Centrelink Has Asked Me to Provide Payslips from 2014 Onwards to Confirm Employment Income

saddybedangdang on 08/09/2017 - 12:56
Last edited 09/09/2017 - 14:51

Hi,

I am looking for some advice from people who have or have been in this situation. I hope some of you guys might shed some light for this. Apologies for the bulky text incoming.

I'm a 23 y.o student and all I can suspect now is that the discrepancy between centrelink and ATO means I have a debt coming my way.

Centrelink has asked me to confirm my employment income for all 5 of my previous employers. To provide this income, they asked for either payslips or bank statements. I dug around and only had bank statements. The income I have provided is from my bank statements. However, I was locked out three times due to records not matching with the ATO. Each time having to call up to rectify it (staff were helpful) and re-enable online access.

As some of you on Youth Allowance might be aware, you report your income between the dates they ask. As my Payslip never matched those dates I would just use my wage*total hours for that period. This must be where the discrepancy originates. I feel confidently that the income I have made has been justly reported to centrelink. But yes, there would be a discrepancy.

What is my problem? I have called them for a third time and they have now advised me to provide payslips from all 5 employers since 2014. That means contacting each employer and obtaining every payslip. I feel that this is a little unfair and an exhaustive process. If such a discrepancy is there, why would it be raised over a 3 year period. This is like giving me all my assignments at end of semester.

My question, where do I go next? The options he presented me were simple. Provide all those payslips and scan them or give them to local office OR provide a bank transcript (i can't recall sorry) BUT not a bank statement as that would cost $20 (It is free for every bank I am with). Is anyone else in this situation?

TL;DR: Centrelink is asking me to provide payslips for all 5 of my previous employers since 2014. What options do I have?

I noticed that centrelink has a history of raising wrong debt:

http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/programs/hack/students-accused…

http://www.news.com.au/finance/money/costs/aussies-panicking…

UPDATE: The final guy I've spoken with was very helpful, his name was Lee. He explained how the process works and all I can say is that it is far more intricate and complicated than I initially thought. Centrelink has a bunch of terms like "working credits, etc.".

I was on a salary for a specific job and was paid monthly. The way I was reporting the monthly pay actually impacted how I was being paid by centrelink. The centrelink system requires fortnightly pay. Monthly pay skews it. Hard to explain, I still don't understand it. But that put me in one fortnight period of a payment I shouldn't have received. So I have a debt of $300 over that 5 year period. Not terrible. All sorted.

I think it is good they are doing this and apparently they can investigate 10x the amount of people with this new system, so more reclaimed overpayments.

Feedback for centrelink: It is a rather laborious task inputting fortnightly payments for a 5-year period when you already agree with the ATO's information on financial year income, etc. But this comes down to "working credits". and not how much many you made in that year but in specific weeks.

THANKS EVERYONE

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Comments

  • 87percent on 08/09/2017 - 13:01
    +13

    in my previous dealings with Centrelink, all i can say to you is… GOOD FREAKING LUCK (sorry can't really offer any sound advice)

    • saddybedangdang on 08/09/2017 - 13:13

      I just called a 4th time and got a helpful lady. Her advice was that I shouldn't need to provide 4 years worth of payslips. But it always changes with these guys. Cheers haha

      • furys12 on 09/09/2017 - 09:05

        Yeah my one piece of advice from my shitty time with Centrelink (and real estates actually) is to record everything and just assume you have to do what the current writing says until you get another directive in writing, even if Centrelink employees are saying different on the phone, until you have it in writing you never know with those guys, even then you still don't but at least you have documention in case

  • spackbace on 08/09/2017 - 13:16
    +3

    MyGov - ATO - Payment Summaries…?

    After all, that is your income, and they can base one from the other. They don't need payslips for every week/fortnight to work it out

    • saddybedangdang on 08/09/2017 - 13:20
      +1

      That is exactly what I don't get. The ATO's information is correct so why get me to confirm what another agency has more accurate info on?

      • spackbace on 08/09/2017 - 13:21
        +1

        Print out the payment summaries, and go into a Centrelink branch. Talk to a human and I'm sure they'll be able to sort it out for you

      • Findo on 08/09/2017 - 14:51
        -2

        The ATO's information is as correct as the info your employer feeds them, which makes me think you were working a cash in hand job and didn't declare all your income.

        • airzone on 08/09/2017 - 16:14
          +8

          If you had a cash job and you didn't own up to ATO, why does Centrelink think he would own up to them?

    • furys12 on 09/09/2017 - 09:01

      It's been a few years but when you report to Centrelink you just say I earned X amount you don't have to provide proof at the time, later on it needs to match your tax records or this situation happens.

