Child Support Amendment Bill
Officials' report to the Social Services and Community Committee on submissions received on the Bill
February 2001
CONTENTS
Overview
- Overview of the Bill
- Previous consultation on proposals in the Bill
- Summary of the key themes from submissions on the Bill
- Recommended changes to the Bill
General submissions
- Support for proposed amendments
- Application dates for the proposals
- Objectives of the Child Support Act 1991
- Definition of “social security beneficiary”
- Liability to pay child support under formula assessment
- Issue: Support for proposed amendment – minimum age financially independent
- Issue: Support for proposed amendment – maximum age qualifying child
- Issue: Oppose proposed amendment – maximum age qualifying child
- Issue: Schooling of child
- Issue: Child support should cease if the child is not attending school
- Shared care
- Timeframes for providing orders of parentage
- Child leaving state care
- Amount of child support payable under formula assessment
- Issue: Rationale for repeal of mixed age expenditure table
- Issue: Clarifying when no child expenditure table applies
- Issue: Discretion to adjust expenditure calculations
- Issue: Expenditure table
- Issue: Increase when child turns 13
- Issue: Child expenditure
- Issue: Exceptional circumstances – disability and health-related costs
- Definition of “income”
- Issue: Support for proposed amendment – changes to definition of “income”
- Issue: Object to move to “net income”
- Issue: Income should be after tax
- Issue: Income should not be based on gross earnings
- Issue: Inclusion of investment income widens the gap of child poverty
- Issue: Widen the definition of “income” further
- Issue: Use of actual income
- Issue: Proposal should be retrospective
- Issue: Income used in assessments
- Issue: Cap or fix the amount of child support
- Issue: Child support when calculating taxable income
- Issue: Child support abating government assistance
- Issue: Recognition of opportunity costs
- Issue: Receiving carer’s lifestyle
- Living allowance
- Dependent child allowance
- Estimations
- Issue: Section 40AA (Interpretation for purposes of sections 40 to 45)
- Issue: 15 percent threshold for estimations
- Issue: Aligning back-dating estimations and grace period timeframes
- Issue: COVID-19 and estimations
- Issue: Definition of “election period” for the purposes of backdated estimations
- Issue: Definition of “year-to-date income”
- Circumstances at time of assessment
- Time bar
- Exemptions
- Administrative reviews
- Issue: Support for amendments
- Issue: Exchange of information during an administrative review
- Issue: Retrospective administrative reviews decisions
- Issue: Administrative reviews should be evaluated
- Issue: Costs of access to children and travel cost
- Issue: Support for proposed amendment – removal of offsetting administrative review ground
- Jurisdiction of courts
- Urgent maintenance orders
- Automatic deductions
- Penalties and write-offs
- Issue: Support for proposal – changes to penalty rules
- Issue: Incorporate the Supplementary Order Paper into the Bill
- Issue: Existing penalties should not be written off
- Issue: Debt collection practice
- Issue: Penalties or interest paid to receiving carers
- Issue: Consistency of administrative regimes across Inland Revenue Acts
- Issue: Greater compliance tools
- Issue: Grace period
- Issue: Government guarantee of child support
- Issue: Transitional provision to cover the period between the repeal of section 135GB and enactment of grace period
- Issue: Provision to write-off penalties when it would be an inefficient use of Inland Revenue’s resources to collect the penalty
- Issue: Redundant amendment to correct cross-reference in the definition of “relevant payments”
- Offsetting
- Residence
Other submissions
- Other issues raised by submitters
- Issue: Pass-on of child support to sole parent beneficiaries
- Issue: Data
- Issue: Write-offs
- Issue: Compliance
- Issue: Integrity of the child support system
- Issue: Non-disclosure of income and assets
- Issue: Comments on sole parent support
- Issue: Information
- Issue: Cross-reference error
- Issue: Child support spent on the children
- Issue: The child support scheme should be repealed
- Issue: Applications for past periods
- Issue: Liable parent payment schedule
- Issue: Children should be considered financially independent at a set income threshold