Names used in all published decisions are pseudonyms. Any references appearing in square brackets indicate that information has been omitted from this decision and replaced with generic information pursuant to subsection 16(2AB) of the Child Support (Registration and Collection) Act 1988.

1. This is a review of a decision of Services Australia (Child Support) about an application to exclude post-separation income.
2. Mr Banthorpe and Ms Beachcroft have had a child support assessment for their children since 1 September 2022 after separating on 9 May 2022. Ms Beachcroft is the parent assessed to pay child support.
3. For the child support assessment period dated 1 December 2023 to 30 November 2024 the assessment used Ms Beachcroft's 2022/23 ATO taxable income of $78,896. On 8 May 2024 Ms Beachcroft applied for additional income earned after separation to be excluded from her taxable income used in the assessment.
4. On 17 May 2024 Child Support made a decision to accept Ms Beachcroft's application to exclude $18,286 of her income earned after separation. The result was that the income used for Ms Beachcroft in the assessment from 10 May 2024 was reduced to $60,610.
5. Ms Beachcroft objected to this decision on 30 June 2024 as she disagreed with the date the application had been accepted from. On 7 February 2025 Child Support partly allowed this objection with the result that her application was accepted from 8 May 2024. Ms Beachcroft applied to the Tribunal for review of this decision on 11 March 2025. As she was slightly out of time to apply, she sought an extension of time which was granted by the Tribunal.
6. The Tribunal and the parties received hearing papers from Child Support numbered 1-169. These have been considered by the Tribunal.
7. The Tribunal held a hearing on 1 August 2025 with both parents attending. Ms Beachcroft gave evidence by Microsoft Teams video, and Mr Banthorpe by telephone. The Child Support Registrar did not participate in the hearing.

1. The statutory provisions relevant to this review are contained in the Child Support (Registration and Collection) Act 1988 (the Act) and the Child Support (Assessment) Act 1989 (the Assessment Act).
2. The issue which arises in this case is whether the decision to exclude post-separation income should be backdated for a period prior to the date the application was made.

1. Section 44 of the Assessment Act allows a parent to apply to Child Support to exclude income earned post-separation for the purposes of calculating the assessment during a child support period in the following circumstances:

(a) the applicant and the other parent of the child lived together on a genuine domestic basis for at least 6 months; and

(b) the separation, following that 6 month period, of the applicant from the other parent occurred:

(ii) before the application for administrative assessment of child support for the child was made under section 25 or 25A; and

(c) at the time of the application under this section, the applicant and the other parent remain separated; and

(d) in the last relevant year of income, or in the application period for an income election (if such an election has been made by the parent), the applicant earns, derives or receives income:

(i) in accordance with a pattern of earnings, derivation or receipt that is established after the applicant and the other parent first separate; and

(ii) that is of a kind that it is reasonable to expect would not have been earned, derived or received in the ordinary course of events.

1. If such an application is made, Child Support may make a determination to exclude the income referred to in paragraph 44(1)(d), as long as the reduction to the income used in the assessment is no more than 30% and is not used in the assessment more than 3 years after the date of separation.
2. In this matter Ms Beachcroft is not seeking review of any aspect of the objection decision aside from the start date. The facts are agreed in respect of the other aspects of the decision, and the Tribunal sees no error in the decision under review. The only issue in dispute is whether the application to exclude the additional income ought to be applied from the start of the relevant child support period (1 December 2023) or remain at the date of Ms Beachcroft's application (8 May 2024).
3. The Assessment Act does not provide for what date the excluded income will start to be used in the assessment, beyond it needing to be during the relevant child support period. Australian Government policy contained in the Child Support Guide (the Guide) (found at https://guides.dss.gov.au/child-support-guide) states at Chapter 3.5 that 'If the Registrar accepts an application to exclude additional income this will ordinarily apply from the date the application was made. However, it can apply from the start of the CSP ... in which the application is made if there are special circumstances'.
4. The Guide goes on to detail the following examples of special circumstances:

The following are the circumstances in which a parent will be considered to have been prevented from applying earlier:

• The income was not yet used in the assessment.
• The parent was not aware of the existence of the
  • child support assessment (1.1.C.70).
  • provision because it was not discussed in their initial contact with Services Australia after the application for administrative assessment (1.1.A.30) was accepted.
• The parent was a victim of family violence.
• The parent (or a family member) was ill or had an accident that stopped the parent from applying.
• The parent suffered a personal trauma such as a death in the family, or a natural disaster that caused damage to their property.
• The parent had communication difficulties because of, or including, isolation, illiteracy or poor English-language skills.
• The parents were involved in negotiations over child support (1.1.C.60) and/or other matters and applying may have compromised those negotiations.
• There are other exceptional circumstances.

1. Ms Beachcroft gave evidence at the hearing that the parties had a private child support arrangement prior to 8 May 2024, and while she recalls receiving occasional correspondence from Child Support, as the arrangement was private, she did not believe she needed to update her income with Child Support and did not know about the ability to have additional income earned post-separation excluded from the assessment. On 8 May 2024 she was contacted by Child Support about the assessment being registered for collection from that date, with arrears also being collected back to 8 February 2024. She was told about post-separation income in that call and applied for it to be excluded the same day. Aside from a brief interaction when the private assessment commenced, Ms Beachcroft recalled this to be her first interaction with Child Support.
2. Mr Banthorpe was not able to comment at hearing about whether there were special circumstances that applied to Ms Beachcroft or not, although he raised concerns about the cost of living, and said that he too received assessment notices from time to time while the case was privately collectable.
3. There is no evidence in the hearing papers that Ms Beachcroft was aware of the provision regarding post-separation income prior to the call with Child Support on 8 May 2024. As soon as she was aware, she immediately exercised that option and did not rest on her rights. The Tribunal finds that on this basis there were special circumstances of the kind provided for in the Guide, and that on balance it is appropriate to exercise the discretion to backdate the effect of the successful post-separation income application to the start of the relevant child support period on 1 December 2023 (noting that the collectable liability will only be impacted from 8 February 2024).
4. As the Tribunal has determined a different start date but not altered the rest of the objection decision, the decision under review will be varied.

The Tribunal varies the decision under review so that Ms Beachcroft's post-separation income of $18,286 is excluded for the period commencing 1 December 2023 until the end of that child support period.