      Centrelink have the tax records, obviously, they are demanding to see why what op reported does not match those reports, providing the ATO reports again isn't what they want.

  • CLoSeR on 08/09/2017 - 13:26
    +5

    I think you need to do your best to supply the information requested.

    While Centrelink has been caught out in the past with incorrect debt claims this doesn't mean any request from them can be fobbed off as a mistake.

  • fruit on 08/09/2017 - 13:37
    +1

    https://twitter.com/not_my_debt

    • grog on 08/09/2017 - 16:04

      Yes read that twitter above not_my_debt …you are not alone…

  • tsunamisurfer on 08/09/2017 - 13:45
    +5

    "What options do I have?"

    Where exactly is the dilemma?

    The government is asking for your assistance is verifying your claim of the YA is valid.

    Do what you need to do to get that done.

    The time you spent writing the above text, you could have gone a good way into retrieving your PAYG Statments / Payment Summaries.

    • petry on 08/09/2017 - 13:48
      -8

      The time you spent being smart with someone who is highlighting an issue could have been better spent looking up troll.

      • newjerseydamo on 08/09/2017 - 13:52
        +2

        Except financial records must be kept for 5 years at a minimum (may be longer depending on certain circumstances), so in actual fact, this is the correct response.

        OP needs to ring his ex-employers and get them to provide them. Not an arduous task under any means and not very time consuming to contact the ex-employers.
        Then all the work is on the ex-employer to provide them to the OP.

        • petry on 08/09/2017 - 13:59
          +1

          Depends if the businesses are still trading to start with because 3 years is a long time. And what section of the act are you quoting for your empty assertions?

        • newjerseydamo on 11/09/2017 - 08:29

          @petry: Then contact the ATO who provide payslip summaries if the employee is unable to obtain them from the employer.

          And which empty assertions are you referring to? Requiring to keep records for 5 years?
          Fine: https://www.ato.gov.au/business/managing-your-small-business…

        • petry on 11/09/2017 - 11:23

          No centrelink.

          its the first word in the thread

        • newjerseydamo on 11/09/2017 - 12:42

          @petry:

          What on earth are you arguing?

          You also didn't even state what my empty assertions were.

          The OP needs to provide proof of payments from employment, therefore his options are as stated.
          There's nothing else they can do in regards to telling Centrelink no.

          That's the whole point of this discussion.

        • petry on 12/09/2017 - 14:23

          You asked a question I answered.

          The legislation I was referring to was centrelink - because the thread is about Centrelink.

          Centrelink requires reasonable proof -accepted tax records are sufficient. They want more than the tax office that is unreasonable.

          You want to act like a troll - you are one.

          Centrelink has no regard for Australian law including its own legislation. It thrives on bullying and bad management fuelled by facebook myths.

          The point of this discussion is not business records and you know that. You just being a troll and supporting bullying because that's what trolls do.

  • Rumbaar on 08/09/2017 - 13:50
    +4

    Centrelink is a incompetent automated organisation staffed by incompetent employees. That are linked to all government organisations, but doesn't talk to them correctly or efficiently.

    Worse thing is that you can ring up those 3 times and give 3 different answers. I guess you didn't perform a tax return any of those years to use as records?

  • CyberMurning on 08/09/2017 - 14:26

    sorry cant help, but i am happy to know that centrelink is very strict on spending my tax money.

    • saddybedangdang on 08/09/2017 - 15:50
      +2

      i am too. but i think asking back 4 years is a sign of failure to be honest. i would fully understand for this past financial year. feels like they have been asleep at the wheel for those 4 years

  • Findo on 08/09/2017 - 14:30

    The will want to work out if you were entitled to the full YA payment during the periods which you worked. As you know, you can get the full payment even if you're over the income threshold for that fortnight due to the income bank. Full details will be needed in order to work out whether you reported your income correctly for the payment periods and if you were overpaid. They've even got an app for you to fill in your time sheet, how did you think they wouldn't come after you if you didn't report accurately? If you've had multiple employers your pay rates from each job probably would've been different. The onus is on you to prove you haven't been overpaid, and I dare say a $20 bank transcript will cost you less than the debt you'll incur if you don't comply.

    Did you report your post-tax income from your bank account or did you report truthfully based on your payslips at the time?

  • HADOUKEN on 08/09/2017 - 14:36
    +3

    Contact your previous employers and ask them for the payslips. If they cannot give you the payslips then ask for a detailed payroll report which will outline the hours worked each week/fortnight and your GROSS wage to be used in calculating your Centrelink entitlement. Give this to Centrelink and let them ensure you received the correct entitlement. if you don't agree with the decision or calculations they make then you have right for review which will be in the correspondence they send you when the decision is made.

