Media Release
Builders under the spotlight in hunt for missing child support money
30 July 2007
The Minister for Human Services, Senator Chris Ellison, said today the Child Support Agency (CSA) is focusing extra attention on separated parents in the building industry in order to collect more money for children.
The Minister said CSA believes that there are up to 8,000 CSA customers in the building trade who fail to lodge their tax returns each year.
“Children may be going without because CSA can’t appropriately assess child support without a tax return,” Senator Ellison said.
The CSA’s initial investigations into the industry resulted in a 500 per cent increase in child support assessments.
“The result highlights the value of targeting this particular trade where cash payments are common, as part of the ongoing effort to ensure parents pay the right amount of child support,” he said.
As part of the CSA’s joint operations with the Australian Tax Office, separated parents will be asked to lodge their tax returns so that their cases can be assessed correctly and the appropriate amount of child support is calculated.
In the past financial year the two agencies have worked closely together to send more than 125,000 separated parents notices requiring them to lodge their tax returns.
“These efforts saw an extra $16 million in much needed child support collected with more than 33,000 parents lodging more than 57,000 overdue Income Tax returns,” Senator Ellison said.
Now the spotlight is being turned on industries like the building trade.
“The CSA has recently recruited additional financial investigators who will identify builders who haven’t been paying the correct amount of child support.”
“Quite often builders are paid cash in hand, enabling them to hide their true income and avoid paying the right amount of child support. This isn’t fair to their children or taxpayers who pick up the bill through additional Family Assistance payments.”
The CSA will look at parents in the building trade where there is evidence a customer has reduced their income in order to reduce their child support liability. The CSA can adjust a parent’s child support obligation based on their true financial situation.
Where tax returns are lodged it may be decided that the level of payment is appropriate and no further action is necessary.
“Most separated parents, including those who work in the building industry, do the right thing. We owe it to them to work with those parents who go to great lengths to avoid their responsibility to their children,” he said.
Senator Ellison said the CSA was focusing on the incomes of both parents, whether they paid or received child support.
The CSA and the ATO will take a joint approach to parents who don’t lodge tax returns. The CSA urges all builders out there with outstanding tax returns to contact the ATO on 13 11 42 for assistance in getting those returns lodged.
Appendix
CSA Tax Lodgement Program 2006/2007
| State | Referrals | Tax returns lodged |
|---|---|---|
| ACT | 1,520 | 860 |
| NSW | 41,829 | 18,914 |
| NT | 1,962 | 593 |
| Qld | 28,920 | 13,031 |
| SA | 9,903 | 4,700 |
| Tas | 3,583 | 1,495 |
| Vic | 25,239 | 12,000 |
| WA | 12,985 | 5,626 |
| Blank | 28 | |
| Total | 125,941 | 57,247 |
Media Contact: Matt Francis – 0406 052 038.