Your eligibility for FamilyBoost depends on who cares for your children, your household income and the type of childcare you pay for.
Eligibility
You may be able to receive FamilyBoost if:
- you are the caregiver of a child, or children aged 5 and under
- you have household income of less than $45,000 a quarter
- you have costs from a licensed early childhood education (ECE) provider
- you are a tax resident of New Zealand.
If you have a partner, only 1 of you can register for FamilyBoost
The maximum entitlement is $975 each quarter. If you earn more than $35,000 in a quarter, your repayment will reduce by 9.75 cents for each dollar you earn — until your income reaches $45,000.
Check if your ECE provider is licensed.
Early Learning Services | Education Counts
Calculating your household income
We assess FamilyBoost claims quarterly. If your household income changes from quarter to quarter, you may be eligible in 1 quarter but not another.
There will be no change to your claim if your income is different at the end of the year.
Find out how we calculate household incomes for FamilyBoost.
Care arrangements
Separated caregivers or caregivers living in separate households can claim FamilyBoost if they:
- have some day-to-day care of the child or children
- have costs for ECE
- provide separate invoices.
Next steps
Find out how to register for and claim FamilyBoost in myIR.
Morgan and Nikau earn $175,000 a year together from their salaries. That means that for most quarters, their income from their salaries is $43,750.
Nikau usually also earns $60 extra income per month as a digital content creator, adding $180 to their quarterly income. That brings Morgan and Nikau’s total quarterly income to $43,930. For most quarters, they can claim FamilyBoost.
In 1 quarter, Nikau earns $600 a month extra income instead of $60 from their digital content creation. That pushes Morgan and Nikau’s quarterly income to $45,550.
Because their income for this quarter is higher than $45,000, Morgan and Nikau will not be eligible for FamilyBoost in this quarter, even though they still earn less than $180,000 a year.