Received a letter today informing that our Family Tax benefit Part B could not be paid and Part A was only payable at the base rate, as records show we are stil overseas. We did go to the UK for a 3 week holiday at Christmas but arrived back in the country January 19th and had no idea that Centrelink had knowledge of this trip. A swift 'phone call to them revealed that our departure from the country was registered with them from the immigration department but our re-entry, apparently not. We were obliged to have informed them of our intentions although their system should have detected that we had returned to Aus. Happily, the matter was quickly resolved with payments switching back to the original amount. Can appreciate that this system is in place to prevent exploitation of assistance payments but had no idea you were expected to inform them of your intent to travel outside of Aus. and the length of your absence. Anyone else aware of this requirement, or is Big Brother just watching me?

i thought i'd read that on their website somewhere. better tell them me and DD are going for a month...

Australian govt departments have amazingly good access to other departments info. ATO and Centerlink share info at the click of a few buttons, also bank interest details. My accountant has one click access through their websites to access all our banking details. My son forgot his interest for a tax return, and accountant said dont bother phoning him, its right here the ATO/Centerlink sites. Quick as a flash all his details.

Ive read on here before that your passport/immigration details are private, I laughed at the time ( it was yet another one of those amazingly dumb are you going to pay your debt threads ) anyway I thought yeah right bet in OZ they aint

I got a bill in 2008 for a error made in 2004, their error I might add, so they also backdate investigations.

Well done for spotting that, hadn't even crossed my mind. Have a good holiday.

It is reassuring to know that they do acknowledge and correct their errors; but just to add to the paranoia we received a letter last year from the tax office, informing us that we had not filed returns for 2003/4/5. We didn't arrive in Aus 'til Feb. 2007!

yes, we had a letter like that saying if we didnt submit our tax return in a certain time we'd be fined thousands!!!!!! and it was for the year before we arrived, very odd. luckily a phone call sorted it.

They must have bought the airline/immigration software from the Uk, same thing here.

The State Motor departments also have immediate access to your departure and arrival dates.

A lot of government data is shared between departments.

Bloody chancers!

Does that mean anyone in the UK that claims family allowance/child benefit now has to inform the relevant authorities of their intentions to travel overseas? When did that come in?

I do think it's a good idea to have joined-up thinking on such matters, so credit to them for that. I wonder if benefit fraud is less than in the UK? Also, it's great that in all instances a telephone call has resolved the matter. I find here that once you become a 'computer says "No"' case in the UK, you are buggered.

Yes, if you leave the UK temporarily for more than eight weeks.
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/childbenefit/need-to-report.htm

In Australia, the rules are:

• Family Tax Benefit (A) is restricted to the base rate when you and/or your child(ren) are temporarily outside Australia for more than 13 weeks.
• Family Tax Benefit (A) base rate payments are cancelled after a three year period and can only restart when you have returned to Australia and lodged a new Family Tax Benefit claim.
• Family Tax Benefit (B) ceases after 13 weeks of temporary absence

http://www.centrelink.gov.au/interne...e!OpenDocument

Obviously not the exactly the same software settings

thanks for that abcd, should still get it all then as we're only away for 4 or 5 weeks

I doubt it. I know that Medicare has a criminal investigation unit which suggests that it is such an issue that they have to have a department for it

Interesting reading. Something I'd never considered before, but clearly makes sense. The 13 week time period corresponds exactly with the date we left for the UK. Just hope this doesn't delay our application for citizenship, as we became eligible the end of Feb, after factoring in our 3 week absence. Don't want to have to wait the extra 10 weeks they believed us to be overseas... was planning a big party.