    I note that at the time of this reply, not once have you advised OzB community or Centrelink that you have approached your employers and asked them for the payslips. IMHO, OP has underdeclared income and knows he is F'ed.

    /thread.

    • Andoes on 08/09/2017 - 14:47

      Boom.

    • Findo on 08/09/2017 - 14:50
      +1

      OP pls reply!!!

      • saddybedangdang on 08/09/2017 - 15:28

        I went down to centrelink to see if I could show printed bank statements. I've always received pay to one bank account. They said you have to attempt online first (despite being continually locked out). Will update as I go. I think I reported right but who knows, maybe i'll get hit with a big one

    • saddybedangdang on 08/09/2017 - 15:24

      Yeah I've contacted them all. I spoke with a 5th person and received more information. She seemed to say that the reason they are doing this is that legislation has passed it.

      I've always reported my income in a specific way. GROSS wage multiplied by total hours worked during that period. Always been within 1% range of my actual payslip.

      I am reviewing all my tax returns for 2014/15, 2015/16 and 2016/17 and my shit checks out. So what am I raising? have they not been cross checking income with ATO for all those years? I'm not saying they are incompetent, the architecture of the system is though.

      Thanks for the advice, I have followed some of it

      • Andoes on 08/09/2017 - 16:30
        +1

        The issue may be that your employer/s have recorded periods of employment on your payg different to those you reported to DHS.

        This could be due to laziness (just put 30 June 201x instead of the termination date, as ATO dont give a crap) and now your employment dates dont match, but you total annual gross does.

        Just one possibility.

    • petry on 08/09/2017 - 15:57
      -2

      To hADOUKEN

      Whose going to win the footy? I assume since you know EVERYTHING based on very little, you can using current form and injuries tell me categorically all the F'ed teams?

      If you can't- well because you can't - maybe you should look up troll 2 instead of slandering someone.

      • HADOUKEN on 08/09/2017 - 16:02

        Mate, you are so uninformed and clearly have no idea what you are on about it is actually amusing. I have contributed more to this thread than you have with your defensive comments.

        OP thanked me for the advice.

        Geelong Cats will win. I suggest you thank me also and move on.

        • petry on 08/09/2017 - 17:54
          -5

          Mate - that is so uninformed - I am not your mate.

          Telling someone that they have 'underdeclared income and knows he is F'ed' is not a contribution.

          If you REALLY think it is I pity you.

      • Andoes on 08/09/2017 - 16:18

        Get your terms right before you go mouthing off. Slander is undertaken by a defendant. You might have been looking for defamation or libel, but neither of these did hadouken perpatrate.

        Besides that, picking competitive team outcomes and interpreting the Social Security Administration Act are an action so far apart it is ridiculous.

        Go back to slagging on poor old JV.

        • petry on 08/09/2017 - 17:59
          -3

          Neither you or the pitiful one have a clue about centrelink legislation.

          slander definition
          noun

          the action or crime of making a false spoken statement damaging to a person's reputation.
          "he is suing the TV company for slander"

          a false and malicious spoken statement.
          plural noun: slanders

          "I've had just about all I can stomach of your slanders"

          synonyms: slur, smear, untruth, false accusation, false report, insult, slight;

          verb

          make false and damaging statements about (someone).

        • Andoes on 08/09/2017 - 19:28
          -1

          @petry:

          Yeah righto mate. MATE. MAAAATTTTEE

        • Third_Gear on 08/09/2017 - 19:35

          @petry: banana = noun

  • teacherer on 08/09/2017 - 14:57
    +1

    Ask all your employers for your payslips.
    They have to provide them, wait x amount of weeks.
    Go into centrelink and print them all, hand them in for them to scan.

    I upload every payslip into mygov now in case the idiots do it to me again

    I've been through this and can share my experience. They will catch you out if you stuffed up.

    Even if you reported properly, prepare for a debt. Reporting is tuesday to tuesday or something along those lines and I'm willing to bet that that cycle didn't match up with your pay cycle. Unless you've been vigilant in dividing your payslip into days that match centrelinks reporting cycle.

    • saddybedangdang on 08/09/2017 - 15:31

      Thanks for that information, I think I'll adopt that same habit though I'm no longer on payment as I'm waiting to start my graduate job. And yeah, I reported tuesday-tuesday by adding all hours worked then using gross wage

  • Switchblade88 on 08/09/2017 - 18:24
    +1

    I got pinged on a YA debt because the course I was doing didn't qualify for full-time study. It was two days per week correspondence, at the 'maximum rate of study' which would complete the course in the allocated two years.

