|
|
|
|
|
Under changes to MIA from 1 January 2009, applicants are able to claim MIA for children adopted from outside Australia, where the child entered Australia prior to turning 16 years of age. There are transitional provisions relating to the introduction of this change, which are explained below.
The transitional provisions will allow for applicants who adopted a child from outside Australia, where that child entered Australia (or died while outside Australia) between 1 July 2006 and 31 December 2008 inclusive, and the child was under 16 years at the date of entry to Australia (or at the date of the child's death), to meet the immunisation and other eligibility requirements and claim MIA by 31 December 2010. The child will need to have been in Australia for at least 18 months to be eligible for payment, except in bereavement cases.
In cases where applicants are covered by the transitional provisions and their child dies, the applicant will have up to the later of the following periods to claim:
Note: To be eligible for MIA, an applicant must have an FTB child and the applicant must be eligible for FTB Part A (or would be eligible except for the income test, i.e. the income test is disregarded) on the qualifying day. An FTB child is defined in section 22 of the A New Tax System (Family Assistance) Act 1999 (FAAct) and there are certain exceptions that prevent a child from being an FTB child of another individual and these are defined in section 22A of the FAAct.
For the purposes of eligibility for MIA for children adopted from outside Australia, some of these exceptions do not apply and therefore do not prevent a child from being an FTB child (see FAAct section 39(10)).
Act reference: FAAct section 22 When an individual is another FTB child of another individual, section 39(10) For the purposes of paragraphs (7)(b), (8)(a) and (b) and (9)(f)...
Policy reference: FA Guide 2.5 MIA Eligibility, 4.5.1 Claims for Baby Bonus & MIA
_______________________________________________________
Last reviewed: 2 January 2009
