Centrelink's 'balancing' move could provide cash boost or expose debt: 'Don't panic'
For those of you who don’t celebrate it, the new financial year is upon us, running from 1 July to 30 June. We’ve ticked over from 2024-2025 to 2025-2026. That means it's time for Services Australia to check that families got the right amount of financial support over the past year, which is a process called balancing.
Balancing happens after the financial year ends on 30 June. We compare your estimated income with your actual income. For many families, this check can mean a helpful top-up or supplement.
Others might see no change, or in some cases, a debt to repay.
It’s important to know that Family Tax Benefit (FTB) and Child Care Subsidy (CCS) are balanced separately, and each one follows its own process.
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What families need to do
For most families, we need you to confirm your income before we can balance your payments. You can do this by either lodging a tax return with the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) or by telling us you don’t need to lodge one.
If you have a partner, they will need to lodge a tax return, or you will need to tell us they don’t need to as well.
If you or your partner are not required to lodge a tax return, you can confirm your income using your Express Plus Centrelink mobile app, or Centrelink online account through myGov.
Just remember, if you get both payments, you’ll still need to confirm your income to balance your CCS, even if you didn’t need to do anything for your FTB balancing to happen.
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How long does it take?
We start balancing FTB from July and CCS from mid-August.
CCS balancing is later, as we need to get information from childcare providers before we can get started.
After you lodge your tax return, the ATO will confirm your income for the financial year with us.
This might not happen straight away. It can take up to 28 days for the ATO to give us this information.
Don’t ring to check on how it’s going, you can track the progress of your balancing in your Express Plus Centrelink mobile app.
You can also track your CCS balancing using your online account through myGov.
What happens if I’ve separated from my partner?
If you separated during the year, we can balance your FTB after you confirm your income.
We’ll use the income estimate provided for your ex-partner if they haven’t lodged a tax return yet. You don’t have to contact them.
If you get CCS, we still need to confirm your ex-partner's income.