At the end of each financial year, which is 30 June, Services Australia compares a family’s income estimate with their actual income to check they got the right amount of Child Care Subsidy (CCS). This process is called balancing.
Families need to confirm their income after the end of the financial year for balancing to occur. Families must meet deadlines for this.
If during balancing it is found that a family should have been paid more CCS, they may receive a top-up payment.
Next deadlines
The end of financial year marks two important deadlines for families:
- first deadline for confirming 2021–22 income
- second deadline for confirming 2020–21 income.
Families must act by 30 June 2023 to avoid losing CCS or incurring a debt.
2021–22 financial year (1 July 2021 to 30 June 2022)
All families must confirm their 2021–22 income before the first deadline on 30 June 2023.
If they don’t, their CCS will stop. This means they’ll pay full fees when they use child care.
Services Australia can start a family’s CCS again, but only after they’ve confirmed their income. This means families may miss out on CCS.
2020–21 financial year (1 July 2020 to 30 June 2021)
Most families confirmed their 2020–21 income before the first deadline on 30 June 2022. Families who haven’t must do so by 30 June 2023.
Families that miss this second deadline may need to repay all the CCS they got for 2020–21. They will also lose their eligibility for CCS and Additional Child Care Subsidy (ACCS) from the first CCS fortnight of the 2023–24 financial year.
These families will need to make a new claim to get CCS again.
Families can only claim CCS again once they have:
- confirmed their income, and
- repaid any current or previous child care-related debt, or
- entered into a repayment arrangement.
Families who miss the second deadline will also miss out on any top up of CCS for which they may have been eligible.
How to confirm income
Families confirm their income by:
- lodging their tax return, or
- Telling Services Australia that they don’t need to lodge, even if they’ve already told the Australian Taxation Office.
If a parent separates from their partner, Services Australia will also need their ex-partner's income.
If a parent is concerned their ex-partner won’t lodge their tax return by the deadline they should call the Families line.
Action for providers
The balancing process is a matter between families and Services Australia.
There may be a change to the amount of CCS you receive on behalf of a family after Services Australia balances payments. Full fees will need to be charged to families if their CCS stops.
Families can learn more about balancing on the Services Australia website.