rikamarie Posted December 6, 2013 Report Share Posted December 6, 2013 Hi everyoneI am currently looking for a childcare centre for our (almost) 3 year old. Most centres are between $1200-$1600 per month. We are permanent residents and therefore qualify for the Child care rebate. How does this work?I have read that you can choose how it pays out.. Directly to the school, in your bank account monthly or yearly etc. We arrive in January 2014. I want it to pay directly to the school. If we apply at centrelink early January, how long before it starts paying out to the centre?I don't want to choose the most expensive school and then we are stuck paying it for months before CCR pays out.Thank youRika-Marie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HadEnoughofJuju Posted December 6, 2013 Report Share Posted December 6, 2013 We just went through the process of applying for the child care rebate and it can be a rather lengthy process. You can only apply for the CCR if you receive family tax benefit a or b payments which you will have to apply for first and both are income based assessments.You can do everything online which works out quicker and they even have an app for android and iphones.Before you can aply for the CCR you need to make sure that your child's vaccinations are up to date and on par with the Australian system and you can only do that by seeing a doctor and taking along your immunization cards. The doctors will then submit the information to the national immunization database and you will the receive an immunization statement from Medicare stating which vaccinations are outstanding if any. If there are any that need to be caught up you will need to have those done first after which you will receive another statement from medicare and only then will you be able to apply for the CCR assuming that you qualify for the family tax benefit a or b payment. After doing all the above and all the running around we found out yesterday that we dont qualify for any rebates because we earn above the minimum threshold for the CCR. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jordy Posted December 6, 2013 Report Share Posted December 6, 2013 There are two different payments that you could utilise and judging by the disparity between your topic title and post, you seem unclear about the difference:1. Child Care Benefit http://www.mychild.gov.au/pages/CCBenefit.aspx2. Child Care Rebate http://www.mychild.gov.au/childcarerebate/default.aspxOption 1 above is paid directly to the school. It is income tested and varies according to your income. You get allocated a percentage by Centrelink. So for example you could get 100% if your income is very low. But this is 100% of approved rate. I am not sure what the current approved rates are but lets say it is $5 per hour. If you child is in a full day the CCB will pay 100% of 11 hours = $55. If you daycare charges $70 for example you will have to pay in $15.00 out of your pocket per dayOption 2 is to cover your out of pocket expences. You will only qualify for this if you either work or volunteer or study a set amount of hours per week. I think it is 15 hours. CCR also has a cap of about $7500 a year. This amount is paid out quaterly or annually direct to you. EDIT: I see the current approved rates are $3.99 per hour. Therefore you will get a percentage of this paid for you according to your income. For example 80%. Therefore for a full day, CCB will pay 11 hours x 3.99 x 80% = $35.11. The balance you will pay. There is a calculator where you can check what you will receive. http://www.humanservices.gov.au/customer/enablers/online-estimators Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rikamarie Posted December 8, 2013 Author Report Share Posted December 8, 2013 Hi there. Thanks for the replies. Obviously feel like an idiot... Thought I understood it correctly. But I got my answer. Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HansaPlease Posted December 9, 2013 Report Share Posted December 9, 2013 After doing all the above and all the running around we found out yesterday that we dont qualify for any rebates because we earn above the minimum threshold for the CCR.Are you sure? I'm pretty sure the CC benefits are means tested but the CC rebate is not. We don't qualify for benefits but still get the rebate... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SmellyN Posted December 9, 2013 Report Share Posted December 9, 2013 just my 2cents worth! LOl!: Proper Full-time Child-Care (as we know from RSA) for kiddies under 4/5 is HARD to come by!! Remember too it needs to be an approved (CCB) child-care centre too otherwise you WON'T get the rebate.In our case out here there is very limited service....Isabella...who is just over 3yrs is only eligible to go to the local Kindy as of NEXT yr only & for 1 day in the wk for just UNDER half a day!! Hmmmmm..