Child support and military deployment

What happens if you don’t tell us

You risk:

• paying the wrong amount of child support
• falling behind with your payments and building up a debt
• receiving the wrong amount and having to pay it back
• missing important information from us.

What to tell us

You need to tell us your new contact details and any changes that may affect child support. This includes:

• your new mailing address
• the best way for us to contact you
• how long you’ll be deployed for
• if your income will or might change
• if the care arrangements for your child will change
• new bank account details if we collect your child support for you.

How to tell us

If your Child Support online account is linked to myGov you can update your details online.

Sign in to myGov

You can also call us on the Child Support enquiry line and discuss the changes.

Someone to deal with us for you

If you don’t have enough time to talk to us before you go overseas, someone else can talk to us for you.

To arrange this, fill in a Representative authority form and send it to us online or by post. Details are on the form.

You can also call us on the Child Support enquiry line to discuss what the person will be able to do for you.

Telling the other parent

We won’t tell the other parent about your deployment.

Before you leave Australia

Before you go:

• lodge any overdue tax returns, this will help make sure you don’t pay the wrong amount or build up a child support debt
• register a child support agreement with us if you can agree with the other parent about child support
• ask your employer to deduct child support from your pay
• apply for a change of assessment if you think you have one of the 10 special circumstances.

Paying while you’re overseas

You can pay child support while you’re outside Australia by either:

• credit or debit card
• electronic banking
• cheque by post.

Read more about child support when parents and children live overseas.