From the category archives:

Your Money

FTB Supplements 2009-10

July 25, 2010
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I took a large number of calls last week sorting out confusion surrounding what people like to call “bonus” payments. I’m referring to the Family Tax Benefit Part A and Part B Supplements. 
How much is it?
For the 2009-10 year, the maximum payments are $711.75 per child (part A) and $346.75 (part B).
How Do I Get it?
Generally, if [...]

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Carer Supplement Payments 2010

July 1, 2010
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 One of the most common Centrelink questions I receive this time of year has to do with the Carer Supplement payments…
who qualifies for it, how much will it be and when is it paid?
 
$600 Carer Supplement
From today,  more than 500,000 carers across Australia will receive a $600 Carer Supplement, as part of the Australian Government’s [...]

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New Education Requirement for FTB Part A

July 1, 2010
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From 1 July 2010, new education participation requirements will be introduced for Family Tax Benefit (FTB) Part A for young people aged 16 to 20. 
This means that around 300,000 children aged from 16 to 20 will need to be enrolled in a full-time course leading to Year 12 or equivalent qualification, or have completed the [...]

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More Flexibility for Pensioners

July 1, 2010
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From 1 July, pensioners can receive advance payments of up to a maximum amount of $1,005.75 for singles and $758.10 for each member of a couple in a six month period. This is a significant increase on the previous maximum advance of $500 a year for singles and each member of a couple. 
Part-rate pensioners will [...]

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The New Income Tests – will you still get your rebate?

June 1, 2010
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As you’re  probably aware, there have been some changes to income tests which affect your eligibility to certain tax rebates and government benefits. We now have to get used to terms like ‘adjusted taxable income’, ‘rebate income’ and  ‘income for surcharge purposes’.
But wait, there’s more…  the income tests for HELP amd SFSS repayments, Mature Age Worker Tax Offset [...]

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Family Tax Benefit & Tax Returns

April 29, 2010
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We are seeing more and more people lately who have found themselves cut off from household Centrelink payments until  they or their partner lodge overdue tax returns.
If you receive Family Tax Benefit and you or your partner have outstanding returns for any year you were receiving FTB, don’t wait until your payments are stopped and you’re unable to [...]

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Become Your Own Personal CFO

April 9, 2010
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Budgets and personal finances are not most people’s favourite subjects. Even so, it often surprises me how many entrepreneurs happily manage their business finances and yet fail to deal with their own money.
I’m a firm advocate of treating the family finances as if the household were a business. Looking at your money this way doesn’t [...]

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Changes to Youth Allowance on the way

March 17, 2010
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Apparently the Government have finally reached agreement regarding the passage of the Youth Allowance bill in the Senate (I posted a bit about this way back in July when it was first announced). This should see more than 150,000 students start to receive new scholarships from April 1st. It’s worth noting that a few changed have [...]

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Centrelink Deeming Rates to Change

March 10, 2010
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As the economy recovers from the global economic crisis, rates of return on investments are also beginning to increase.
As a result, the deeming rates, which are used to assess income from a range of financial investments held by pensioners and other income support recipients, will also increase on 20 March from the record low levels [...]

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Pensions To Increase Later This Month

March 10, 2010
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Approx. 4 million Australians will receive an increase in their pensions and other income support payments from 20 March due to indexation.
Pension payments will increase by $29.20 a fortnight for singles on the maximum rate, and $44.00 a fortnight for couples combined on the maximum rate.
Following these increases, total pension payments for those on the maximum rate, [...]

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APRA releases annual superannuation figures to 30 June 2009

February 11, 2010
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The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) has released its Annual Superannuation Bulletin for the financial year to 30 June 2009.  Total superannuation assets fell during the year by $66.4 billion, or 5.8 per cent, to $1.07 trillion.
Small funds, which have fewer than five members, were the only funds to experience an increase in assets over [...]

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SMSFs – On the ATO Radar?

December 30, 2009
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The ATO will be conducting audits of SMSFs in 2009/10. 
Recently, the ATO has released various material regarding SMSFs.  Taxpayers should be aware of this material and the possible implications for their SMSF.
 The hot topics on the ATO’s radar at the moment include:

PAYG obligations – where a benefit is paid, SMSFs may have PAYG withholding obligations.  [...]

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New Education Requirements for FTB A

December 7, 2009
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From today, around 273,000 families will receive a letter from Centrelink to explain new requirements for Family Tax Benefit Part A for children aged 16 to 20.
Legislation passed by the Parliament last week will make participation in education or training a requirement for payment of Family Tax Benefits for young people aged 16 and over. 
From [...]

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Miss out on a bonus payment?

November 27, 2009
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If you did not receive a payment as part of the Economic Security Strategy (ESS) in December 2008 or the Household Stimulus Package (HSP) in March to April 2009, you may be eligible for payments under administrative schemes announced by the Government.
Eligibility has been extended to include around 2,000 families and carers in respect of [...]

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Sydney man sentenced on early access to super charges

September 15, 2009

ASIC Media Release
Mr Gerard Karl Little, of Castlecrag, New South Wales, has been sentenced today in the District Court of New South Wales by Judge Williams to two years imprisonment, to be released after eight months, for unlawfully allowing the early access of superannuation benefits. Mr Little’s release is conditional upon entering a $1,000 security [...]

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