Parenting payment help!

[Peaze]

Hi There,

I'm almost 27 weeks and will be claiming parenting payments once my little girl is born. I'll be a single parent.

Could anyone tell me when I need to fill in all applicable forms and what I need to be filling in?

Centrelink is soooooo confusing!!!

As far as I can tell there's Family Tax Benefit A & B, baby bonus, and the parenting payment? Yeah?

Any help would be appreciated

[andy90]

Most hospitals give you the application form after the birth, but you can claim for PPL or baby bonus prior to the babies birth. You can do this online or at family assistance/medicare office. It's alot easier than going into centrelink

[ingridfromhumanservices]

Hi, I’m Ingrid and I work with the Department of Human Services in a team that responds to questions about Centrelink payments and services on social media sites like this one.

Once your baby is born, there are several Centrelink payments available for families, including the Parenting Payment and Family Tax Benefit. There's more info about payments and services for families here: http://www.humanservices.gov.au/customer/subjects/payments-for-families

You should check out the online estimator here; http://www.humanservices.gov.au/customer/enablers/online-estimators. You can put in your family's circumstances and it will give you an idea of what you might be entitled to.

You may also be eligible for Paid Parental Leave or the Baby Bonus. The Paid Parental Leave scheme allows eligible working parents to get 18 weeks of government funded Parental Leave Pay at the rate of the National Minimum Wage (currently $606.50 before tax). The Baby Bonus is currently $5,000 per eligible child and is paid in 13 fortnightly instalments (please note, amounts correct at date of posting). Parental Leave Pay and Baby Bonus can't be paid for the same child.

You can lodge a claim online 3 months before your due date, but your claim can't be finalised until after your child is born and you have formally registered the birth. There's a comparison estimator to check which payment is better for your situation here: https://www.centrelink.gov.au/RateEstimatorsWeb/publicUserCombinedStart.do

Hope that helps.

[Peaze]

Hi Ingrid,

Thank you for that information

Are you able to give me the links to the forms that I need to fill in for family tax a and b, rent assistance, parenting payment and the baby bonus?

I like to fill them in now, as much as I can to get it out of the way, considering I have plenty to do before my baby arrives in 2 and a half months.

Thank you,

Peaze

[ingridfromhumanservices]

There are different ways to claim the different payments.

For Family Tax Benefit A and B lodging an online claim is the quickest and easiest way to claim. You can do that here: http://www.humanservices.gov.au/customer/enablers/centrelink/family-tax-benefit-part-a-part-b/claiming If you'd still like to lodge a paper claim, links to forms are at the bottom of that page. Rent assistance is automatically assessed with your Family Tax Benefit claim.

For Baby Bonus you can also claim online. There's more info here: http://www.humanservices.gov.au/customer/enablers/centrelink/baby-bonus/claiming.

For Parenting Payment you don't need to lodge a claim form, but you'll need to register an intent to claim and a Customer Service Officer will contact you to undertake the claim process. There's more info here: http://www.humanservices.gov.au/customer/enablers/centrelink/parenting-payment/claiming

Hope that helps!

[Peaze]

Thank you so much