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HadEnoughofJuju Posted December 9, 2013 Report Share Posted December 9, 2013 Are you sure? I'm pretty sure the CC benefits are means tested but the CC rebate is not. We don't qualify for benefits but still get the rebate...According to Centrelink we have a 0% CCB but qualify for 50 hours a week child care. Not sure if that means we will get anything. Hope so but not counting on it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HansaPlease Posted December 9, 2013 Report Share Posted December 9, 2013 According to Centrelink we have a 0% CCB but qualify for 50 hours a week child care. Not sure if that means we will get anything. Hope so but not counting on it.Yep, so that means you'll still get the rebate. We get about half of what we pay back, paid into our bank accout every fortnight up to $7500 a year. (If your kids are in full time care that limit is reached quicker!) See here, there are some examples further down the page. http://www.mychild.gov.au/pages/news_270912_ccb.aspx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndreaL Posted December 10, 2013 Report Share Posted December 10, 2013 The child care rebate is nor means tested, the only changes are that the new government has frozen it at $7500 per year for the next few years..................so far.HEOJ, surely you qualify for Family Tax benefit part B, the cut off point is $150 000 http://www.careforkids.com.au/articlesv2/article.asp?ID=20 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HadEnoughofJuju Posted December 10, 2013 Report Share Posted December 10, 2013 We qualify for both the family tax a and b benefits. We jusy earn too much for the child care benifit but qualify for 50 hours a week for child care (rebate) which they only pay half of the hourly rate.It's awesome having these kind of first world problems. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erik Posted December 10, 2013 Report Share Posted December 10, 2013 Sorry to steer off course, but how long after applying for tax benefits did you hear anything from centrelink? Applied 23 sep. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HadEnoughofJuju Posted December 10, 2013 Report Share Posted December 10, 2013 It took them a good 30 days to respond. I do know that they have a very high work load at the moment. A call to the call center will have you on hold for 50 minutes minimum before they answer. Have you downloaded the express app and registered? It does speed things up if all your submissions are done online. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erik Posted December 10, 2013 Report Share Posted December 10, 2013 Did everything online and posted the docs they wanted. Been 2 and a half months...Maybe I should call... (I dread the hour waiting on the telephone ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichardH Posted December 11, 2013 Report Share Posted December 11, 2013 Did everything online and posted the docs they wanted. Been 2 and a half months...Maybe I should call... (I dread the hour waiting on the telephone ) I went into a centrelink department to do all the applications. Its a much better experience than for example UIF in SA It took a few visits but eventually everything was in place and we had our rebate paid at source. Not had a bother since. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HadEnoughofJuju Posted December 11, 2013 Report Share Posted December 11, 2013 If you goto one of the Centrelink offices they put you on one of their phones and it's an internal call. That way you don't pay a fortune dialing a 1300 number. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
followmylead Posted December 13, 2013 Report Share Posted December 13, 2013 Just a quick question, is there an age limit for that (kids) ? My kids are all in school. Two in primary and 1 in high school next year. We do qualify for FTB a and b Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HadEnoughofJuju Posted December 13, 2013 Report Share Posted December 13, 2013 This link just says that your child has to be attending an approved child care facility so I would guess the rebate would then be governed by whether or not the child care centers have age limits.http://www.mychild.gov.au/childcarerebate/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jordy Posted December 13, 2013 Report Share Posted December 13, 2013 Just a quick question, is there an age limit for that (kids) ? My kids are all in school. Two in primary and 1 in high school next year. We do qualify for FTB a and bUnless you put your primary school children and your high school child in daycare for 1-4 year olds, I think you will have a tough time getting a refund for money spent on child care. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HansaPlease Posted December 13, 2013 Report Share Posted December 13, 2013 Just a quick question, is there an age limit for that (kids) ? My kids are all in school. Two in primary and 1 in high school next year. We do qualify for FTB a and bIf I'm not mistaken, you still get a rebate for before and after school care. Am looking into this now. Monster #1 is starting school in the new year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
followmylead Posted December 13, 2013 Report Share Posted December 13, 2013 Haha thanks Jordy. Thought so Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
miraclebabycaw Posted December 24, 2013 Report Share Posted December 24, 2013 You get rebate on OSHC (out of school hours care) as well if your kids are in primary school. Generally around 1/2 of what you pay to the school. FTB a and b are family tax benefits and depend on your salary. Under 17000 a year you get both, under 150 000 a year you get one. You can elect to have all of these benefits paid weekly or at tax year end. Currently we take the Rebate weekly and do FTB at tax year end. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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