What happens when you’re overpaid

Watch our video about Centrelink debts and overpayments.

The process when you’ve been overpaid

1. We identify an overpayment and check if you owe us money

We may notice you’ve been overpaid after you tell us of a change or complete a review.

Once we know you’ve been overpaid, we check if you have a debt that you need to repay.

If you don’t need to repay money, this is where the process ends.

2. We contact you to explain why you owe money and what you need to do

If you need to repay money, we’ll always send you a letter. The letter will show how much you were overpaid and explain why you owe money. The letter will also include a due date when you need to start repaying the money. We send this in the post or online to your myGov Inbox.

Sometimes we’ll call you or send you a text message. Make sure you check it’s us and not a scammer. If you’re not sure if a call is from us, hang up and call back our debt recovery line.

If you’re an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander Australian, you can call the Centrelink Indigenous debt recovery line.

For help in your language, you can call the Centrelink multilingual phone service.

If your Centrelink online account is linked to myGov, you can see if you need to repay us money online. To do this, sign in to myGov and select Money you owe.

Sign in to myGov

You can also use the Express Plus Centrelink mobile app.

There are steps you can take if you:

• want us to explain why you were overpaid
• disagree with the debt
• can’t start repaying the money by your due date
• are considering a debt agreement or bankruptcy.

Otherwise, you’ll need to start repaying the money.

3. Talk to us about repayment options

If you get a Centrelink payment, we’ll deduct money from your payment. You don’t need to do anything, but you can change how much we deduct.

If you no longer get a Centrelink payment, you should either:

• repay the money in full
• set up a payment arrangement.

The due date is usually 28 days after we send you the letter.

By the due date, you need to have done one of the following:

• repaid the money in full
• set up a payment arrangement with us
• contacted our debt recovery line to discuss an extension to your due date.

If you haven’t done one of these things, and you’re not getting a Centrelink payment, we may:

• charge you interest
• ask the ATO to withhold or garnishee some or all of your tax refund
• ask your employer, bank or other organisation to help us recover the money
• issue a Departure Prohibition Order.

In rare situations, we may take legal action.

We only take these actions as a last resort if we haven’t heard from you. So please contact us before the due date if you can’t repay the money.

Help when you’ve been overpaid

If you need help, information or support, you can:

• find out what to do if you disagree or can’t repay a debt
• contact a social worker
• find out about our Financial Information Service (FIS) and how a FIS officer can help you
• read about how to deal with debt.

You can also access information about your past Centrelink debts.

Help in hardship

If you’re in hardship, or have experienced hardship in the past, we encourage you to let us know.

This may include situations such as family and domestic violence, serious mental health challenges, addiction, natural disasters, homelessness or other major life pressures.

We understand that difficult situations can affect how you manage payments, report information, or make decisions.

We can take these circumstances into account when we look at your debt and what options are available.

In some situations, we can waive all or part of your debt under the special circumstances waiver. This means you no longer need to repay the debt.

We may do this even if you gave us wrong information because you were experiencing hardship.

We can do this even if you’ve already repaid the debt.

If we waive an amount you’ve already paid, we’ll either refund that amount to you or we may use the refund to repay another outstanding debt.

If you’ve been through a difficult situation and have a debt, call the Centrelink debt recovery line to talk about your options.