Understanding Benefits: Large Family Supplement

What is it?

Large Family Supplement is an extra payment to assist families with three or more children.

Who is eligible?

To be eligible for the Large Family Supplement you must have three or more children for whom you receive Family Tax Benefit.


How much is it?

You can receive a Large Family Supplement of $9.80 a fortnight (that's $255.50 per year) for each child after the second. This is paid on top of your Family Tax Benefit. Therefore four children equals an additional $19.60, five children $29.40, etc.


How do I apply?

You do not need to make a separate claim for Large Family Supplement, as it will be paid as part of your Family Tax Benefit. If you are eligible and are not already receiving Large Family Supplement as part of your Family Tax Benefit, you should contact the Family Assistance Office.





Source: Family Assistance Office

End of Month Practice Update

Well, it's the end of another month and the end of yet another financial year.

New-look Website
Visitors to our Home Page will notice an updated look and feel to the site. This is stage one of our long-term vision of developing an ultimate informational resource for clients and the public alike.

Plans over the next month include adding additional content and downloadable resources.

Business Planning
It would seem a lot of queries lately involve the nitty-gritty questions and confusion surrounding the start-up of a new business venture. I cannot stress enough the importance of proper planning and structure at this stage. Alan is always happy to meet with you and go over your business ideas to help you start out well informed and on the right foot.

This month, Alan is focused on adding content relevant to business planning and I'll be continuing to include MYOB tips and tutorials.

Client Promotion
We are always seeking ways to further support our clients. We hope to extend this service by offering 'client profiles' in the blog posts and bi-monthly newsletters. Additionally, I would love to help some of our business clients without a web presence to get their name online. I'm working on a plan to see this happen shortly.

Appointment Times
Alan is available after hours this tax season for face-to-face interviews. Appointments can be made to see Alan:

• Monday to Friday from 7:00 pm


• Saturday and Sunday from 9:30 am till late.

To make an appointment you can contact our office at any time on 02 43 904156. Evenings are already filling up so be sure to secure a preferred time as soon as you're ready.

Some people prefer to just drop off their stuff, have us collect it or mail it in. This is fine too although Alan will still need to contact you by phone to discuss your return before completion.

As always, your feedback and suggestions are more than welcome. Tell us, how can we serve you better?

Child Support Scheme Reforms

Significant changes are being made to the Child Support Scheme from 1 July 2008 and all child support payments will need to be reassessed.

The Child Support Agency (CSA) is currently running a campaign between now and the end of July 2007 to make sure they have the most up-to-date contact details for all parents.

The CSA needs all of their customers to update their contact details so they can let them know about the changes, and so CSA can make sure they get the new assessments right.

Child support and Family Assistance are linked - the amount of child support you pay or receive can affect how much Family Assistance you receive. If CSA can't contact you, your new child support assessment may be incorrect, which could also mean you do not receive the family assistance that you are entitled to.

For more information or to update your details go to www.australia.gov.au/csa or to update your contact details with the CSA, call 131 272.

You can register your email address to receive important updates about the changes to the Child Support Scheme directly to your inbox. You may also choose to take part in future email surveys, which will help CSA improve their service to you. To subscribe go to www.australia.gov.au/csa.


Source: Family Assistance Office

Some quirky Census facts

The ABS has recently released it's "quirky census facts" from the 2006 Census. Having worked as a census collector, I can assure you that "quirky" doesn't begin to cover some of what I encountered. Still, for fact junkies like myself, these might provide some interesting conversation fodder:

Locations with the highest proportion of high-income people

Canberra's suburb of Forrest is the statistical local area with the highest concentration of adults (aged 15 years and over) with gross personal incomes of $2000 or more per week (24%), closely followed by the Shire of Peppermint Grove in Perth (also 24%).

Uncommon ancestries

Among the smallest ancestry groups recorded in the Census were Hmong (2189 people), Manx (1853), Tatar (299), Mayan (127), and Masai (32). In some cases a person might have claimed one of these in combination with another ancestry.

Nil hours of housework

Just over 39% of males and almost 29% of females aged 15–19 years did no housework in the week prior to the Census. Of the people aged 15–19 who did nil hours of housework, 86% were dependent students or non-dependent children living with their parents.

Internet connection

The suburb of Pullenvale in Brisbane had the highest Internet connection rate of 92% for its occupied private dwellings, slightly ahead of the Canberra suburb of Fadden (91%) and the Brisbane suburb of Chapel Hill (91%).

Convents and monasteries

There were 581 convents, monasteries, and similar religious institutions counted in the 2006 Census. This was less than three quarters of the number counted in 1996 and less than half the number counted in 1986.

