6.11.2: Waiver
Context
A CSA customer may owe a debt to the Commonwealth, for example, a child support debt or a debt arising from an overpayment of child support. The Commonwealth is able to waive, or expunge, a debt. If a debt is waived it is completely wiped out and cannot be pursued at a later time should the person’s financial circumstances improve.
Legislative references
- Financial Management and Accountability Act 1997, section 34
- Discretionary Compensation and Waiver of Debt Mechanisms, Department of Finance and Deregulation Finance Circular 2009/09, Attachment C
Explanation
A debt can only be waived by the Minister of Finance and Deregulation or by particular authorised officers of that department.
Requests for a waiver are considered on a case by case basis. A waiver may be appropriate where:
- recovery of the debt would be inequitable; or
- recovery of the debt would cause ongoing financial hardship.
For example, a waiver may be appropriate where:
- there are sound reasons for believing that a person’s financial circumstances will not improve to the point where they could repay the debt in full by instalments without suffering genuine and significant financial hardship. A person’s assets, future income earning capacity, health and family circumstances are taken into consideration in making a decision; or
- a direct act or omission of a Commonwealth agency, or the impact of a Commonwealth law - whether or not it arose from defective administration - has caused a person to incur an unintended debt to the Commonwealth, the recovery of which would result in an overall loss to the person concerned.
The waiver powers are intended to be used in a limited number of cases to ensure equity in the impact of Government activities.
How to make a claim
A request for waiver of a Commonwealth debt can be made directly to the Department of Finance and Deregulation or via CSA. Where a request for waiver is received directly by the Department of Finance and Deregulation it will notify CSA.
A request should provide sufficient information, such as:
- details of the relevant section(s) of legislation to which the debt relates and the applicant’s circumstances in relation to that legislation (CSA can provide the Department of Finance and Deregulation with this information if necessary);
- specific details of the Commonwealth’s role, if any, that may have directly contributed to the applicant’s situation;
- any history/background to the case, including any available information on the person’s assets, income, future earning capacity, other debts, health and family circumstances;
- any other information that may be relevant to the decision-maker’s consideration of the particular circumstances; and
- written authority for CSA to provide information to the Department of Finance and Deregulation or, if the application has been made directly to the Department of Finance and Deregulation, written authority to discuss the application with CSA.
The Department of Finance and Deregulation will seek additional information from CSA as appropriate. Both the claimant and CSA will be given a copy of the decision on the claim and the reasons for that decision.