If you cared for children in the past, but did not apply for Working for Families at the time, you may be able to get payments for the past years involved.
If you have not already registered, you’ll need to register first.
Register for Working for Families
Once you have registered, contact us to see if you qualify for payments for past years and let us know why you did not apply at the time.
We'll need details of your family income for the years involved. That means we may ask you to file past-year IR3 income tax returns. If you have a partner, they may need to file returns too.
Working for Families and Best Start - contact us
Time limit
How far back can you go with Working for Families? We can change an assessment up to 4 years ago depending on the date your original income tax assessments were filed. You can apply for Working for Families payments for any tax year that was assessed 1, 2, 3, or 4 years ago.
There are special rules for tax years assessed more than 4 years ago.
Tax years run from 1 April to 31 March. So 1 April 2025 to 31 March 2026 is the 2026 tax year.
Going back more than 4 years
You can apply for Working for Families for earlier past years as long as you have not already had an income tax assessment for that year.
We'll ask you to file an IR3 income tax return so we can calculate your Working for Families entitlement. If you have a partner, they'll need to file an IR3 return too.
Even salary and wage earners will need to file an IR3 return.
Jacob and Madison have 1 child, Holly, who was born 15 December 2015. But the couple only found out about Working for Families in the 2026 tax year.
Principal caregiver Madison contacted us asking if she could get Working for Families payments all the way back to Holly's date of birth (which is in the 2016 tax year).
Past-year tax assessments
Here is Madison and Jacob's history of income tax assessments showing the Working for Families entitlement for each year.
| Tax year | Income tax assessment | Working for Families entitlement |
|---|---|---|
| 2022-2025 | Madison YES Jacob YES | YES |
| 2021 | Madison YES Jacob NO | YES, and Jacob will need to file an IR3 income tax return |
| 2018-2020 | Madison YES Jacob YES | NO, there are income tax assessments for these years |
| 2017 | Madison NO Jacob NO | YES, and both need to file an IR3 income tax return |
| 2016 | Madison YES Jacob YES | NO, there are income tax assessments in this year |
Going back 4 years
Madison can apply for Working for Families payments for any tax year that was assessed 1, 2, 3, or 4 years ago.
We're in the 2026 tax year now, so we can go back to assessments made in the 2022 tax year. Madison's 2021 assessment was made in the 2022 tax year, so she qualifies for payments for the 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025 back years - plus Working for Families for the current 2026 tax year.
Jacob will need to file an IR3 tax return for the 2021 tax year so we can work out the family income for that year.
Going back more than 4 years
Madison can apply for Working for Families for any year back to the date of Holly's birth, (which is in the 2016 tax year) as long as she has not already had an income tax assessment for that year.
That means she can only apply for Working for Families for the 2017 tax year.
We'll ask both Madison and Jacob to file IR3 income tax returns for the 2017 tax year so we can work out the family income for that year.
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