Child Support Act 1991

Assessment of child support and domestic maintenance - Provisions relating to making of assessments

82: Parents and receiving carers to advise Commissioner of changes

You could also call this:

"Tell the Inland Revenue Department when things change that affect child support"

If you are a parent or a receiving carer of a child who gets child support, you need to tell the Commissioner about any changes in your living situation during the year. These changes might affect how much child support is paid or received.

You need to inform the Commissioner if there are changes that affect:

How much care you provide for the child
Your living allowance (if you're a parent)
Any allowances for dependent children (if you're a parent)
Any allowances or caps for multiple child support groups (if you're a parent)

When you tell the Commissioner about a change, it will be treated as happening on the day it actually occurred if:

It increases the amount of child support a parent has to pay
It decreases the amount of child support a carer receives
You tell the Commissioner within 28 days of the change

In other cases, the change will be treated as happening on the day you tell the Commissioner about it.

You must provide any documents the Commissioner asks for when you report a change.

If different people report the same change and this would lead to different dates being used, the Commissioner can decide which date to use.

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This page was last updated on 15 April 2025

View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM254391.

Topics:

Family and relationships > Children and parenting

81A: Amendments of assessments arising from living circumstances existing at time when assessment begins, or

"Changes to child support payments based on your living situation when the assessment starts"

83: Evidence relating to assessments, or

"How the government proves that child support payments are correct"

Part 5Assessment of child support and domestic maintenance
Provisions relating to making of assessments

82Parents and receiving carers to advise Commissioner of changes

For the purpose of enabling the Commissioner to make or amend a calculation of child support payable in respect of a child in any child support year under a formula assessment, every parent and every receiving carer of the child must advise the Commissioner of any change in the parent's or carer's living circumstances occurring during the child support year that affects, or may affect, any of the following:
in relation to parents and non-parent carers, the determination of the person's care cost percentage:
in relation only to parents, the following:
1. the person's appropriate living allowance:
2. the application or calculation of any dependent child allowance (if any):
3. the application or calculation of any person's multi-group allowance (if any):
4. the application or calculation of any person's multi-group cap (if applicable).

If the Commissioner is satisfied that a relevant change of living circumstances has occurred, the change is to be treated as having occurred—
on the date on which the change occurred, in any of the following cases:
1. in relation to a liable parent, where the change has the effect of increasing the amount of the parent's child support liability:
2. in relation to a receiving carer, where the change has the effect of decreasing the amount of child support payable in respect of that carer:
3. where notice of the change is received by the Commissioner within 28 days after the date on which the change occurred; or
on the date on which the Commissioner receives notice of the change, in either of the following cases (unless paragraph (a)(iii) applies):
1. in relation to a liable parent, where the change has the effect of decreasing the amount of the parent's child support liability:
2. in relation to a receiving carer, where the change has the effect of increasing the amount of child support payable in respect of that carer.

Every notification of a change must be accompanied by such documentation as the Commissioner requires.
The Commissioner may disregard subsection (2), and may determine the date on which a particular change in living circumstances is to be treated as having occurred, in any case where 2 or more people give notice under this section relating to the same change, and the application of subsection (2) would result in the same change having to be treated as having occurred on different days in relation to different people.

Notes

Section 82: replaced, on 1 April 2015, by section 15 of the Child Support Amendment Act 2013 (2013 No 12).