Highlights

  • Missing that date can mean losing the annual FTB supplements, worth about $938 a child for Part A at the 2025–26 rate.
  • Under the Department of Social Services' Family Assistance Guide, FTB recipients and their partners have 12 months after the end of the income year to lodge a tax return.
  • If they are not required to lodge, they must instead tell Centrelink their adjusted taxable income (ATI) within the same period.
  • The guide gives the example that for 2023–24 the deadline was 30 June 2025.

Family Tax Benefit recipients and their partners have until 30 June 2027 to lodge a 2025–26 tax return or report their income to Centrelink, or the annual FTB supplements may not be paid. Families receiving Family Tax Benefit have a separate deadline to keep in mind this tax time, and it is not the one most people are focused on. While the self-lodger deadline for 2025–26 tax returns is 31 October, the family assistance rules give FTB recipients until 30 June 2027 to lodge, or to tell Centrelink their income.

The 12-month rule for FTB families

Applying the same rule, the deadline for the 2025–26 income year is 30 June 2027. The FTB Part A and Part B supplements are payable only if this requirement is met on time. The obligation applies to both the recipient and their partner. That means a family can miss the 31 October deadline for people lodging their own return and still keep its supplements, provided both partners lodge, or report their income, before 30 June 2027. The reverse also applies: one partner lodging on time does not cover a partner who does not.

What the supplements are worth

$916.15 a child, payable from 1 July 2024 $938.05 a child, payable from 1 July 2025 $970.90 a child, payable from 1 July 2026 The Part A supplement is not available to every family. It is nil if the family's combined ATI is over $80,000. The FTB Part B supplement is paid per family. The guide lists $448.95 from 2024, $459.90 from 2025 and $478.15 from 2026. Which rate applies to the 2025–26 reconciliation has not been confirmed by Services Australia. This article uses the rates payable from 1 July 2025 as the most likely figures, but the amounts should be treated as approximate. For context, the guide lists FTB Part A maximum rates from 1 July 2026 of $235.48 a fortnight for each child under 13 and $306.46 a fortnight for each child aged 13 to 19. The lower income free area is $69,131 and the higher income free area is $123,078. The FTB Part B maximum is $200.34 a fortnight where the youngest child is under five, and the primary earner income limit is $124,327. Those fortnightly payments are separate from the supplements, and eligibility for all of them depends on a family's full circumstances.

A tax agent does not shift the responsibility

Many families rely on a registered tax agent to prepare and lodge their returns. The family assistance rules are clear that this does not change who carries the obligation. The guide also says that an ATO lodgment deferral does not automatically mean an extension from Centrelink. A later tax lodgment date and the FTB deadline are separate matters. For families using an agent, the practical takeaway is to confirm that both partners' returns have actually been lodged, rather than assuming the paperwork has been finalised. A partner whose income is simple, or who has no refund due, can be the one most easily overlooked.