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If you hold money for, or on behalf of, a child support customer, we may send you a section 72A notice. We also call this a garnishee notice.
If you get one of these notices from us, you’re legally required to deduct the requested child support. You can read more about your legal obligations as an employer under Child Support legislation.
How much child support to garnishee
The notice will tell you how much you need to pay us. We may ask you to pay any of the following:
- a cents in the dollar amount
- periodic amounts
- a lump sum amount.
You need to follow the instructions in the notice until you’ve paid us the total amount owed. We’ll tell you the total amount in the notice.
If you don’t currently owe, or hold, money for the customer you won’t pay us anything now. You must deduct the money next time you owe them money in the future.
Making deductions under a section 72A notice
For each deduction you make you need to do all of the following:
- check the notice for the amount you need to deduct
- deduct any tax and salary sacrificed amounts from the gross payment excluding GST, before making the child support deductions
- deduct the lump sum amount requested
- if the notice asks for a cents in the dollar amount based on the person’s gross pay, exclude GST and any salary sacrificed amounts when working out the deduction
- send the deductions to us within 7 days
- pay the remaining amount to the person or use it to make other deductions.
You can’t change the amount we ask you to deduct unless we send you another notice. Only we can authorise you to change the amount to deduct.
You don’t apply a Protected Earnings Amount to a section 72A notice.
When you get more than one notice
You may get more than one notice from a government authority asking you to make deductions. This could be separate notices from Child Support, Centrelink or another government authority. Generally, you should comply with each notice as you get them.
However, if you get a notice from Child Support and a court order from a Commonwealth, state or territory court, the Child Support notice will take priority.
If you get more than one notice and don’t know what to do, call us on the Child Support enquiry line. You’ll need your reference number or Australian Business Number (ABN) ready to quote when you call us.
How to pay us the garnishee
We prefer you to pay deductions via BPAY.
You can read more about this and other payment options for child support deductions.
It’s important that you use the correct payment reference number. The 16 digit reference number is unique for every person you deduct for under a section 72A notice.
If you’re reporting Child Support through Single Touch Payroll you must use your employer payment reference number when making your payment.
To pay a deduction for one person by cheque, use the Section 72A Notice - remittance slip for employers form.
Deducting from more than one person’s wage
If you’re not sure what to do, call us on the Child Support enquiry line. You should do this before you send the deductions.
You need to give us a breakdown of the total deductions you pay us.
If you’re not reporting through Single Touch Payroll or Child Support Business Online Services you need to complete an employer’s Child Support Deductions Report form.
How to calculate deductions
How you calculate deductions depends on the type of deduction we ask you to make. For example, we may ask you to deduct a cents in the dollar amount, a periodic amount deduction or a lump sum amount deduction. For all types of deductions, you must first deduct tax and any salary sacrificed amounts. Do this before making any child support deductions.
If there’s not enough funds to cover the deductions for child support, tax and any salary sacrificed amounts, you’ll need to deduct any salary sacrificed amounts and the full amount of tax first. You must then pay us the remainder. You must pay us the child support amount within 7 days of making the deduction.
We’ll continue to recover any outstanding amount. You don’t need to do anything about this unless we send you a new notice.
Find out more about tax rates applicable to your employee on the Australian Taxation Office website.
Daniel is a subcontractor and earns $450 a week excluding GST.
We send a section 72A notice to you as Daniel’s contractor. You must deduct 15 cents for every dollar he earns. You’ll need to calculate child support using the gross payment excluding GST.
You must deduct any salary sacrificed amounts and tax first, and then deduct child support.
You calculate the child support deduction by multiplying $450 by 15 cents or $0.15. You then pay us the calculated $67.50 child support within 7 days of making the deduction.
| Payment and deduction | Total payment | Deducted Tax | Deducted child support | Pay remaining |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amount | $450.00 | $24.00 | $67.50 | $358.50 |
Jamie usually gets paid between $300 and $500 excluding GST each week.
As Jamie’s employer, we send you a section 72A notice that requires you to deduct $110 per week.
Jamie earns all of these amounts:
- $500 in the first week
- $450 in the second week
- $90 in the third week.
Week 1
| Payment and deduction | Total payment | Deducted Tax | Deducted child support | Pay remaining |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amount | $500 | $38 | $110 | $352 |
Week 2
| Payment and deduction | Total payment | Deducted Tax | Deducted child support | Pay remaining |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amount | $450 | $24 | $110 | $316 |
Week 3
| Payment and deduction | Total payment | Deducted Tax | Deducted child support | Pay remaining |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amount | $90 | $0 | $90 | $0 |
In Week 3, Jamie earns less than the deduction amount. You can’t deduct the full $110, you only deduct $90. As you’re unable to deduct the full $110 in child support, we would contact Jamie directly to arrange for payment of the outstanding amount.You don’t need to do anything about this unless we send you a new notice.
As Jamie is claiming a tax-free threshold, he doesn’t pay any tax for earning $90 in week 3. If he did need to pay tax, you’d need to deduct the full amount of tax first.
The tax amounts we have included are examples only.
Alex’s weekly salary is $600. Alex resigns and cashes out 5 weeks of annual leave.
We send a Section 72A notice to you as Alex’s employer for a lump sum of $962.
| Payment and deduction | Total annual leave payment | Deducted child support | Pay remaining |
|---|---|---|---|
| Amount | $3,000 | $962 | $2,038 |
You need to pay $962 to us within 7 days of making the deduction.
You must deduct tax first, and then deduct child support. Deducting tax requirements may vary for lump sum payments. We didn’t include them in this example.
Read more Child Support information for employers.
How to calculate deductions if an employee is salary sacrificing
A salary sacrifice arrangement is when an employee agrees to give up part of their salary or wages. Employees do this in return for employer provided benefits of a similar value.
You must still make child support deductions even if a salary sacrificing arrangement is in place.
You need to deduct the salary sacrifice amount first and then the tax from their pay. You must do this before making any child support deductions.
If you need to calculate the child support deduction based on the person’s pay, exclude the salary sacrifice amounts when working out the deduction.
If your employee doesn’t have a formal salary packaging arrangement, you need to deduct child support from their pay before making other deductions. For example, health fund payments or social club fees.
Susan is an employee with a remuneration package valued at $2,300 per fortnight.
Susan salary sacrifices $900 of the $2,300 for all of the following:
- mortgage
- car lease
- health insurance
- school fees.
As Susan’s employer, we send you a section 72A notice. You must deduct 20 cents for every dollar she earns.
You calculate the child support deduction using the gross payment Susan earns minus the salary sacrifice amount of $900. You then get the total amount by multiplying $1,400 by 20 cents or $0.20.
You must deduct the salary sacrifice amount from Susan’s pay first, then the tax.
After this, you can deduct the child support amount, which is $280.
| Payment and deduction | Total payment | Total salary sacrifice | Deducted Tax | Deducted child support | Pay remaining |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amount | $2,300 | $900 | $96 | $280 | $1,024 |
The tax amount we have included here is an example only.
Contact numbers available on this page.
Child Support enquiry line
Use this line if you have a question about child support or need to report a change in your circumstances. Let us know if you need an interpreter and we’ll arrange one for free.
There are other ways you may want to contact us.