How Do I Request a Review of My Debt?

The options available to you will depend on whether your debt has been reviewed already.

If your debt has not been reviewed before, the first step is to ask for an Authorised Review Officer within Centrelink to review your debt.

If your debt has already been reviewed by an Authorised Review Officer, you can seek further review by the Administrative Review Tribunal.

If your debt has already been reviewed by the Administrative Review Tribunal you may have further appeal options available to you, depending on your individual circumstances.

‍You should seek legal advice about the appeal processes.

Seeking an Authorised Review Officer review and reviews of Centrelink debts by the Administrative Review Tribunal, are free of cost.

An Authorised Review Officer is a specialised Centrelink officer who reviews decisions made by Centrelink. They have the power to change decisions if they think they are wrong, or if they think there is a better decision that can be made.

For Centrelink debts, an Authorised Review Officer might:

• Decide you don’t owe any money because you were not overpaid.
• Decide the amount you owe is more than what Centrelink originally thought, and ask you to repay more.
• Decide all or part of your debt should be written off, which means you won’t have to pay it back for a period of time.
• Decide all or part of your debt should be waived because of a Centrelink mistake, which means you won’t have to pay it back at all. This is called the administrative error waiver.
• Decide all or part of your debt should be waived because your circumstances are special, which means you won’t have to pay it back. This is called the special circumstances waiver.
• Decide not to change the decision at all.

You can request an Authorised Review Officer review verbally or in writing. If asking verbally – either on the phone or at a Centrelink office – you should say specifically that you want your debt reviewed by an ‘Authorised Review Officer’. Once lodged, you can ask for the review number.

If you would like to request a review in writing, you can use Centrelink’s SS351 form to do so. The form is available here or by searching for ‘Centrelink SS351’.

Requesting a review in writing means there is a written record of your review request. You can also attach supporting letters, documents and evidence. It also means you can seek someone check over the prepared documents before you lodge the review, in case there are errors or other issues.

There is no time limit for requesting an Authorised Review Officer review for mostCentrelink debts. Other Centrelink decisions, and debts for some payments like Abstudy, do have time limits for appeals.

‍You should get legal advice if you are unsure whether a time limit applies to you.

The Administrative Review Tribunal is a tribunal that can review Commonwealth administrative decisions.

This includes decisions made by Centrelink Authorised Review Officers.

For Centrelink decisions, the Administrative Review Tribunal has two levels of review – First Review and Second Review.

The Administrative Review Tribunal’s First Review will review the decision of the Centrelink Authorised Review Officer.

Second Reviews by the Administrative Review Tribunal will review the First Review decision.

Time limits do apply once at the ART, you can read more about this below.

For Centrelink debts, the Administrative Review Tribunal has the same decision making powers as an Authorised Review Officer. It might:

• Decide you don’t owe any money because you were not overpaid.
• Decide the amount you owe is more than what the Authorised Review Officer thought, and ask you to repay more.
• Decide all or part of your debt can be written off, which means you won’t have to pay it back for a period of time.
• Decide all or part of your debt can be waived because of a Centrelink mistake, which means you won’t have to pay it back at all. This is called the administrative error waiver.
• Decide all or part of your debt can be waived because your circumstances are special, which means you won’t have to pay it back. This is called the special circumstances waiver.
• Decide not to change the decision at all.

There is no time limit for requesting a First Review of a debt by the Administrative Review Tribunal.

Once you have received the Tribunal’s First Review decision, you have 28 days to seek a Second Review by the Tribunal, if you wish to. If you miss this 28-day time limit you can ask the Tribunal for an extension, however extensions are only granted in limited circumstances.

An appeal to the Federal Court must be made within 28 days of receiving the Tribunal’s Second Review decision.

The Federal Court cannot review the ART’s decision further, they can only consider questions of law. You should get legal advice before appealing to the Federal Court. Costs apply at the Federal Court.

The Administrative Review Tribunal also has a function called the Guidance and Appeals Panel. For social security matters only the Tribunal’s President can, on their own initiative, refer a social security application for first or second review to the Guidance and Appeals Panel.

For more information on these options, we recommend that you seek legal advice. Please visit the ‘Get Help’ page to find legal help in your area.

Risk of fraud investigation and prosecution

If Centrelink believes a debt was caused by fraud – that is, they think you deliberately lied in order to gain a benefit – they may investigate you. This could lead to criminal charges against you. It is possible to receive a prison sentence if you are convicted of fraud.

You should be aware that any information and evidence you give Centrelink can be used against you.

You can seek legal advice about your individual circumstances before challenging a Centrelink debt.

If you have been dishonest with Centrelink, or Centrelink might think you’ve been dishonest, we strongly recommend you seek legal advice before challenging your debt. We also recommend seeking legal advice if the amount you owe is large.

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Risk of the amount you owe increasing

Challenging a Centrelink debt involves a decision maker looking closely at your situation and the circumstances of your debt. They may discover errors in how the debt was calculated. They may recalculate the overpayment and find you owe more money than originally thought. If this happens, the decision maker will likely change the decision and ask you to repay more money.