Interesting blog Ryan, I've added it to my favs to read when I haven't had a wine (or two).  Looking forward to hearing your thoughts on WFF.

Most time you do have to pay back the overpayments of the DPB and dole. But there are some cases where you don't have to. Someone my friends knows scammed the DPB for years and ended up with about $16000 of overpayments and didn't ahve to pay a cent back , and I think she is doing it again  and has been investigated before.

At least 10 hours a week or 40 hours a month.

I am still waiting for ours to come back and i'm not all that patient about it as I was told by IRD well before we moved that we would get it with in the next 10 working days . Hopefully I my overestimate gives us something.

That does suck Nikki.  How many hours do you need to be working to qualify?  Does it have to be for the same company? 

It's all very cloak and veil isn't it.  The good Lord forbid that they may actually pay money to hard working, much deserving, tax paying citizens.

I am still fuming about it for the following reasons....

1) It was not clearly disclosed to you that you might have to pay it all back if your circumstances change..fair enough if you got a pay rise and didnt notify them and kept claiming but to tell them, have them adjust or stop it should be enough

2) you dont have to pay back dole or DPB....whats the difference with WFF?

3) We SERIOUSLY needed the cash at the time....we seriously needed it after as we had dropped into debt during those early months and have picked back up.  Now we SERIOUSLY need to not pay anything back!  Our budget it so friggen tight its not funny.

4) I thought IRD's motto was "Its our job to be fair"....YEAH RIGHT!!!

5) it is unfair that the month your baby is born can influence how much you have.   

I think they should assess it in quarters and unless you have been paid more than you should have for that quarter you are ok.  ie if you grossly underestimated your income for that quarter and they paid you a higher amount...then at the end of that quarter it should be paid back.....but NOT if you notified them of a change in circumstance midway through.

In future (with interest rates as they are) would it be an idea to under estimate...get the highest amount,  stick it in a high interest account and then pay it back when you have to minus the interest....now THAT is working their silly system

OK vent over!!!

OK.... *calming breaths*.... am reminding myself of how I've decided to look at it.

mrsmojo wrote: IRD gave me an interest free loan of just over $1,500 when I needed it and now that we're in a better financial position we have about 8 months to pay it off.

*breath in* in with love *breath out* out with anger

IMO it's done this way because:

1) it's less paperwork, time and money for IRD to calculate it on an annual basis

2) parents are more likely to get out and work and therefore pay taxes than beneficiaries are so although I'm sure they'd prefer to pay beneficiaries based on an annual income all that would do is encourage the dole bludgers to stay on the couch in front of the tv rather than going out and working for a living.

We are being penalised because we're trying to support our families and they're getting away with it by calling them tax credits (rather than family income support or similar).

When I return to work after my next round of maternity leave I'll be planning it around the tax year.

We had our debt written off for the 06-07 year as well. I don't know waht DH did but it worked.

I agree G.  I feel the exact same way.

The thing is that like you we did needed the WFF tax credit when we were paid it.  We were barely scraping by and it got to a point where we couldn't survive and that's why DH had to go back to work.  It pisses me off that we're considered less deserving than people that mooch off the govt (referring to eternal dole bludgers not hard working sahmums and dads) because when the going got tough we got off our asses and did something about it.

Now that I have my rant out of the way I've decided to look at it differently.  Here's my new pov.............  IRD gave me an interest free loan of just over $1,500 when I needed it and now that we're in a better financial position we have about 8 months to pay it off.

It's a pity I didn't realise it was just going to be a loan but I know now for future reference and may actually consider 'using' them again if I need to, it's good that DH got those extra months with Michaela without having to go back to work and the measly $40 per week we got from WFF helped so I'm happy.

We stopped ours as soon as my PTC finished after Leah was born and I kept getting phone calls from them saying I could have it, I told them I wanted it done at the end of the financial year as a lump sum, took about 4 phone calls to convince them of this though!! Worked out ood this year as the end of the financial year was also the end of our first year as private contractors so we didn't know what our income was going to be and had the accountant for the business work it all out - I think I ended up with about $350 after everything was sorted, I would have ended up paying back way more if we had let it go though.

Kels wrote: Ouch thats not good. Can you ring and ask if you can pay it off??

Yep, I'm sure I can but I'll check the letter first.  Becks said that usually you have until next February which sounds right so if that's the case I'll pay a set amount into an interest bearing bank account to pay them off in one go at the last possible date.  At least then I get some use of the money.

Ouch thats not good. Can you ring and ask if you can pay it off??

We have just dropped down to my part time income as DH has quit his job!  But I wouldnt dare risk WFF again now incase things pick up and we are over the threshold again.

It doesnt sound right does it!  Fair go????

nzpiper wrote: I cant believe we might have to pay it all back because we seriously wouldnt be able to afford that!

I know what you mean.  I'm trying to do some creative accounting atm and praying in the mean time for a lotto win. 

Usually don't have to pay it back till Feb next year

that sucks! i didnt know that that was how it works....so after i have baby in december im meant to look ahead 6months and calculate how much i will be earning in a job i dont even have yet!

They owed me money last year too.  The real pity is they owed DH $900 this year and we went and spent that a couple of weeks ago... before getting this letter.  Had they advised me earlier I'd just have plonked DH's rebate on it instead of shopping..... shopping was fun tho.

Stinks that I gave out full details of our income to the lady on the phone last year, and she could see what I'd been paid, yet she didn't mention that I'd end up owing them money.  Had I known I would have AP'd back the cash in drip feeds, I guess I can still do that now.... I was in too much shock to check (and the letter's now at home), does anyone know how long I have to repay?

Yep it sucks that it is done for the finacial year not monthly or weekly or when you return to work.

I have way over estimated our family income again this year (but I don't think I have fully as I know in December Nigel's income goes up a lot (like double)). I am looking forward to my refund for last year thou.

We got a letter from the IRD stating I owe them $1548 of WFF overpayments.  I just went through my bank statements for the financial year and worked out that they're asking for every last cent back again.

WHY? 

Well, when DH (who had been a fulltime SAHD) started working again at the end of last year I called IRD to let them know and they stopped our WFF payments but apparently because DHs income during the last part of the tax year pushed us over the threshold we aren't entitled to any of the payments during that financial year (April 07 - March 08) and  therefore have to pay back everything we received when we were entitled to them.

So.... if you, or your DH are planning to return to work soon beware you may end up owing the tax man, even if you notify them straight away and get your WFF payments cut off.