Helping families with the CCS

The next deadline for balancing the Child Care Subsidy is 30 June 2021, when families will have a second chance to report their 2018-2019 income, and the first opportunity to report their 2019-2020 income to be eligible for the subsidy.

Reporting income can be quite a tricky process for some families, so the government is encouraging ECEC services to remind families about the deadline and help them through the process as much as possible.

How you can help families:

Remind the families of children attending your service that the deadline to report their income to Services Australia is fast approaching and ask them if they need help.

If they say they do, you can talk them through the steps, or direct them to the Services Australia website, or the Department of Education, Skills and Employment’s website.

Ensure families are aware that if they do not finalise their income report by the deadline, their child care subsidy may be stopped, and they may be liable for the full cost of your service until they complete the reporting process, or reapply for the subsidy.

A family’s income can be confirmed in one of two ways, either by lodging all appropriate tax returns, or by advising Services Australia that there is no need to lodge a tax return due to negligible income being earned.

The second will need to be done in addition to advising the ATO that a tax return will not need to be lodged. If a family’s situation has changed due to partner separation, the ex-partner’s income for the appropriate period will also need to be confirmed for the subsidy to continue.

Families will also need to submit their income estimate for the 2020-2021 financial year so that their child care subsidy can be calculated for the coming year.