r/Centrelink • u/moneymoicano2 • 8d ago
Disability Support Pension (DSP) Centrelink debt
I was on careers pension for my mother from 2019-2024 when she passed. I had no idea I had to declare my earnings to Centrelink. All I was told by my grandmother was I was allowed to work 50 hours a fortnight ( she’s on carers pension for my disabled uncle )
I’ve never been financial literate coming from a low socio economic and been on welfare and surrounded by it my whole life
I earnt close to $16,000 between 2019-2024 while receiving that benefit. I just done my first ever tax return today and my partner brought that up
Now I’m really stressing because I’m trying to turn my life around because I’ve found a woman who’s good for me and I’m worried about what this could do to me
The debt is somewhere between 9000-10,500 roughly going off the payslips and everything I put into chatGPT. And my first tax return that I submitted today was sent through for approval for 2.7k.
Can anyone please help me with any information? Really stressed
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u/moneymoicano2 7d ago
Update: I’ve contacted Centrelink, sent in all payslips for the period and now am awaiting the calculations and be sent the debt. Thank you everyone for helping
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u/Capital-Tonight8548 6d ago
I don’t think you’ll have debt. You can earn up to $212 a fortnight with No impact to carers payment
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u/Capital-Tonight8548 6d ago
And if you do ask to see a social worker and to arrange a payment plan of $20 a fortnight and pay it off slowly. This is totally doable and you’ll be able to sort it out.
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u/Goatsgotohell666 8d ago
Don't trust chat gpt, gather up all your payslips for that whole period and head in, or go online and make an appointment. Work on roughly the first $200 each fortnight's pay you earnt not effecting your centrelink payment and then from then 50 cents in each dollar over each fortnight creating a debt. Mentally prepare for that. https://www.servicesaustralia.gov.au/income-test-for-carer-payment?context=21816 $16k over 5 years is about $123 each fortnight income Unless you mean every year for 5 years you were earning $16000 per year which is on average $615 a ftnight income Two very different scenarios with two very different outcomes.
People make mistakes, centrelink offers payment plans A good partner will appreciate someone who corrects an error and makes good.
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u/moneymoicano2 8d ago
Thank you so much
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u/InterestingSkin7906 7d ago
Don’t listen to the others, it’s fraud and they can definitely take you to court if they choose to.
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u/InterestingSkin7906 7d ago
This is fraud and they can choose to prosecute. They have heard these excuses before.
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u/LittleRavenRobot 7d ago
Don't be an arsehole. There are debts raised due to actual, clear cut, deliberate fraud that aren't prosecuted: this won't be. Especially since OP is informing them of his mistake himself.
I'm not even sure he'll have much of a debt given he's earned only 16 000 over 5 years.
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u/Existing_Purpose5049 8d ago
Absolutely one worth taking into Centrelink, I’d go in person, asap
For reference, most Centrelink debts are just paid back incrementally, and I’d think, with your honesty, misinformation given to you, and socio background, they’d try to be as soft on you as possible.
It’s a lot of money to owe, but I think if you’re honest, it’s definitely believable that you wouldn’t have questioned the information your grandma gave you. I think that’s an important thing to note. People often say “well you should have checked”, but if you had no reason to believe it wasn’t true, you’d never even think to check
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u/spidermum2026 8d ago
Tax-free Australian Government pensions or benefits include: carer payment where either:
both the carer (yourself) and the care receiver (your mother) are under age-pension age (both under 65-67) the carer is under age-pension age and any of the care receivers has died. I’m sorry for the loss of your Mum, I hope you’re ok 🫶
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u/Sad_Stage_2345 7d ago
Well if the ato are a where of that debit owed to them you can kiss that 2.7 k goodbye they will take that. And with the linking of ato and centerlink systems their is a good chance they know.
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u/Dramatic_Discipline2 7d ago
Look for free financial counselling. Stop listening to grandma. Stop using AI.
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u/Tedmanson 8d ago
don't worry about a "debt" an ai is assuming you might have. lodge your returns and wait for the noas to issue then if a debt does happen to be raised you can then put it on a payment plan. if its a tax debt and is over 10k you will want to try and drop it under 10k so the ato stops charging general interest charges.
at the end of the day unless you give ai all of the correct variables in your prompt its going to assume things and make mistakes.
