Strategic Financial Solutions Pty Ltd: Baby Bonus

Baby Bonus

Reproduced from Centrelink's "A Guide to Australian Government Payments 1 January - 19 March 2012"

Basic Conditions of Eligibility

Paid to families following the birth (including stillbirth) or adoption of a child, where the eligibility requirements for Family Tax Benefit for the child (disregarding the Family Tax Benefit income tests) are met within 26 weeks of a child's birth, or in the case of adoption, within 26 weeks of the child being entrusted to the claimant's care.
Parents are required to formally register the birth of their child as a condition of receiving the Baby Bonus. This requirement does not apply to parents whose child is stillborn, adopted or born outside Australia.
For children born or who enter care from 1 January 2011, families must also have primary care of the child.
Payable to:
- a parent who has primary care of a newborn child, or
- families who have care of a newborn child within 26 weeks of the child's birth, and are likely to continue to have care of the child for no less than 26 weeks, or
- families who have a child entrusted to their care for adoption before the child is 16 years of age.
The claim must be made within 52 weeks starting from the day after the child's birth or in the case of adoption within 52 weeks from the day after the child comes into the person's primary care.

Residential Requirements

Claimant must be living in Australia and be:

an Australian citizen, or
the holder of a permanent visa, or
a New Zealand citizen who arrived on a New Zealand passport, or
holder of a temporary visa, subclass 070, 309, 310, 447, 451, 695, 785, 786, 787, 820 or 826 or a holder of a Criminal Justice Stay Visa issued specifically for the purpose of assisting in the administration of criminal justice in relation to the offence of people trafficking, sexual servitude or deceptive recruiting.

Basic Rates

Baby bonus is payable where Parental Leave Pay has not been or is not paid for the child.
Baby Bonus is a payment of $5,347 per eligible child and is paid in 13 fortnightly instalments. A higher amount is paid in the first instalment for parents and carers who become eligible on or after 1 July 2011. the first payment is $879.77 followed by 12 instalments of $379.77.
Families who became eligible for Baby Bonus prior to 1 July 2011 will continue to receive 13 equal instalments based on the 2010-11 rate of $5,294.
For multiple births, parental leave may be paid for the first child (if eligible) and Baby Bonus for the other child(ren).
The payment is made into a bank, credit union account or building society account. Baby Bonus cannot be claimed through the tax system for births after 1 July 2004.
You can claim Baby Bonus up to three months before the birth of your child or when a child enters your care.

Income Test

Baby Bonus is an income tested payment which is payable to families whose estimate of combined income is $75,000 or less in the six months following the birth of a child or the child's entry into the family's primary care.

Assets Test