The Guides to Social Policy Law is a collection of publications designed to assist decision makers administering social policy law. The information contained in this publication is intended only as a guide to relevant legislation/policy. The information is accurate as at the date listed at the bottom of the page, but may be subject to change. To discuss individual circumstances please contact Services Australia.

1.1.N.45 Notional assessment (FTB)

Definition

For the purposes of FTB, a notional assessment is an assessment made by Child Support under the CSA Act of the payer's child support liability when there is a child support agreement in place. The notional assessment is used as a basis to assess FTB entitlement.

For child support agreements, Child Support will work out the annual rate of child support that would otherwise be payable under the child support legislation if there was no agreement. This will be called the 'Child Support notional assessment' because it is a 'notional' rather than an actual rate of child support. The amount of child support that would be received under a Child Support notional assessment is the amount that will be used in the maintenance income test (MIT) for FTB Part A. For child support collect cases, if less than 100% of the agreement amount of child support is collected, the MIT will not use 100% of the notional amount. Instead, a percentage of this amount that is equal to the percentage of the agreement amount received is used.

Act reference: FAAct section 3(1)-'notional assessment'

Policy reference: FA Guide 3.1.7.14 Notional assessments

Last reviewed: