How child support affects FTB Part A

The more child support you receive or are entitled to, the less FTB you can get.

There are factors that can affect how much FTB Part A you get. These factors include:

  • the amount of child support you receive
  • the way you collect child support
  • if you change how you transfer child support
  • if we update your child support assessment.

Amount of child support

You can receive a certain amount of child support before it affects your FTB. We use a Maintenance Income Test to work this out.

We reduce your FTB by 50 cents for every dollar of child support you receive over the threshold. We call this threshold the Maintenance Income Free Area. We apply these automatically.

Your child support won’t reduce your FTB below the base rate of FTB Part A. However, other factors like your family’s adjustable taxable income may also affect how much FTB you can get.

Example of child support affecting FTB Part A

Sally has a 3 year old child from a previous relationship. Sally’s child support assessment is $5,000 for this year.

The amount of child support over her Maintenance Income Free Area is $5,000 - $1,686.30 = $3,313.70.

We then reduce Sally’s FTB by 50 cents for every dollar of child support over $1,686.30. This is $3,313.70 x 0.50 = $1,656.85.

Sally’s annual FTB Part A payment based on her income and other circumstances is $4,423.80 - $1,656.85 = $2,766.95.

This means Sally’s FTB Part A is now $2,766.95 for the year.

Page last updated: 3 March 2022.
QC 51893