Report your income

Farm income

We’ll use your business income tax return to determine your farm business income.

If your farm business goes through a change of circumstances, we may be able to use a farm business income estimate to assess your eligibility for FHA.

Read more about income reporting.

Non-farm income

If you or your partner earn non-farm income, you must tell us how much you earn or if there is a change in your circumstances. This includes income from other businesses, from investments or commencing employment.

If you earn income from employment, each fortnight you must tell us how much you earn. Read about income reporting.

Tell us your non-farm income by:

• using your Centrelink online account through myGov
• calling the Centrelink reporting line on your reporting day
• calling the farmer assistance hotline on your regular reporting day.

What a nil rate payment period is

If you report employment income and your total income is over the cut-off point, your Farm Household Allowance reduces to $0. We call this a nil rate payment period. You can have up to 12 fortnights in a row of $0 payment before we’ll cancel your payment.

Your total income includes:

• your income
• your partner’s income.

If you get any FHA payments before the end of the 12 fortnights, we won’t cancel your payment.

You must continue to report your income fortnightly to us so we can apply the nil rate payment period. If you have a partner, this applies to their income as well.

If the total income reported is below the cut-off point within the nil rate payment period, we’ll automatically restart your payments. You won’t need to submit a new claim or serve any waiting periods.

If you’re getting a supplementary benefit or hold a concession card, these won’t be affected in a nil rate payment period.

To learn more about cut off points, read about the income and assets test for Farm Household Allowance.