First Child Care Subsidy Reconciliation
With the end of the financial year comes the first CCS reconciliation.
For those families that received CCB, this is not a new process. However, it may be new for a lot of families who were only ever entitled to CCR. So what does it all mean? Let’s break it down.
What is CCS reconciliation?
It’s the process that occurs at the end of each financial year when the Federal Department of Human Services (DHS) compares families’ income estimates with their actual adjusted taxable income to ensure they have received their correct CCS entitlement.
When the DHS reconciles a family’s payment, there are a few possible outcomes:
- For families who have received the correct amount of CCS throughout the year, they won’t need to do anything.
- If, after the reconciliation process, a family has not been paid enough CCS throughout the year by DHS, they will be paid any outstanding amounts by the DHS – or in other words, they will receive a top-up payment! Lucky them!
- On the other hand, if after the reconciliation process, a family has received too much CCS, they may owe money, which they will have to pay back to the Government. The Government may recover overpayments of CCS from future CCS, Family Tax Benefit (FTB) payments (including arrears), FTB top-ups and supplements as well as tax refunds.
So, what do we need to do?
There are a few action items and dates we all need to be aware of to prepare for this reconciliation:
- 14 July 2019 – All session reports for the 2018/19 financial year must be submitted.
- 28 July 2019 – All session reports need to be accurate and finalised as they are essential for reconciling family CCS entitlements.
- 29 July 2019 – The CCS System is closed for the 2018/2019 financial year. This means that you won’t be able to submit new session reports, or vary or withdraw existing session reports, for any period between 2 July 2018 and 30 June 2019.
Still unclear – we get it! The DHS will be hosting webcasts for providers so they can better understand this reconciliation process. You can register for the webcasts here.
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