your payment into Australian dollars.

Exchange rates go up and down. This means the amount we credit to your account may be slightly different each time.

Mail

Post us a cheque or bank draft. Make sure it has:

• Services Australia – Child Support as the payee
• your 16 digit payment reference number - this on your payer account statement.

Post to:

It can take up to 25 working days for these payments to get to us.

If you don’t pay

If you don’t pay your child support, we may take action to enforce the collection of the amounts owing. Read more about overdue child support payments.

If you live in a reciprocating jurisdiction we can refer your case to the maintenance authority in your country. Once the assessment is recognised, they will then take responsibility for collecting payments from you. They’ll use the full range of enforcement actions under their law.

If we refer your case to the maintenance authority in your country

In most countries, the court system will need to recognise an Australian child support assessment. The maintenance authority or the court in your country will contact you about this process.

Once the court has recognised the assessment, the maintenance authority will notify you of how much to pay. This amount will be in the currency of the country you live.

You’ll need to make payments to the maintenance authority.

They collect all payments and send them to us.

We’ll then convert the amounts into Australian dollars and send the payments to the receiving parent. We pay the cost of converting the payments into Australian dollars.

Call one of our Child Support international lines if you would like to discuss paying child support when you live outside Australia.

If you live in New Zealand

We manage child support differently if you live in New Zealand.

Read about paying child support from New Zealand.