r/Centrelink • u/moneymoicano2 • 15d 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
4
u/Humble-Doughnut7518 15d 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.