Parental Leave Pay overpayments
You may be overpaid Parental Leave Pay because your circumstances changed. This may happen, for example, if you returned to work before the end of your Paid Parental Leave period and were no longer entitled to receive the payments but we were not notified.
When we become aware that you have been overpaid, we will send you an Account Payable notice advising you of the amount of overpayment. You will have to repay that amount using one of the repayment options included in the notice. You may want to contact us to discuss repayment options or your review and appeal rights.
You will have to repay the gross amount. Your repayment amount will include the net amount of Parental Leave Pay you received from your employer and the Pay As You Go (PAYG) withholdings paid by your employer to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) in respect of the Parental Leave Pay.
Getting a refund of PAYG withholdings from your employer or from us when an overpayment occurs
If we were paying you directly and you request a refund of the PAYG withholding amount in the same financial year in which the overpayment occurred, we can recover the PAYG withholding amount from the ATO and reduce your gross debt by this amount.
If you were getting the payment from your employer, we will recover the gross amount of the overpayment from you, and your employer will have to refund the PAYG withholding amount to you.
Getting a refund of PAYG withholdings from the ATO when an overpayment occurs
If the overpayment occurred in a previous financial year, you will need to recover the PAYG withholding amount from the ATO yourself, regardless of whether you received the overpayment from us or your employer.
If your income assessment has not been completed by the ATO, you can receive an offset of the overpaid PAYG withholding amount in the calculation of your tax return.
If the ATO has completed your income assessment, you should apply in writing to the ATO for an amended income assessment. You should provide the ATO with a copy of the Account Payable notice you received from us.
If an overpayment spans two financial years, each of the two processes described above will apply to the portion of the debt that occurred in the relevant financial year.
Payment summaries
If you received the overpayment from us, we will issue an amended payment summary to you.
If you received the overpayment through your employer and your employer has not issued you with a payment summary for the financial year the overpayment occurred, your employer is required to adjust their payroll record so that the overpaid amount is not reported as income on your payment summary.
If your employer has issued you with a payment summary for the financial year the overpayment occurred, your employer is required, within 28 days of becoming aware of the overpayment, to give you:
- an amended payment summary, or
- a letter containing relevant information about the overpayment for you to provide to the ATO
The arrangements for the amendment of payment summaries are similar to those that apply to overpaid salary or wages.
For more information about how to recover overpaid PAYG, speak with your employer or visit the Australian Taxation Office website.