Family Tax Benefit Part B — youngest child under 5

What Is This Payment?

Family Tax Benefit Part B is the federal supplement designed for single-income and sole-parent families. Where Part A focuses on the cost of raising children at a per-child rate, Part B targets the income disparity that comes with one parent staying home or working limited hours. This rule database tags Part B as a monetary primary Federal benefit in the Family Tax Benefit cluster, paid per family rather than per child.

The administering body is Services Australia. The same Centrelink claim form covers FTB Part A and FTB Part B; the system assesses each independently and pays whichever amounts the family qualifies for. Entitlement scope is per household and aligned to the financial year, with year-end reconciliation against actual income from the tax return.

The Part B family has two age tiers: the under-5 tier (this rule) at $193.34 per fortnight, and the 5-to-18 tier at a lower rate. The system automatically routes the family to the correct tier based on the age of the youngest child. The rule is intentionally generous in the under-5 window because that is when most single-income arrangements are at their peak intensity.

How Much Can You Get?

The amount block is defined as a formula paid fortnightly. Base is $193.34 per fortnight per family, which equals about $5,026.84 per year per family when annualised over 26 fortnights. The rule note records this as the Mar 2026 rate sourced from the DSS Family Assistance Guide and verified on 20 March 2026.

Three numeric facts drive the dollar outcome of this rule:

• $193.34 per fortnight per family — the under-5 tier base rate. This is per family, not per child, so a household with 1 child or 4 children receives the same amount.
• $120,007 primary earner cap — a hard cliff. Households where the primary earner (or single parent) exceeds this annual ATI lose all FTB Part B regardless of secondary income.
• $6,935 secondary earner free area — applies only to partnered families. Below this, the secondary earner contributes nothing to the reduction; above it, the rate reduces by 20 cents per dollar annually ($0.00769 per fortnight per dollar).

Single parents have a clean path: no secondary earner test, no partner income to add, the full $193.34 per fortnight applies for as long as the primary earner is at or below $120,007. The any-clause in eligibility — single OR secondary earner ≤ $6,935 — gives single parents a direct yes through the partner_status branch.

Partnered families have a more layered calculation. With secondary earner ATI of $10,000, the excess over $6,935 is $3,065. Per-fortnight reduction is $3,065 × 0.00769 = $23.57. The rate drops from $193.34 to $169.77 per fortnight, about $4,414.02 per year. With secondary income of $32,055, the reduction equals the base and the rate hits the $0 floor.

You can audit any FTB-B estimate with a short check: first confirm the family's youngest child is under 5; second verify primary earner ATI is at or below $120,007 — a hard cliff applies; third for partnered families compute secondary earner excess over $6,935 and multiply by 0.00769; fourth subtract from $193.34 with the floor cap at $0. Single parents skip step 3 and read the base directly.

The rule stores an empty multiplier and empty reduces_if, so no additional multiplicative factors or conditional penalties are active. The decision variables in this version are the per-family base, the primary earner cap, the secondary earner threshold, the reduction rate, and the floor cap.

Eligibility Conditions

The eligibility block is an all set with one nested any branch. Every all item must pass, and the any branch is satisfied if either side holds.

1. Dependent children: dependent_children = true.
2. Residency status: in australian_citizen, permanent_resident, special_category_visa, other_eligible_visa.
3. Presence: living_in_australia = true.
4. Youngest child age: youngest_child_age < 5. Once the youngest turns 5 the household is routed to the 5-to-18 tier rule with a lower base rate.
5. Primary earner cap: primary_earner_income_annual <= 120007. This is a hard cliff specific to FTB Part B — it does not exist in the FTB Part A path.
6. Either-or branch: single parent (partner_status = single) OR partnered with secondary earner ATI at or below $6,935 for the full rate. Partnered families above $6,935 still qualify but receive a tapered rate via the income reduction step.

Required fields include the dependents flag, residency status, partner status, youngest child age, family annual income, primary earner annual income, secondary earner annual income, and living-in-Australia flag. The exclude block is empty in this rule, so no current-payment disqualification applies; the conflicts list ensures the rule does not double-pay against the 5-to-18 tier.

Two practical considerations matter for the income gates. First, the primary earner cap of $120,007 is tighter than the FTB Part A base-rate cutout. A family with primary earner ATI between $120,007 and $174,790 can still receive FTB Part A base rate but receives no FTB Part B. Second, the secondary earner free area at $6,935 is intentionally low because Part B targets households where one parent contributes little to no employment income.

Because the rule is per family rather than per child, child count does not change the amount. Two children under 5 receive the same $193.34 per fortnight as one child under 5. This contrasts directly with FTB Part A, where additional children scale the per-child rate proportionally.

How To Apply

Application metadata defines three channels: online, service centre, and phone. The same FTB claim form covers both Part A and Part B, and Services Australia evaluates each rule independently. The apply URL points at the FTB claim page.

