What is minimum child support Australia?

Q: How much does a father have to pay for child support?

On the basic rate, if youre paying for: one child, youll pay 12% of your gross weekly income. two children, youll pay 16% of your gross weekly income. three or more children, youll pay 19% of your gross weekly income.

Q: How is child support in Australia calculated?

We work out each parents income percentage by dividing each income by the combined total. We calculate each parents percentage of care. We work out each parents cost percentage using the Care and Cost table. We subtract the cost percentage from the income percentage for each parent.

Fixed rate

Fixed rate assessments set an amount you need to pay in a year.

Who it’s for

This rate is for paying parents who meet all of the following. They:

have a low adjusted taxable income for the last relevant year
didn’t receive an income support payment in the last relevant year
don’t have at least shared care of the child.

How much you pay

The fixed rate for child support periods starting on or after 1 January 2022 is $1,521 per child per year.

If you pay the fixed rate for more than 3 children, we’ll cap the amount at 3 times the fixed rate.

If you pay the fixed rate to more than one person, we divide the amount between those receiving parents.

If you can’t pay the fixed rate

You can ask us not to use the fixed rate if you can show both of the following:

your current income from all sources is genuinely low
it would be unfair to expect you to pay the fixed rate.

Apply using your Child Support online account with myGov.

If you can’t access myGov, use the Application for fixed annual rate not to be used form.

Minimum rate

A paying parent must usually pay at least the minimum rate of child support.

Who it’s for

You may pay this rate if both of the following apply:

your child support assessment works out to less than the minimum rate
you don’t have at least regular care of any of the children in the child support case.

The minimum rate for child support periods starting on or after 1 January 2022 is $459 per year.

If you earn less than the minimum rate

You can ask us to reduce your payments to $0.

Apply using the Application to reduce minimum assessment to nil form.

If you have 2 or more cases

You’ll pay the minimum rate for each child support case.

If you pay the minimum rate for more than 3 families, you’ll pay 3 times the minimum rate.

If you pay the minimum rate and your income goes up

In some circumstances you may stay on the same rate for up to 28 days.

After that we use your new income in the assessment.

If you receive income support from us and owe child support

We can take up to three times the minimum rate out of your income support payment. We can keep doing this as long as you have child support to pay us.

Call us on the Child Support Enquiry line to talk about what you can do about these deductions.

Read about parents with 2 or more assessments.

This page is for general information. To calculate an estimate of your child support payments you can use our child support estimator.

Basic 8 step formula

Step	What we do	This step is about
1. Work out each parent’s child support income	We calculate each parent’s child support income. This is a parent’s adjusted taxable income minus a self-support amount and any relevant dependant allowance. For more information about relevant dependant allowances, go to child support assessments and second families. A parent may be able to estimate their income. Read more about income used in calculating a child support assessment.	Income
2. Work out the parents’ combined income	We add both parents’ incomes to work out a combined child support income.	Income
3. Work out each parent’s income percentage	We work out each parent’s income percentage by dividing each income by the combined total.	Income
4. Work out each parent’s percentage of care	We calculate each parent’s percentage of care.	Care
5. Work out each parent’s cost percentage	We work out each parent’s cost percentage using the Care and Cost table.	Care
6. Work out each parent’s child support percentage	We subtract the cost percentage from the income percentage for each parent. We call this the child support percentage. The result will determine if a parent pays or gets child support. If it’s a negative percentage, we assess that parent as the parent to get child support. This is because their share of costs for the child is more than the amount of care they provide. If it’s a positive percentage, we assess that parent as the parent to pay child support. This is because they’re not meeting their share of the costs for the child directly through care. If you have different care arrangements for various children, you might have different child support percentages for each child. We go on to steps 7 and 8 using only the positive child support percentage.	Child support percentage
7. Work out the costs of children	We work out the costs for each child based on the parents’ combined total income. We do this by using the Costs of Children table.	Costs of children
8. Work out the child support amount	We work out the total amount of child support payable. We do this by multiplying the positive child support percentage by the costs of the child. If we assess both parents are to pay each other, we offset these amounts before arriving at the final figure. This final figure is the amount the paying parent needs to pay the other parent.	Child support to pay

Care and cost table

Your care percentage is the amount of time you spend with the child. This helps us to work out your cost percentage.

Your cost percentage is your share of the child’s costs that you meet directly through care.

Care percentage	Equal to number of nights a year	Equal to number of nights a fortnight	Care level	Cost percentage
0-13%	0-51	1	Less than regular care	0%
14-34%	52-127	2-4	Regular care	24%
35-47%	128-175	5-6	Shared care	25% plus 2% for every percentage point over 35% of care
48-52%	176-189	7	Shared care	50%
53-65%	190-237	8-9	Shared care	51% plus 2% for every percentage point over 53% of care
66-86%	238-313	10-12	Primary care	76%
87-100%	314-365	13-14	More than primary care	100%

Read about how your percentage of care affects your child support.

