Manual income charging rules

When a client declares their Child Support payments to MSD, staff must determine if non-information share Child Support payments are income or a capital payment.

Generally, non-information share Child Support payments are charged as income using the general charging rules on the basis the payment is for an income-related purpose.

If the payment is income, MSD must charge the income for the period it was earned or relates to.

This is different to information share Child Support payments. Those payments are automatically charged forward as income using defined rules.

A client's income must be charged over the period it is earned or relates to. This could be a period in the past or may be for a future date.

For example, a client may get a late payment of Child Support that relates to a period 6 months ago. In this situation, the payment would be charged as income for the same period in the past.

A client could also get a payment intended to support their child for the next month. This would be charged as income over the next month.

For clients who have an annual review of income, income should generally be charged forward for the appropriate length of time. This avoids creating debt for clients where possible.

If the Child Support income does not represent a specific period or if MSD cannot determine the actual period it represents, MSD must determine the most appropriate period to charge the income. This may be the week in which it is received, provided or supplied.