    At the time of commencement (10yrs ago) I attempted to verify with the provider, who couldn't confirm, and then with Centrelink, who simply shrugged and said 'suppose so, here's your money'.

    One year later and I get asked too many questions. Debt is raised, I argue my case vigilantly but it is determined that it wasn't full-time enough. I simply considered it a $3000 interest-free loan I was paying back at $50 per fortnight, so I gained something out of it… Nowdays, they've tightened up the rules in relation to this, so I wouldn't have fallen through the gaps in the first place, but it always feels rough when you think you've done your due diligence and get the short straw regardless.

  • Ocker on 08/09/2017 - 19:48
    +1

    Once you are involved at an individual level with Centrelink link you are juicyfruited.

    Hours waiting on the phone to talk with someone. Visit your local Centrelink office in person thinking this may help with the final solution! Good Luck!!!!

    You are doomed so just accept the fact

  • Sage on 08/09/2017 - 19:56
    +1

    I had the same thing, I put it off for a while and then it said they got the information from my employer instead.

    Here's a tip, call the ATO. They store your payment summaries and can read all of the figures out over the phone after some basic security checks.

  • Dazza610 on 09/09/2017 - 12:18
    +1

    Yeah…
    I have found with Centrelink, what ONE person says, is not necessarily what IS the right way… (or the wrong way).

    For instance: I was receiving a 'Disability Allowance' for my son (which suffers multiple conditions).
    I recently turned 60 and I just couldn't keep up with the requirements any-more, so I transferred the payment to my EX-wife, (tag, your up).

    I told them that I wanted to cancel the payment to me immediately… so that I wouldn't be overpaid.
    They still continued to pay me, so I gave that payment to my ex.

    Fast forward 3 months… she started to receive the payment instead of me.
    2 days later I got a, You have been overpaid notice.
    Even though, technically, I didn't get it, (because I gave it the ex), they wanted it back.

    I followed the correct procedure, instead of doing the wrong thing, and still got shafted.
    "Our Federal government in action".
    They said there was nothing they could do to change the outcome, because it was "computer controlled", (bu115hit).

    I'm really starting to get annoyed with the "it's the computers' fault" (bu115hit) when asking WHY. Just because I'm over 60, doesn't make me computer illiterate. Duh…

    I've probably forgotten more, than those on the other side of the counter will EVER know!
    I have even given them a tutorial, at times when they are stymied, stuck and don't have a clue.

    Sorry this turned out to be a bit of a RANT, but, I'm SURE there's more than me out there in a similar situation.
    If you haven't figured it out yet, I personally know how to fix some things, the word that comes to mind VOTE.

  • shaybisc on 09/09/2017 - 13:41
    +1

    Back in the day, when Centrelink raised an overpayment they had to show the calculations involved, week by week. It showed the amount paid, the income test applied, the appropriate entitlement using that income test, and thus the amount overpaid or underpaid in that week or fortnight. Add it all up and you get a total amount.

    Do they still do that? Or is it, our data matching gismotron shows a mismatch with ATO and you have an overpayment of X dollars in total- you figure it out?

  • saddybedangdang on 09/09/2017 - 14:51
    +2

    Update: The final guy I've spoken with was very helpful, his name was Lee. He explained how the process works and all I can say is that it is far more intricate and complicated than I initially thought. Centrelink has a bunch of terms like "working credits, etc.".

    I was on a salary for a specific job and was paid monthly. The way I was reporting the monthly pay actually impacted how I was being paid by centrelink. The centrelink system requires fortnightly pay. Monthly pay skews it. Hard to explain, I still don't understand it. But that put me in one fortnight period of a payment I shouldn't have received. So I have a debt of $300 over that 5 year period. Not terrible. All sorted.

    I think it is good they are doing this and apparently they can investigate 10x the amount of people with this new system, so more reclaimed overpayments.

    Feedback for centrelink: It is a rather laborious task inputting fortnightly payments for a 5-year period when you already agree with the ATO's information on financial year income, etc. But this comes down to "working credits". and not how much many you made in that year but in specific weeks.

    THANKS EVERYONE

  • petry on 10/09/2017 - 11:07

    Funny how much they spend on trying to recover a couple of hundred when tax evasion costs us billions.

    Even funnier when ato staff are up to their necks in assisting billion dollar tax evasion, and its all just covered up.

    Why spend 10 times the amount recovered to penalise the lowest paid?

    Its not like their criminals like the ato staff, who will never do time.

    The answer to this is all over this thread.

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