Evidence requirements are explicitly listed in the rule:

• identity document for the primary claimant
• tax file number for both partners where applicable
• family income estimate split into primary earner and secondary earner components
• proof of children — birth certificates, adoption documents, or guardianship records

Two practical tips help with FTB-B intake. First, single parents should explicitly mark partner_status = single in their declaration; the rule's any-clause depends on this flag to skip the secondary earner test. Second, partnered families should split household income carefully into primary and secondary earners; the rule treats the higher-income partner as primary regardless of who claims, and confusing the order can flip the cliff outcome at $120,007.

Lodge your FTB Part B claim with Services Australia

Rule-Based Scenarios

Scenario 1: single parent, full rate

Mei is a sole parent with a 3-year-old. Her ATI is $55,000. She passes residency, presence, and youngest-child-under-5 checks. The any-clause is satisfied because she is single, so the secondary earner test does not apply. She receives the full $193.34 per fortnight, equal to about $5,026.84 per year on top of any FTB Part A she also receives.

Scenario 2: partnered, secondary earner above the free area

Akira and Yumi have a 2-year-old. Akira is the primary earner at $90,000 ATI. Yumi works part-time at $14,000 ATI. Primary earner is below the $120,007 cap, so no cliff applies. Secondary earner excess over $6,935 is $7,065. Per-fortnight reduction is $7,065 × 0.00769 = $54.33. The rate drops from $193.34 to $139.01 per fortnight, about $3,614.26 per year.

Scenario 3: primary earner cliff triggers

Sam and Aroha have a 1-year-old. Sam is the primary earner at $122,000. Aroha is on parental leave with $2,000 ATI for the year. The primary earner cap of $120,007 is exceeded by $1,993. Despite Aroha's negligible income and a child under 5, FTB Part B pays $0 because the primary earner cliff is a hard cutoff, not a taper. The family still qualifies for FTB Part A and unrelated payments.

Scenario 4: secondary earner exactly at the floor cutoff

Chen and Ravi have a 4-year-old. Chen earns $80,000 ATI as primary; Ravi earns $32,055 as secondary. Excess over $6,935 is $25,120. Per-fortnight reduction is $25,120 × 0.00769 = $193.17, just below the $193.34 base. The rate is reduced to $0.17 per fortnight, effectively the residual amount before the next FTB-B annual review increases the secondary earner free area.

Common Mistakes

• Treating Part B as per-child: doubling the $193.34 figure for a family with two children under 5. The rule pays per family — multiple children under 5 do not change the FTB Part B amount, even though FTB Part A scales per child.
• Single parents declaring a partner anyway: entering an estranged partner or housemate in the partner_status field. The any-clause depends on a clean partner_status = single to skip the secondary earner test. Misdeclaring forces a secondary earner test to run on income that should not be assessed.
• Reading the $120,007 cap as a taper: assuming small income overruns produce reduced FTB Part B. The rule treats the primary earner cap as a hard cliff. A family with primary earner ATI of $120,008 receives $0 FTB Part B even if the secondary earner is below $6,935.
• Wrong primary versus secondary assignment: in partnered families, primary is the higher-income partner regardless of who claims. Assigning the lower-income partner as primary lets a high-income claimant slip past the cap erroneously, then year-end reconciliation produces a debt.
• Reduction rate confusion across Part A and Part B: applying FTB Part A's 30-cents-per-dollar Method 2 reduction to FTB Part B. Part B uses 20 cents per dollar at the secondary earner test, which converts to $0.00769 per fortnight per dollar — different from the FTB-A rate.
• Forgetting age 5 transition timing: assuming continuous Part B receipt as the youngest child grows. On the day the youngest turns 5, the rule fails the under-5 gate and Centrelink switches to the 5-to-18 tier rule, which pays a lower per-family rate. Families should expect an automatic step-down in fortnightly payments at that point.

Related Rules And Interactions

The conflicts list defines interaction behavior, and the practical surrounding rules support understanding the full FTB family.

• FTB Part B — youngest 5 to 18 — direct conflict; the next age tier when the youngest child turns 5, with a lower per-family rate.
• FTB Part A — base rate — commonly received alongside Part B for higher-income single-earner households.
• FTB Part A — Child 0 to 12 — the standard FTB-A child rate for low-to-middle-income families with a young child.
• Parenting Payment Single (PPS) — frequent companion payment for sole parents; PPS provides primary income support while FTB-B adds the per-family supplement.
• Parenting Payment Partnered (PPP) — companion for partnered carers in low-income households where one parent stays at home.
• Newborn Upfront Payment and Supplement — paid via the FTB-A stream; the under-5 FTB-B path often coincides with a recent newborn supplement period.

These are direct relationship declarations from the rule and should be treated as deterministic for this policy version.

Frequently Asked Questions