Recent arrivals: place of settlement

Of the 756,000 people who had arrived since 2001 to stay in Australia for one year or more, 31% settled in the statistical division (SD) of Sydney, 24% in Melbourne SD, 11% in both Perth SD and Brisbane SD, 5% in Adelaide SD and 3% in the Gold Coast SD.

Women dominate higher education

Of people attending TAFE institutions and university, 52% and 57% respectively were women.

Private and public schooling

In 2006, 35% of students in primary and secondary school attended private schools. In 1996 the proportion was 30%. One per cent of the increase can be attributed to attendance at Catholic schools and the remaining 4% to other non-government schools.

Source: ABS 2006 Census.

Census paints a picture of the average Australian family

• The 2006 Census showed that the most common family type in Australia was a couple with children. Just over 45% of all families, or 2.4 million families, fell into this group. The Australian Capital Territory and Victoria had the highest proportions of families in this group.
• Of all couple families with children, most were young families with children under 15 years (69%, or 1.6 million couple families). These families might also have included dependent students (aged 15–24 years) and non-dependent children still living with their parents.
• Couples families with children under 15 were the most common family type in every state and territory. The Northern Territory had the highest proportion, with 80% of all couple families with children falling into this group.
• The average number of children living in couple families with children under 15 was 2.16 children. Of the almost 4 million children living in Australia at the time of the 2006 Census, three-quarters (almost 3 million) were living in a couple family and almost all of these (2.7 million) were with both their natural or adoptive parents.
• Nine out of 10 couple families with young children lived in a separate house with an average of 4 bedrooms. Most of these families were paying off a mortgage – almost two-thirds across Australia. The exception was in the Northern Territory where 43% of young families were renting their home.
• The median monthly mortgage repayment for young families in a separate house was $1400. The lowest monthly repayments for young families were in Tasmania ($975 per month) and the highest in New South Wales ($1665 per month). The highest level of outright home ownership by young families in separate houses was in Victoria (18%).
• The 2006 Census also showed that couple families with young children have 2 cars on average.
• Exactly 83% of couple families with young children have some type of Internet connection at home. The lowest rates of connection were in the Northern Territory (66%) and the highest in the Australian Capital Territory (90%). In all states, broadband is the most common connection type. The highest use of broadband was in the Australian Capital Territory (69% of young families).

SOURCE: ABS Media Release, 27 June 2007

Job Search in Your Jammies

Gone are the days of travelling to the nearest CES and scouring the job boards for potential matches. Today's employers are posting vacancies online as are government agencies.

Australian Jobsearch is a Government initiative (almost like an online version of the old CES). The database is updated with thousands of new jobs each day. Additional information is readily accessed on career information and job search tips. If you register, you can create a job match profile and upload your resume online. Searching by location and/or occupation is quick and simple. If you are a job seeker, this is one site you will want to be visiting regularly.

Other popular general job search sites include Career One and Seek.

Don't feel limited to job bulletin sites in your search. Many businesses advertise positions vacant on their own websites. If you have a particular company in mind, be sure to check the 'careers' section of their site. Similarly, local councils and other government departments will advertise positions on their own little patch of cyberspace. I've personally picked up casual contract jobs by going directly to the Bureau of Statistics and the Electoral Commission sites and applying directly.

TIP: Today's employers often ask you to email your resume along with your application. Keep in mind that different software versions could change the look of your resume significantly. Keep any fancy formatting for paper versions and stick with a safe copy for emailing.

Happy job hunting in your jammies!

Your Student HELP Debt 2006-07

What is a HELP debt?
From 1 January 2005, the Higher Education Loan Programme (HELP) was introduced, replacing the Higher Education Contribution Scheme (HECS). You will be required to start repaying your HELP debt when your repayment income is above the minimum threshold for compulsory repayment. HELP includes:

• HECS-HELP
• FEE-HELP
• OS-HELP

When do you start repaying your debt?
You must start repaying your debt when your repayment income is above the minimum threshold for compulsory repayment. The repayment thresholds are adjusted each year to reflect any changes in average weekly earnings. For the 2005–06 income year the minimum threshold was $36,184 and for the 2006–07 income year it is $38,148.

Compulsory repayments are made through your income tax assessments.

You don’t have to provide HELP information in your tax return. If you have a debt, and your repayment income is above the minimum repayment threshold, the Tax Office will work out and include your compulsory repayment in your notice of assessment.

NOTE:

If your repayment income is above the minimum repayment threshold you must start repaying your debt, even if you are still studying.