Farm Financial Assessment

After you claim

After you claim, we’ll assign you a Farm Household Case Officer (FHCO). Your FHCO will talk to you about the Farm Financial Assessment (FFA).

You’ll usually have one month from the date of our request to complete your FFA. Talk to your FHCO as soon as possible if you need more time.

About the assessment

You’ll need to meet with a qualified or experienced financial assessor to complete the assessment.

We’ll send you a letter about your assessment telling you what you need to complete it. It’ll include both:

• a Farm Financial Assessment Supplement voucher which helps cover your financial assessor’s fees
• your One Time Access Code which you need to log in to the online portal.

Financial assessor

The type of financial assessor you can use is someone who either:

• normally provides this kind of advice or assessment
• has qualifications or expertise in a relevant field.

Examples of relevant fields include:

• agronomy
• accounting
• financial planning
• farm consultancy
• rural financial counselling.

A financial assessor doesn’t need to:

• be a member of a professional association
• hold an Australian financial services licence.

The financial assessor can’t have a conflict of interest. This means they can’t either:

• have an interest in the farm, including a business or trust that owns the farm
• be an immediate family member of yours or anyone else who has an interest in the farm.

Check with your FHCO about who the financial assessor can be.

You may need to pay a fee to the financial assessor who completes your assessment. The financial assessor sets the fee. You should agree to this fee before you get them to do your FFA. The Farm Financial Assessment Supplement voucher will help you pay the fee.

Farm Financial Assessment Supplement voucher

We’ll send you a Farm Financial Assessment Supplement voucher to help you pay your financial assessor’s fee. You can use this voucher to pay up to $1,500 for the assessment. You can’t use the voucher to cover additional costs.

There are 2 parts of the voucher that need to be completed. You’ll need to complete Part A, and your financial assessor will need to complete Part B.

If the voucher doesn’t cover the full fee, you’ll need to pay the rest.

Before the assessment

You should do a few things before your assessment.

Complete the Farm Financial Assessment - Part A

The first thing you should do is complete the Farm Financial Assessment - Part A online. If you don’t have a myGov account or Centrelink online account you’ll need to create them. If you have a myGov account and a Centrelink account, they need to be linked.

Once your Centrelink online account is linked to myGov:

1. Sign in to myGov.
2. Select Payments and Claims.
3. Under Claims, select Farm Financial Assessment (FFA) then follow the prompts to complete Part A of your assessment.

Sign in to myGov

If you need help with your Centrelink online account use our online help guides.

To complete your Farm Financial Assessment - Part A, you’ll need to provide all of the following:

• farm details
• farm labour input
• financial management
• farming future.

If you can’t complete Part A online, you can set up an appointment with your financial assessor to help you.

Set up an appointment

Once you’ve completed Part A, or if you need help to complete it, make an appointment with your financial assessor.

Your financial assessor will complete the full FFA online. They’ll talk to you about your financial position before sending the assessment to us.

Get your documents ready

You’ll need to take some documents and details with you to your appointment. These include all of the following:

• a copy of your FFA letter and voucher
• your Customer Reference Number (CRN)
• any current or recent plans, for example business, agronomy or financial
• copies of your tax returns and financial statements from the past 3 years
• any superannuation payments, annuities and other income
• copies of financial details you provided for your application for Farm Household Allowance.

You’ll also need details of all the following:

• any personal or business debts
• planned expenses such as your children’s education expenses
• current income, including payments from us, income from non-farm employment, and rental income
• assets and investments.

Assets and investments can include any of these:

• bank and building society accounts
• farm management deposits
• shares, including any shares your farm enterprise must hold
• managed investments.

At the assessment

During the assessment, you and your financial assessor will work through the relevant parts of the assessment together.

Farm Financial Assessment - Part A

If you couldn’t complete this section online your financial assessor will help you complete Part A. Your financial assessor will discuss all of these:

• your and your partner’s personal financial position
• the financial position of your farm
• your place in the farm business
• the strengths and weaknesses of your farm
• the profitability of your farm business
• what factors are causing you financial hardship
• any suggestions that may help improve your financial position.

Farm information section - Part B

You and your financial assessor will complete the farm information section. Your financial assessor will complete most of this section. To do this you’ll need to give them both of the following:

• the One Time Access Code we sent you with your assessment letter
• your Customer Reference Number.

You can use your One Time Access Code as many times as needed, until your financial assessor submits your assessment.

Your financial assessor will complete the following steps:

1. Access the Farm Financial Assessment portal.
2. Enter your Customer Reference Number.
3. Enter your One Time Access Code.
4. Select Log In.
5. Complete the questions.

Financial position section - Part C

You and your financial assessor will complete the financial position section. It’s a detailed summary of your, your partner’s and your farm’s current financial position. This helps your financial assessor examine the financial position of your farm.

Financial assessor’s assessment - Part D

Based on the information available, your financial assessor will provide a report of the potential position of the farm.

Your financial assessor will complete Part D. They will need to:

• assess your current financial position
• complete a strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats evaluation of your overall financial position
• summarise the factors affecting your financial position
• fill out a report of the financial potential of your farm
• offer their qualified opinion of its long term viability
• discuss with you the assessment of your financial position.

Once you’ve completed the assessment

The FFA must be submitted by the due date. If you need more time, call your FHCO. Use the Farm Financial Assessment Supplement voucher we sent in your letter to help you pay the financial assessor.

Your financial assessor will issue you with an invoice for their services. You must provide this to us within 2 months, beginning on the day the financial assessor provides the invoice.

Return your completed voucher with the invoice. If you’ve already paid the financial assessor, return your payment receipt with the voucher and invoice. You can return these to us either by:

• submitting your documents online
• visiting a service centre.

You can also post them to:

When we pay

Our standard payment terms are 30 days from when you send us a correctly rendered tax invoice. For payment enquiries call our Shared services support desk on 1800 906 144. Follow these prompts:

• select option 1 for Services Australia enquiries
• then select option 3 for finance services
• then select option 2 for financial shared services team
• then select option 3 for accounts payable.

How to view your completed assessment

If you completed your assessment after 1 January 2025, you can view it through your myGov account.