NEWSFLASH!!! – COVID 19 Special Report
Federal Government, Coronavirus Relief Measures Announced
Lodge Claims Before 14 April for $750 Coronavirus Payment
As part of the Government’s economic response to the Coronavirus, two separate $750 payments will be made to eligible Centrelink or DVA income support recipients, and eligible concession card holders.
To be eligible to receive the first $750 payment, clients who are not already receiving an eligible payment or concession card need to lodge an intent to claim with Centrelink before 14 April.
Centrelink have introduced a new faster claim process that does not require clients to have a Customer Reference Number (CRN) to register an intent to claim.
Eligibility – First $750 payment
To qualify for the first $750 coronavirus support payment, an individual must be:
1) residing in Australia, and
2) receiving an eligible income support payment or hold an eligible concession card such as the Pensioner Concession Card or the Commonwealth Seniors Health Card at any time from 12 March to 13 April 2020. Please refer to the Appendix for a list of eligible income support payments and concessions cards.
For those who already receive an eligible income support payment or hold an eligible concession card during this period, the $750 payment will be made automatically from 31 March.
On the other hand, if an individual’s job or business has been affected due to the Coronavirus pandemic and they are thinking about getting support from Centrelink, they must either lodge a full claim or at least register their intention to claim before 14 April 2020 to qualify for the first $750 payment. Please note that an eligible payment or concession card needs to be granted by Centrelink in due course for the first $750 to be paid.
If an individual who is otherwise eligible fails to lodge a full claim or register their intention to claim before 14 April 2020, they will miss out on the first $750 payment.
Faster claim process
On 25 March, Centrelink introduced new functionality to allow clients to register their intention to claim a Centrelink payment through myGov with or without a Centrelink Customer Reference Number (CRN).
Up until last Wednesday (25 March 2020), an individual needed to have a CRN to be able to apply for payments and services, or create an online account through myGov to lodge a claim.
If an individual received payment from Centrelink in the past, including those who are receiving or received Child Care Subsidy (previously Child Care Benefit and Child Care Rebate), they would already have a CRN. However, for many people who have never dealt with Centrelink before, they needed to either phone Centrelink or go to a Centrelink service centre with photo ID and a range of other documents to prove identify to get their CRN.
Due to the large demand it was very difficult to get through to Centrelink. As a result, from 25 March Centrelink now allows individuals to register their intention to claim through myGov without the need to have a CRN.
Under this new functionality, individuals without a CRN are able to register their intention to claim if they have a myGov account. Many people already have a myGov account to deal with Government agencies such as Medicare or the Australian Taxation Office. However if a person does not already have a myGov account, it’s a relatively easy process to register for one. Once this is done, the affected individual can follow the instructions on the myGov Welcome screen to register their intention to claim.
When registering, the applicant needs to agree to share their contact details in myGov with Centrelink. Centrelink will then contact the person to let them know the next steps.
For those who already have a CRN, they can link their myGov account to Centrelink online services if they haven’t already done so. They can then sign in to myGov and either:
– Start the claim in their Centrelink online account, or
– Register their intention to claim following the instructions on the myGov Welcome screen.
Backdating qualifying payments
Due to difficulties in contacting Centrelink to make a claim before 29 March, Centrelink have introduced backdating provisions. Where an intent to claim was made between 23 and 29 March and a full claim submitted by 19 April 2020, Centrelink will backdate the income support payment to 23 March 2020, if the payment is subsequently granted.
Where an intent to claim is made from 30 March 2020, if granted, Services Australia have indicated that “we’ll backdate your payment” – presumably this means that payments will be backdated to the date the intent to claim has been made.
Appendix – Eligible income support payments or concession cards for the first $750 payment
An individual must be receiving one of the following payments, or hold one of the following concession cards, or have lodged a claim between 12 March 2020 to 13 April 2020 and the claim is subsequently granted, to qualify for the first $750 economic support payment:
- Age pension
- Disability support pension
- Carer payment
- Parenting payment
- Wife pension
- Widow B pension
- ABSTUDY (living allowance)
- Austudy
- Bereavement allowance
- Newstart allowance
- JobSeeker Payment
- Youth allowance
- Partner allowance
- Sickness allowance
- Special benefit
- Widow allowance
- Family tax benefit (including double orphan pension)
- Carer allowance
- Pensioner Concession Card (PCC) holders
- Commonwealth Seniors Health Card holders
- Veteran Service Pension; Veteran Income Support Supplement; Veteran Compensation payments, including lump sum payments; War Widow(er) Pension; and Veteran Payment.
- DVA PCC holders; DVA Education Scheme recipients; Disability Pensioners at the temporary special rate; DVA Income support pensioners at
$0 rate.
- Veteran Gold Card holders
- Farm household allowance
Unfortunately if an individual only holds a Low Income Health Care Card, they do not qualify for the $750 coronavirus support payments.
Be aware of scams involving Coronavirus
Visit the Stay Smart Online website for information about Coronavirus scams and how to stay safe. If you you have been scammed, you can make a report on the Scamwatch website, and find more information about where to get help.
Support & Advice
We’re experiencing higher than usual call volumes from our clients. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause. If you need to speak with us, we will do our best to get back to you in a timely manner.
We are in due course contacting all superannuation fund members and trustees to provide a summary of the key information relating to their super and pension and to outline how we are helping to support clients and their families during these unprecedented and unsettling times.
Lastly, and importantly, we sincerely hope that you, your family, friends and colleagues are healthy and safe during this challenging time.
If you would like to discuss any of the issues raised in this report, please don’t hesitate to contact me directly.
Kind regards,
Justin Mulcahy
Co-Founder & CEO
Certified Financial Planner ®
INTRINSIC ASSET MANAGEMENT
Intrinsic Private Wealth specialise in providing financial advice to Australian investors. With over 20 years of experience in the finance & investment industry.
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