Here are the 19 grounds you can object under if you disagree with a child support decision or assessment, and situations that may apply to each ground.
The ground is ‘To make or not to make a child support formula assessment’.
You may want to object under this ground if:
- you applied for child support and we declined your application
- some else applied for child support, naming you as a parent, and you do not think you should have to pay.
Other situations may also apply.
When objecting may not help
If we declined your application because you did not fill out the form properly, you’ll need to make a new application before your child support can start. You can do this by calling us, or applying through your myIR.
If your assessment does not show the time a child spends living with you, you just need to tell us about it. We’ll confirm with the other parent. You do not need to object.
If you’re unsure, call us to talk about your situation.
The ground is ‘About the proportion of ongoing daily care established for a child’.
You may want to object under this ground if:
- we made a decision about your level of ongoing daily care, and you think it’s wrong
- someone applied for child support, naming you as parent and showing they have 100% care, but the child lives with you full-time.
Other situations may also apply.
When objecting may not help
When we calculate care levels, we look at the usual number of nights the child lives with you, not any emotional or financial support you give them.
If you have special circumstances that you think should be taken into account in your child support, you could apply for a child support review instead. Here are the details.
The ground is ‘That a child is or is not a dependent child’.
For child support, ‘dependent child’ means you are their legal parent, but you do not pay or receive child support for them. For example, if you and your new partner had a baby.
You may want to object under this ground if you told us about your dependent child coming to live with you but we did not add them to your child support assessment.
Other situations may apply.
When objecting may not help
We cannot add a dependent child if:
- you are not their legal parent
- you, or someone else, are getting child support payments for them
- you have them less than 28% of the time (5 nights a fortnight)
- they do not qualify, for example if they are working full-time or are married.
There are many reasons why we might add or refuse to add a dependent child. You can call us to talk about your situation and see how we can help.
The ground is ‘To accept a request to end a child support formula assessment’.
You may want to object under this ground if the other parent or carer cancelled child support but you think it should continue – for example, because the child came to live with you.
Only the receiving carer can cancel a formula assessment but all people who share the care need to agree.
When objecting may not help
If the other parent cancelled before the child came to live with you, you’ll need to apply for a new child support formula assessment.
The ground is ‘Not to accept a request to end a child support formula assessment, or to overturn a previous decision to accept a request to end a child support formula assessment’.
You may want to object under this ground if:
- we did not cancel child support when you asked us to
- your child support was cancelled, but we changed our minds and restarted it again.
When objecting may not help
If we turned down your child support cancellation request because you are the paying parent, you need to ask the receiving carer to fill out a cancellation form.
If the child lives with more than one parent or carer (you have recognised care), then both parents need to sign the cancellation form.
This ground is ‘To decline an estimation’.
You may want to object under this ground if you estimated your income because it had dropped by at least 15%, but we did not accept your estimation.
You’ll need to show us why we should have accepted your estimation.
When objecting may not help
If your estimation did not meet the requirements, you need to either estimate again or consider other options. You can call us to talk about your situation.
This ground is ‘To issue an assessment because I estimated but I have not filed my tax return’.
If you’ve estimated your income and need to file an income tax return (for example, because you’re self-employed), but your return is overdue, we may reassess your child support on the original income amount from before the estimation.
You may want to object under this ground if:
- you now have your income information and want to be squared up on it (make sure to provide this within 28 days)
- you did not need to file a return and should be squared up on your salary or wage income
- you have a non-standard due date for your return, so are allowed to file it after the usual due date.
When objecting may not help
If you still need to file your return, objecting will not help unless you file it at the same time.
This ground is ‘To charge a penalty’.
You may want to object under this ground if:
- we’ve charged a penalty, for example on overdue child support, and you think we should not have
- your payment was late because of circumstances outside your control
- you’ve now made the payment.
In these cases, contact us first to ask for the penalty to be written off. If we turn you down, you can then object.
When objecting may not help
If you were charged a penalty because your payment was overdue, but you still have not made that payment, you need to pay it before you ask us to remove the penalty.
This ground is ‘To accept a voluntary agreement’.
You may want to object under this ground if the other parent registered a voluntary agreement that involves you, but:
- you did not agree to the amount
- the agreement is outdated and should not be used.
Voluntary agreements need both parents’ signatures.
When objecting may not help
If you agreed to the voluntary agreement but now want to change to a formula assessment where we work out the child support amount, just apply for a formula assessment. You can do this over the phone.
This ground is ‘To decline a voluntary agreement’.
You may want to object under this ground if you tried to register your voluntary agreement with us, we turned it down, and you think we should have accepted it.