Costs of children

The Costs of Children tables recognise that raising children costs different amounts for different people. Because of this we work out your children’s costs based on all of the following. The:

parents combined child support income
number of children
children’s ages.

About the tables

Steps 1 and 2 of the basic 8 step formula explain what combined child support income is.

Under the formula, we deduct an amount for each parent to support themselves. We calculate the costs of raising children according to the remaining combined child support income of both parents. We divide the costs between the parents according to their share of the combined income.

The Costs of Children table represents net costs after Family Tax Benefit. All the figures in these tables are for child support periods starting in 2022.

Read about Costs of Children for past years in the Child Support Guide on the Department of Social Services website.

Children aged 12 and under

Parents combined child support income	Cost of 1 child	Cost of 2 children	Cost of 3 or more children
$0 to $40,594	17c for each $1	24c for each $1	27c for each $1
$40,595 to $81,188	$6,901 plus 15c for each $1 over $40,594	$9,743 plus 23c for each $1 over $40,594	$10,960 plus 26c for each $1 over $40,594
$81,189 to $121,782	$12,990 plus 12c for each $1 over $81,188	$19,080 plus 20c for each $1 over $81,188	$21,514 plus 25c for each $1 over $81,188
$121,783 to $162,376	$17,861 plus 10c for each $1 over $121,782	$27,199 plus 18c for each $1 over $121,782	$31,663 plus 24c for each $1 over $121,782
$162,377 to $202,970	$21,920 plus 7c for each $1 over $162,376	$34,506 plus 10c for each $1 over $162,376	$41,406 plus 18c for each $1 over $162,376
Income over $202,970 Costs don’t go up past this cap	$24,762	$38,565	$48,713

Read more about parents combined child support income.

Children aged 13 or older

Combined child support income for one year	Cost of 1 child	Cost of 2 children	Cost of 3 or more children
$0 to $40,594	23c for each $1	29c for each $1	32c for each $1
$40,595 to $81,188	$9,337 plus 22c for each $1 over $40,594	$11,772 plus 28c for each $1 over $40,594	$12,990 plus 31c for each $1 over $40,594
$81,189 to $121,782	$18,268 plus 12c for each $1 over $81,188	$23,138 plus 25c for each $1 over $81,188	$25,574 plus 30c for each $1 over $81,188
$121,783 to $162,376	$23,139 plus 10c for each $1 over $121,782	$33,287 plus 20c for each $1 over $121,782	$37,752 plus 29c for each $1 over $121,782
$162,377 to $202,970	$27,198 plus 9c for each $1 over $162,376	$41,406 plus 13c for each $1 over $162,376	$49,524 plus 20c for each $1 over $162,376
Income over $202,970 Costs don’t go up past this cap	$30,851	$46,683	$57,643

Read more about parents combined child support income.

Children of mixed ages

Combined Child Support income for one year	Cost of 2 children	Cost of 3 or more children
$0 to $40,594	26.5c for each $1	29.5c for each $1
$40,595 to $81,188	$10,757 plus 25.5c for each $1 over $40,594	$11,975 plus 28.5c for each $1 over $40,594
$81,189 to $121,782	$21,108 plus 22.5c for each $1 over $81,188	$23,544 plus 27.5c for each $1 over $81,188
$121,783 to $162,376	$30,242 plus 19c for each $1 over $121,782	$34,707 plus 26.5c for each $1 over $121,782
$162,377 to $202,970	$37,955 plus 11.5c for each $1 over $162,376	$45,464 plus 19c for each $1 over $162,376
Income over $202,970 Costs don’t go up past this cap	$42,623	$53,177

Read more about parents combined child support income.

What is the minimum child support payment in Australia?

The fixed rate for child support periods starting on or after 1 January 2022 is $1,521 per child per year. If you pay the fixed rate for more than 3 children, we'll cap the amount at 3 times the fixed rate. If you pay the fixed rate to more than one person, we divide the amount between those receiving parents.

How much does a father have to pay for child support?

On the basic rate, if you're paying for: one child, you'll pay 12% of your gross weekly income. two children, you'll pay 16% of your gross weekly income. three or more children, you'll pay 19% of your gross weekly income.

How is child support in Australia calculated?

We work out each parent's income percentage by dividing each income by the combined total. We calculate each parent's percentage of care. We work out each parent's cost percentage using the Care and Cost table. We subtract the cost percentage from the income percentage for each parent.

Do fathers have to pay child support in Australia?

In Australia, parents have a legal responsibility to financially support their children, whether they are biological, adoptive or same sex parents. Parents can make an agreement about child support or they can apply to the Department of Human Services (Child Support) (DHS) for an administrative assessment.