You wouldn’t leave money sitting on your front porch, would you? Yet, that’s effectively what thousands of families are doing by not confirming their income with Centrelink.

More than 170,000 Australian families who get Family Tax Benefit (FTB) and 240,000 families who get Child Care Subsidy (CCS) risk missing out on getting cash back through top-up or arrears payments. That's simply because they haven’t confirmed their income for the 2023-24 financial year.

Whether you receive FTB, or CCS, or both — the message is the same — confirm your income by June 30 and get what’s yours.

Services Australia has sent reminders to families to confirm their income, but unfortunately many are yet to act.

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If you miss the FTB deadline:

• You might have to repay some or all of the FTB you received in 2023-24

• You’ll lose any additional top-up, arrears or supplement payments

• And if you were planning to lodge a lump sum claim, it will be too late after June 30.

If you miss the CCS deadline:

• Your CCS payments will stop

• Your CCS will reduce to 0 per cent from 7 July 2025, meaning you’ll have to pay full child care fees.

So, what do you need to do?

To confirm your 2023-24 family income, you (and your partner if you have one) need to lodge your 2023-24 tax return with the Australian Taxation Office (ATO).

Or, if you don’t need to lodge a tax return, you can confirm your family income by advising Services Australia that you’re not required to lodge, using your Centrelink online account through myGov or the Express Plus Centrelink app.

If you're using the app, select More from your home screen, then select Advise tax non-lodgement. Not sure if you need to lodge a tax return? If there’s a reason you can’t confirm your income, you should call the Services Australia Families line to discuss your options.

Why do people need to confirm their income?

Each year Services Australia compares a family’s income estimate with their actual income at the end of each financial year (this is called balancing).

Most families tend to overestimate their income, so they get a handy top up or supplement payment at the end of the financial year. For more information head to Service Australia’s website.

* Figures based on Services Australia data, April 30, 2025.

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