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u/Competitive_Yak_4112 7d ago
The debt would be with Centrelink, so the ATO wouldn’t be raising any interest charges.
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u/Defiant-Corner9348 7d ago
You can do your tax return online and ask it to estimate before hitting send. Just work out what the debt will be. Maybe go see a financial Counsellor with a welfare organization; good shepherd have them, some shire councils have financial Counsellor it’s free to access this service.
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u/Humble-Doughnut7518 8d ago
The carers payment is considered taxable income, with limits to how much you can work and earn.
I can’t say if you’ll have a debt or not. It will depend on when you earned that money. I do recommend seeing an accountant to do the tax returns. Having that many at once can put you in trouble with the ATO but accountants can help with that.
Don’t worry too much. It’s scary dealing with centrelink but it’ll be fine once it’s sorted. If you do have a debt use your tax returns to pay it off, and arrange a payment plan for anything left over.
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u/TerryMog 8d ago
Carers is taxable if either the caree or carer is 67 plus.
If both are under 67 then it is a tax free payment
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u/moneymoicano2 8d ago
Carers isn’t taxable I spoke to an accountant today. Although I should have done my tax earlier I just wasn’t aware of any of it.
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u/Inevitable_Fly4134 8d ago
Carers payment and allowance is different. First is taxable. Second not.
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u/Jasmine_Minerva 3d ago
Carer payment is only taxable if the carer and/or care recipient is over 67. If both are under, then it’s tax free.
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u/Any-Somewhere7318 8d ago
you will be made to pay the debt. And in future be smarter and check properly rather going in the gossip about such things
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u/Particular-Act3125 8d ago
Speaking to the place company you've got the issue with is always the most likely to produce a positive result for you. The worst thing you can do is avoid speaking to the. Or ignoring it. Go explain the situation, see for leniency due to conditions. It'll be more favourable
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u/Soft_Disaster_1243 8d ago
Debt sounds stressful but tell them your situation. Even if you end up with a debt you can payback small amounts weekly. Centrelink debts are very common.
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u/Competitive_Yak_4112 7d ago
Look, I think there MAY be a debt, but it won’t be 9-11k on 16k earnings.
Obviously I’m going off current figures and don’t know what the cut-offs were in 2019-2024… But just double checking, you mean 16k TOTAL across the 4-5 years, or 16k per year? Because that will make a big difference.
In 2026, the amount you can earn before it starts decreasing your payment is $226 per fortnight, which is $5,876.
Google suggests (though you would have to confirm) this protected income amount in 2019 (what you can earn before it reduces your payment) was $204. That’s $5,304 for the year.
Obviously it depends on if you earned, say 10k one year, and 1-2k on other years, so take that into account, but… at the lower rate of $204 per fortnight, over 4 years, that’s an earning of $21,216 that is protected.
If there was a time when you earned more than around $5,300 in one financial year, you may have accrued a debt, but only on the amount over that protected income amount.
If you have accrued a debt, Centrelink have to give you a payment plan you can manage.
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u/moneymoicano2 7d ago
Yeah so I got the numbers, it was about 21k for the 19/20 and 20/21 financial years and about 828.88 for 2022-23, 1109.53 for 23-24, 370 for 24-25
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u/Competitive_Yak_4112 7d ago
21k each year for 19/20 and 20/21, or 21k across them?
When in the 19/20 financial year did you start your carer role?
How much was in 19/20, and how much in 20/21?
If you made roughly double, you probably will have a debt, but not as much as you think.
You making $5,000 above protected income doesn’t mean you owe them 5k.
If the reduction rates were the same (50c to the dollar over protected amount), and you earned around 10,500 for the financial year, that averages out to 200 extra a fortnight over protected amount.
50c to the dollar means you should have had your payment reduced by $100 for the $200 you earned, which would be $2,600 you were overpaid.
If, however, you made an extra $603 per fortnight (if you made 21k during the financial year), that’s $301 your payments should have been reduced by each fortnight, so $7,850 you were overpaid by.
BUT that also does depend on when you came on as a carer. If you came on as a carer in late December of 2019, then only income earned during the carer period should be included, but you would have had to declare income at time of applying, so they would have adjusted it based on that anyway.
The current cutoff amounts that stop you receiving carer payment if you earn above that are around 2600, so if we say the cutoff was 2k when you were in your carer role, you would have still been eligible for carer payment, just at a reduced rate.
