Hey guys. I have a question for my fellow single mummas who claim centerlink. This year will be my first year doing a tax return involving centerlink. I work part time and earn about 40,000 year. I'm sure I've done all my estimating and income reporting correctly but I'm concerned I'll some how end up owing money. So my question is, what are some of your experiences with this and am I likely to get any nasty surprises or in a better case a bonus of some sort? My children are 3 and 4 and attend daycare 3 days a week.
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I can't comment on the likelihood you got it right. But when I was over paid once they usually just make a 'payment plan' in the form of taking a slight reduction from your current payment that you'd barely even notice. It's really nothing to stress about.
Don't forget Centrelink have the Part A & B supplement - you have that to fall back on if there is a debt (over $700 per child is witheld yearly to reduce the chance of any overpayments). Also, claim as many deductions in your tax return as you legally can - this brings your taxable income down. But if you have been reporting fortnightly (as I understand single parents have to) then at some stage Centrelink would have asked you to provide 8 weeks worth of payslips just to see how it's all tracking. They would have alerted you if you were grossly underestimating. Don't forget Centrelink only deal with gross (before) tax figures. If you can afford to, try and over estimate by $50 or so per fortnight. This will ensure that you are "safe" and you may end up with a nice little lump sum payment at the EOFY.