Children’s Details & Tax – What You Need to Know 

Why does the ATO or Centrelink want your children’s details?

Because your little legends can impact your:

• Family Tax Benefit (FTB) eligibility

• Tax offsets and rebates

• Medicare Levy Surcharge (MLS) threshold — the more dependants, the higher your threshold

• Child support assessments

What details do you need to provide?

Usually, you’ll need:

• Full name

• Date of birth

• Relationship to you (biological, adopted, stepchild, etc.)

• Period they were your dependant (if not the whole year)

• Whether they lived with you

• Whether you or someone else received Family Tax Benefit for them

• Whether they were a student or had a disability

• Their income (if it was over the threshold, they might not count as your dependant)

Where do you provide these details?

In your tax return:

• Under the “Spouse and dependants” section — helps with MLS and offset calculations

To Centrelink:

• When applying for family payments, child care subsidies, or child support assessments

Why does it matter?

Tax:

• More dependants = bigger tax-free threshold for the MLS

• May qualify you for certain offsets or tax benefits

Centrelink benefits:

• Your child’s details help Centrelink calculate your entitlements (like FTB and parenting payments)

Child support:

• Affects how much you pay or receive — based on number and ages of kids

Gotax’s FAQ – Real Questions, Real Fast

Q: My child lives with me part-time. Do I include them?
A: Yes, just specify the period they were your dependant.

Q: My teenager has a part-time job. Are they still my dependant?
A: If they earned under $1,786, yes. If they earned more, they might not qualify.

Q: Do I include adult kids?
A: Only if they’re still financially dependent (like full-time students under 25).

Bottom line:

Keeping your kids’ details up to date with the ATO and Centrelink can mean more money in your pocket and less tax to pay. Don’t guess it — get it right, and let GoTax help you make it easy.

Let GoTax Help You Out

We ask the right questions to figure out if your kids count for tax or benefits — without you needing to Google every second sentence.

Start your return now: www.gotax.com.au/guest-user

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