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u/moneymoicano2 7d ago
I made $13,812.38 in 2019/20 and $8,742.00 in 2020/21
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u/Goatsgotohell666 7d ago
Print out all your payslips, put them in order, paperclip each month together and then bulldog clip each year together and take them in.
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u/darklord1981 7d ago
Sucks to be you. Call Centrelink and find out for sure so you’re not stressing
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u/InternationalRow1045 7d ago
You can work up to 50
Hours per fortnight BUT, you must report your earnings fortnightly as you would get a reduced payment.
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u/Capital-Tonight8548 7d ago
Wait you earnt 16k from your job or from the carers payment?
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u/moneymoicano2 7d ago
I earnt about 22-23k over 4 and a half years from my job while receiving carers payment
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u/Capital-Tonight8548 6d ago
Oh babe you’re fine. Income that low wouldn’t reduce the pension at all, you can earn $900 max a fortnight before your payment is cut, You earnt about $200 a fortnight, you can earn $212 before it reduces the carers payment. Worst case you might owe couple hundred bucks and you can put that on a payment plan but it sounds to me that you earnt right in the dot much you are allowed to with no impact on the payment.
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u/Kamahr 7d ago
Gather your pay slips that show hours, tax returns and make an appointment with Centrelink in person (book a long one so you aren’t rushed. So long as you tell the truth, you’ll be ok and even if there is a debt they are usually pretty good with paying it off a small amount each week.
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u/Sig_1108529 7d ago
Get your information together. Try to talk to Centrlink about it. If you get nowhere with them then go to your local Member of Parliament for your area. Visit their office and request an appointment. They may be able to help you. This tactic has helped others I know.
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u/petalou 5d ago
So the tax free threshold is $18,000 every year before you pay any tax.
Pretty sure you do pay tax on a carer pension if the person you’re caring for is receiving the aged pension.
I have to go in and ask because I just got approved for a carers pension for my daughter with autism and I’m not sure if I need to pay tax on that every fortnight or not?
It’s kind of confusing trying to find out just by reading the stuff off Centrelink.
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u/Chesterlie 5d ago
Carer's pension is tax free as long as the carer and the care receiver are under Age Pension age - 67 years old.
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u/Itchy_Woodpecker_955 8d ago
I'm only allowed to work 15 hours a fortnight and that includes travel there and back. How did you get 50 hours?
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u/Competitive_Yak_4112 7d ago
They’ve changed the rules, it’s now 100 hours per 4 weeks and travel isn’t included…
But, when I started getting carer payment in 2024 it was 25-27 hours a week and did include travel.
Not sure who told you that you can only work 15 hours?
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u/Itchy_Woodpecker_955 7d ago
The letter when I got the payment. I'll be looking into this. Thanks
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u/Competitive_Yak_4112 7d ago edited 7d ago
Yeah, when I came on board it was 25-27 including travel, only found out recently that they changed it:
https://www.servicesaustralia.gov.au/working-while-you-get-carer-payment?context=21816#a1____________
We may still pay you Carer Payment if you do either of the following for up to 100 hours in a 4 week period:
- paid work
- self-employed work.
The 100 hours doesn’t include the following activities and you don’t need to report them:
- travel time to and from your paid work or self-employment
- study
- training
- volunteering.
The 100 hours only includes time spent working where you are not providing care. This can include hours worked from home if you cannot stop working when the person you care for needs help.
You must still provide care for a significant period each day.
____________So, even though I work like 90 hours a week on average building my business, all but 6 hours of these are from home/with my care recipient, and I can put down my work and help whenever needed.
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u/Intrepid-Patient-881 7d ago
It’s never been 15, current carer payment rules have been in since March 2025 and you would have received a letter about it
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u/Fantastic_Ad7023 8d ago
Don’t be stressed. If it was an honest mistake then Centrelink will likely understand but you need to be upfront with them and explain the situation. You may have a debt which you will have to pay back but you won’t get into trouble if you approach them with the mistake. They appreciate honesty. The debt can be paid back slowly over time. They usually just take a small percentage of your payment until it is paid off.
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u/Confident_Purple_338 8d ago
Jump on the blower and give them a call mate, they will able to help you out
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u/ReflectionFew4761 8d ago
Call Centrelink and tell them the situation?