NSW Timeframe for Change of Assessment

[miranda77]

Hi there,
I'm hoping someone can tell me what the usual timeframe is for Change of Assessments to be processed by CSA? I submitted mine on Feb 25 2019 and have received only a phone call about a month later to say it had been allocated to someone. I haven't received anything since, and all I can find is that the other parent needs to respond in a 'reasonable' amount of time if they wish to refute it, nothing about how long the whole process takes. What's reasonable though? Are they seriously giving the other parent 4+ months to come back with something?
Before I call them and query where it's at, I just wanted to check whether this was normal or not to be waiting this long for any feedback/result...anything!

Many thanks

 

[Keeks]

Hi - my husband and I have been through a COA.

It was lodged by his ex partner in November and we received a copy of the submission shortly after, and were given about three weeks to provide a response. If we didn't respond by the nominated date, the decision would be made without my husband's input or response. We did that early December, and by the end of January we had a ruling on the matter from CSA, communicated via email and mail. So all up, just under three months, and that was over the Christmas period so I imagine it could possibly be a shorter timeframe this time of year. Probably worth a follow-up call.
It can be frustrating trying to communicate with CSA - we had two different people pick up our COA at various points (that said, we've had some really fantastic support at other times from CSA people, guess it just depends on who picks up your call).

Good luck - hope the system works for you.

 

[miranda77]

Hi - my husband and I have been through a COA.

It was lodged by his ex partner in November and we received a copy of the submission shortly after, and were given about three weeks to provide a response. If we didn't respond by the nominated date, the decision would be made without my husband's input or response. We did that early December, and by the end of January we had a ruling on the matter from CSA, communicated via email and mail. So all up, just under three months, and that was over the Christmas period so I imagine it could possibly be a shorter timeframe this time of year. Probably worth a follow-up call.
It can be frustrating trying to communicate with CSA - we had two different people pick up our COA at various points (that said, we've had some really fantastic support at other times from CSA people, guess it just depends on who picks up your call).

Good luck - hope the system works for you.

Thanks so much for this, they've been fast with other things so I thought this had to be longer than normal. Will call them, thanks again.

 

[sammy01]

That is insanely long.. Especially, since they back date to time of application, so if it takes 5 months for them to make a decision and the consequence is backdated, then the parent that is out of pocket as a result gets smashed...

Seriously, get onto them. Unless it is something out of the ordinary 5 months is way too long

 

[Step2Three]

Hi there,
I'm hoping someone can tell me what the usual timeframe is for Change of Assessments to be processed by CSA? I submitted mine on Feb 25 2019 and have received only a phone call about a month later to say it had been allocated to someone. I haven't received anything since, and all I can find is that the other parent needs to respond in a 'reasonable' amount of time if they wish to refute it, nothing about how long the whole process takes. What's reasonable though? Are they seriously giving the other parent 4+ months to come back with something?
Before I call them and query where it's at, I just wanted to check whether this was normal or not to be waiting this long for any feedback/result...anything!

Many thanks

Best to stay on top of them- same thing happened to my husband. He advised a change in care arrangements, provided a copy of updated orders, CSA "confirmed" with the ex but she told them they weren't following the orders, so they didn't update the assessment- any chance this has happened in your COA?
CSA also didn't bother communicating that outcome to him, so he continued to wait patiently for an outcome, all the while paying the old amount. He followed up after a month or two to find out nothing had happened because the ex hadn't agreed (i.e. lied), and was asked if he just wanted to leave things as is! Whole process took 5 months, alot of phone calls, submissions proving the increased time etc.

And despite assurances from CSA agents throughout the process that he could recover overpayments once finalised and backdated, surprise surprise, that was a lie too.

 

[miranda77]

Thanks all!
So I contacted them and was told a decision was made the week prior (I still haven't received anything nor was ever contacted by decision maker!) and she basically said she can see it was rejected on the grounds that, whilst the reason DID exist and there was proof of that, it wasn't causing financial hardship situation (even though all financials were provided with the application to prove it was) because the decision maker contacted the ATO after July 1st and got a gross income (I'm guessing, since tax return hasn't been completed for 18/19 yet) and this was more than the taxable income they were using from 17/18, which is what is used in the COA as it was submitted in FEB (!), so it's rejected on that basis.

So... in other words they sat on this for 5 months and did nothing until after tax time to find out what the gross tax was and reject on that basis as there was no other reason to reject.
I was never contacted regarding this income information, or any information, or to provide a comment or more information, which I'm guessing isn't procedural fairness? Aren't you supposed to get told of any adverse information they obtain and given the opportunity to respond?

Also, can they take gross income and compare it to taxable income? When tax gets done that gross income will go down due to deductions and bring it very close to the 17/18 taxable income that they're using.

The customer service officer told me I can object to the decision, so I will, but still waiting on the actual letter and decision to know what it actually says!