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Changes to how you report your employment income to Centrelink from 7 December 2020

12 October 2020
Jobs, Land and Economy
Beach shore picture taken from above

From 7 December 2020, there are changes to how you report your gross employment income on your Centrelink reporting day.

From 7 December 2020, there are changes to how you report your gross employment income on your Centrelink reporting day.

This change affects you if you or your partner get income from employment and any of the following Centrelink payments:

  • ABSTUDY
  • Age Pension
  • Austudy
  • Carer Payment
  • Disability Support Pension
  • Farm Household Allowance
  • JobSeeker Payment
  • Partner Allowance
  • Parenting Payment (single and partnered)
  • Special Benefit
  • Status Resolution Support Services
  • Widow Allowance
  • Youth Allowance.

You no longer need to report the income you earned in your reporting period. You now need to report the gross amount you were paid instead.

Gross pay is not the amount of money received in your bank account, It is the amount your employer pays you before tax and any other deductions.

You can find your gross pay amount on your payslip.

If you have a partner, you will also need to report their gross pay too, even if they don’t get a Centrelink payment.

If your reporting date falls between 7 and 18 December 2020, you may need to work out how much you earned before 7 December 2020 but were paid after 7 December 2020.

If you report using your Centrelink online account or Express Plus mobile app, you will be asked some extra questions during this period to help you with this one-off report.

Otherwise, from 7 December 2020 you can use Centrelink’s online calculator to help you work this out, go to Income Reporting on Services Australia's website.

If you get back pay from your employer, Centrelink have also changed how this could affect your payments from 7 December 2020.

Instead of applying it in the past, Centrelink will now assess it in your future payments for the same amount of time the back pay was for, so you don’t get an overpayment.

There aren’t any changes to:

  • reporting how many hours you worked in your reporting period
  • family income estimates for Family Tax Benefit, or
  • employment allowances, like travel and meals.

If you would like more information, go to Income Reporting on Services Australia's website.