I initially had no idea about this debt as I had received no communications from Centrelink, even though the lady on the phone assured me they had sent 8 letters in the post (somehow I doubt that).
I had logged on to Mygov to check something for Medicare and I saw this debt notice in my inbox for $7407.
I immediately freaked out and called them, got it put on hold while i went hunting for my old payslips, which i finally managed to get and submit.
Didnt hear anything till now (oct 2018) when i got sent the same letter with a new due date on it.
I went on to the employment details part of the website and checked the figures...they were still wildly different from the paperwork i had submitted.
Another 1+hrs on the phone and i am told that the person who reviewed my case didnt use the new information i provided. Seriously?!
My debt is on hold for another 3 months now, and I requested an ARO (Authorised review officer) as suggested by http://www.legalaid.vic.gov.au/find-legal-answers/centrelink/get-help-wi...
Fingers crossed they might get it right this time, because I am 100% sure I DO NOT OWE ANYTHING.
I always delcared all my income, even though i was paid weekly and centrelink required fortnightly income reporting, working as a casual meant I didnt know how much I would make each week, so I would over estimate just to be safe.
Horribly. It makes students and part time workers who pay their tax, follow the rules and do everything in their power to do the right thing feel like absolute trash and criminals.
I can't believe they would just let a computer system handle something so personal to each individual, each case is very different, everyones circumstances are different, if you use a calculator to do an average of your yearly earnings of course its going to throw up some differences!!
Centrelink is a joke. If I could remove all my information from their databases I would.
I would never rely on them for any payments, support or customer service.