“I opted for the Parental Leave pay over the baby bonus after the extensive questionnaire I filled out told me I would be better off, now you say I have to pay it back?” – This is what we have been hearing this year at Boston Accounting after entering Centrelink’s payment summary information into numerous clients tax returns where they have received the Parental Leave pay. Oops, someone forgot to tell Centrelink how to read tax withholding tables correctly (it’s not that hard!).
This would be another laughable screw up if it wasn’t so serious. Young mothers with newborn babies have huge costs and they listened to the advice provided to them by Centrelink to make the right financial decision for their situation, but it has gone bad in a big way. These mothers now have to pay it back as tax! What was given by one hand (Centrelink) is now taken by the other (Tax Office).
My guess is that the re-branding of Centrelink, Child Support Agency etc into the “Department of Human Services” was more important than getting this basic payment right! Now the poor people who try to do the right thing are slugged again. Well done (hint: that’s sarcasm).
Here’s a tip for the Minister for Human Services: Don’t waste any more of the people’s tax dollars on re-branding, instead, head over to the tax office website and download the latest tax withholding rates. Perhaps I should put this bit of free advice into a consultant style proposal and charge $100k for it, then someone may listen.
