Paying Child Support when the other parent is overseas (assessment made in Australia)
If you live in Australia and pay Child Support to a parent who lives overseas (excluding New Zealand) and the assessment was made in Australia, the following information applies to you.
If your children and the other parent move overseas and you have an existing Australian assessment, our role is to transfer payments on your behalf and enforce them if necessary.
We will assess how much you should pay and ask you to make payments through us. Your payments will be forwarded directly to the other parent.
When the Child Support amount is calculated, we use your taxable income as assessed by the Australian Taxation Office for the most recently ended Australian financial year before your application was lodged, or the total Centrelink benefits you received in that financial year, or a combination of both.
For the parent overseas, we use their income from the most recently ended financial year in their country. Documentary evidence of the income is necessary and needs to be provided in their foreign currency.
This is then converted into Australian dollars using the average of the International Money Transfer rate used by Commonwealth Bank of Australia for the period of the foreign country’s financial year.
Payment options
Payments should be made to us in Australia. There are a number of convenient ways to pay Child Support. Having your payment collected by us means you do not need to worry about the costs of converting your payments to another currency.
If you are employed or receive Centrelink or the Department of Veterans' Affairs payments, we will arrange for your Child Support to be deducted and sent to us directly. There is no cost involved. It makes paying Child Support easy and convenient and may help to manage any debt you may have.
If you do not want us to deduct payments in this way, you must contact us so that we can arrange an alternative method such as:
BPay—you’ll need Biller Code 201509 and your 16-digit payment reference number.
Australia Post BillPay—you can make a payment at any branch of Australia Post.
Credit or debit card—visit the Government EasyPaywebsite or call 1300 676 420. This service will incur a card payment fee.
Mail—post a cheque or money order payable to ‘Department of Human Services—Child Support’ with your payment slip to:
Department of Human Services
Locked Bag 11
A’Beckett Street
Melbourne VIC 8006
Call the Payments Enquiry Line on 1800 241 272 for more information about these payment options.
If you do not make your payments
If you do not pay your Child Support, we will work with you to achieve the best outcome for both parents and for the children. We’ll contact you to discuss your circumstances and work out a suitable payment plan.
If we cannot come to an arrangement with you, we may actively try to recover the overdue amount for the benefit of your children. Enforcement options include compulsory salary deductions, legal action or preventing you from leaving Australia.
When you have overdue Child Support payments, we will intercept any Australian tax refund due to you to help reduce the amount owing.
Late payment penalties are applied to the outstanding Child Support amounts. These penalties are paid to the Australian Government—not to us or the other parent. Penalties may be waived if the overdue Child Support is paid in full.