Section 7A — Child Support (Assessment) Act 1989: Meaning of child support period

What is a child support period? (1) A child support period is a period that: (a) starts at a time described in subsection (2); and (b) ends at the time described in subsection (3) that occurs soonest after the start of the period. Note: Some examples of child support periods are set out at the end of this section. The examples are not exhaustive: see section 15AD of the Acts Interpretation Act 1901. When does a child support period start? (2) Each of the following times is the start of a child support period: (a) the beginning of the day on which an application for an administrative assessment of the child support payable for a child is properly made under Part 4; (b) the beginning of the day mentioned in paragraph 93(1)(g) (child support payable under a child support agreement accepted by Registrar); (c) the start of the first day for which a child support agreement described in section 34B is to affect the rate of child support payable for a child; (d) immediately after the end of the preceding child support period that relates to child support payable for the child (whether it was a period starting as described in paragraph (a), (b) or (c) or this paragraph). Note: Despite paragraph (2)(a), a child support period might not start if a non-parent carer applies for an administrative assessment of child support during a child support period (see section 40B). End of the child support period (3) The child support period ends at whichever of the following times occurs soonest after the start of the period: (a) the time 15 months after the period started; (b) if the Registrar makes an assessment relating to the annual rate of child support payable for the child as required by section 34A (assessment when new tax figure is available): (i) for an assessment made on or before the 15th day of a calendar month—the end of that calendar month; or (ii) otherwise—the end of the calendar month following the calendar month during which the Registrar makes the assessment; (c) the time immediately before the day mentioned in paragraph 93(1)(g) (child support payable under a child support agreement accepted by Registrar); (d) the end of the day immediately before the first day for which a child support agreement described in section 34B is to affect the rate of child support payable for the child. Example 1: Mary and Peter have one child. Mary cares for their child and, on 8 June 2026, makes an application under Part 4 for Peter to pay her child support for the child. The Registrar makes an administrative assessment based on an assessment under the income tax law of Peter and Mary’s taxable income for the 2024-2025 year of income. If no assessment of the taxable income of Mary or Peter for the 2025-2026 or the 2026-2027 year of income had been made under the income tax law before the end of 7 September 2027: (a) the first child support period that started on 8 June 2026 ends at the end of 7 September 2027 (15 months after it started); and (b) a new child support period starts on 8 September 2027. Example 2: To continue the example, assume instead that in October 2026, a new assessment is made of Peter’s taxable income for the 2025-2026 year of income, and the Registrar needs to make a new administrative assessment based on that assessment of taxable income (as required by section 34A). If the Registrar makes the new assessment on a day occurring between 1 October and 15 October 2026, the first child support period that started on 8 June 2026 ends at the end of 31 October 2026, and the second starts on 1 November 2026. However, if the Registrar makes the new assessment on a day occurring between 16 October and 31 October 2026, the first child support period ends at the end of 30 November 2026 and the second starts on 1 December 2026. Example 3: To continue the example, if Mary and Peter make a child support agreement to affect the annual rate of child support on and after 15 September 2026: (a) the child support period that started on 8 June 2026 ends at the end of 14 September 2026; and (b) a new child support period starts on 15 September 2026. Example 4: To continue the example, if the child support agreement set the rate of child support payable for the next 2 years (so section 34A did not require an administrative assessment be made), the child support period that started on 15 September 2026 would end 15 months later at the end of 14 December 2027.