When objecting may not help
If we turned down your registration because both parents had not signed it, you need to properly fill out a new form and send it to us.
If you get an Unsupported Child Benefit for the child you want the voluntary agreement for.
This ground is ‘To accept or decline a change to a voluntary agreement’.
You may want to object under this ground if:
- you asked us to change your voluntary agreement to a different amount but we turned you down
- we made a change to your voluntary agreement but you did not agree to it.
When objecting may not help
If you changed your mind after signing the new agreement, you’ll need to discuss this with the other parent.
If we turned you down because both parents did not sign the registration form, you’ll need to fill out a new form and make sure both parents sign it.
This ground is ‘About the date a change of circumstances occurred’.
You may want to object under this ground if you think we got the date wrong in any of these situations.
- Your child came to live with you.
- You started or stopped sharing care with the other parent.
- Your child started full-time work or moved out to live with their partner.
- You got back together with the other parent.
Other situations may apply.
When objecting may not help
Generally, we need to be told about changes within 28 days of them taking place. Otherwise, we can only update your child support from the date you tell us about the change.
In certain cases, we can only ever update child support from the date we are told about a change. For example, if you tell us about a change to the ongoing care that you provide, and the change means either that your entitlement goes up or the payments you make go down.
In these cases, objecting is unlikely to make any difference.
This ground is ‘To accept or decline a change of circumstances’.
You may want to object under this ground if:
- you told us about a change of circumstances but we did not update your child support
- you disagree with us changing your child support because the other parent told us about a change in their circumstances. (In this case, the other parent would need to have told you that they did this. For privacy reasons, we do not share this kind of information.)
When objecting may not help
If we cancelled child support because we thought the child did not qualify, then were given proof that they did still qualify and restarted it, you would need strong proof along with your objection.
This ground is ‘To decline a request for an exemption from paying child support’.
You may want to object under this ground if you applied for an exemption and we turned you down, but you can prove you meet the requirements.
When objecting may not help
If you did not meet the requirements for an exemption, for example if you were not in hospital or prison for 13 weeks in a row, you will have to look at other options.
If you did not fill out the exemption form properly, or if we need someone else’s signature, you need to either fill out the form again or get that signature.
You are earning more income than you are allowed to.
Contact us to talk about your options.
This ground is ‘To stop or not to stop child support payments while I am waiting for an administrative review decision’.
Administrative reviews are also called child support reviews. You can apply for payments to stop until a decision is made on your review, but generally they continue.
You may want to object under this ground if:
- you applied for us to stop child support payments until a decision was made on your review, but we turned you down
- we agreed to stop payments that the other parent was making to you.
When objecting may not help
If there has been no unusual delay in the review process, it’s unlikely that objecting will make any difference.
This ground is ‘To decline a refund an overpayment because I still have child support to pay’.
You may want to object under this ground if:
- you made a payment that was intended for somewhere else, and it went to your child support by mistake
- your child support is up to date, and your future child support is being paid through your wages.
When objecting may not help
We can only refund your overpayment if:
- you have no overdue child support
- there are no missing details that could change your child support assessment.
Contact us to talk about your situation.
This ground is ‘The annual or monthly rate is incorrectly calculated’.
You may want to object under this ground if you got a notice of assessment and you think we’ve made a mistake in working out how much child support you will get or pay.
When objecting may not help
The child support formula is based on many different things, including the income we hold for you and the other parent, how many children you have, who they live with, and how old they are.
If any of these details are wrong, the amount will also be wrong. It’s best to contact us if you think any details in your notice need changing, as it may be easy to fix.
If your income has gone down, you’d be better off estimating your income.
This ground is ‘The period of liability is incorrect’.
You may want to object under this ground if you think the date your child support started or ended is wrong. For example:
- if you noticed that on the date your child support began, you and the other parent were still together and had not yet broken up
- if it ended because your child went into full-time work, but the date is too early.
When objecting may not help
If you did not tell us about a change within 28 days of it happening.
If the date was a long time ago, we may decide not to change it because of how that could affect the child or other parent.
For example, if you started paying child support through us 10 years ago, but recently realised the start date was a week too early. In this case, your objection would also be extremely late, and we would probably turn it down.
This ground is ‘The assessment is not in accordance with the Child Support Act 1991’.
You may want to apply under this ground if you think your assessment is wrong. For example:
- we've used your income from the wrong year to assess the child support
- you think there is something else wrong with the assessment based on the law.
However, you would need to show that the assessment does not line up with the law. Please contact us to talk about your situation, as there may be an easier way to help you.
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