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Everything is unlocked. Change the nights of care, either income or a child's age, and run it again as often as you like. Nothing is deducted, nothing counts down, and none of it expires.

Your access Unlimited No expiry, nothing to renew

Where your latest scenario stands

Open the full report

Child support figures worth knowing

All guides

Child support figures in use - Indexed every 1 January

Self-support amount - Off both incomes, before anything is shared

Figures next change - Re-run your scenario after this date

Costs stop rising above - Combined child support income

Your account

Access and orders

Before you agree on care, know what every night is worth

Don't lose over $60,000. Our child support calculator runs the real formula and prices every lawful option you have, to show you your choices before a bad decision costs you.

You have a letter with a number on it and no working. You may have to agree on care while things are still raw. Here is what nobody tells you: the rules turn nights of care into money in seven bands, five of them flat, and the law lists ten lawful reasons to change an assessment.

A family lawyer will typically charge $1,500 to $5,000 to work through this with you. This prices a change of assessment, a second family, two cases at once and every extra night of care, on your own figures. In about three minutes, for $19.

Free estimate. No card, no sign up
Full report $19, paid once. A family lawyer typically charges $1,500 to $5,000
Built on the 1 January 2026 child support figures
Even-handed. It works the same whether you pay or receive

Free 30 second estimate

Two kids. Three questions. One number.

Your income a year, before tax

$

Their income a year, before tax

$

Your nights a year with the children

-

You would pay $- a year

How far apart your options are $- -

A rough guide, based on two children aged 6 and 11. The full calculator asks for your own children's ages, any second family and everything else.

Sound familiar?

Child support is confusing.
That is the system, not you.

It runs on an eight step formula, a costs table tucked inside a law, a seven band care scale and ten separate ways to change the result. It was written for officials, and you are reading it in one of the hardest years of your life. If any of these sound like you, you are in the right place.

"I got a letter with a number and no working."

Your assessment notice shows an amount and the figures behind it. It does not show what each of the eight steps did. So the only way to check it is to already know how it works.

"What is a cost percentage, and why is mine 24%?"

Adjusted taxable income, child support income, income percentage, care percentage, cost percentage, child support percentage. Six terms that sound alike, and every one of them changes what you pay or receive.

"Does my new partner's income count or not?"

A friend says yes. A forum says no. The answer is no, on either side, at any income. The mix-up comes from Family Tax Benefit, where a partner's income does count.

"If I agree to this care plan, am I stuck with it?"

Everyone asks this before signing a parenting plan. Almost nobody answers it with a number. A single night either side of a line in the care table can be worth thousands of dollars a year, for as long as the assessment runs.

So we built the missing piece.

You enter the children, the nights and the two incomes. We run the same eight step formula Services Australia runs, show every line with your figures in it, then price every legal option you have. No appointment, no sales call, and you never have to give your name, your Customer Reference Number or your tax file number.

Services Australia does the sums, not the what-ifs It runs the scheme and gets the arithmetic right. It is not its job to show you where your next care step falls, or which of the ten reasons to change an assessment might apply to you.

The other parent is in the same fog They are working through the same rules from the other side, usually with the same gaps. When you both see the same working, it is easier to talk about the facts.

Getting it worked through properly is expensive A family lawyer typically charges $1,500 to $5,000 to advise on child support, and charges again every time care or income changes. Most people never ask, so they never find out what a change of assessment or one more night of care would do.

In about three minutes you will see what you pay or receive, and roughly how far apart your options are. The estimate is free.

What one night can cost

Same kids. Same pay. One night apart.
- difference.

Two parents in two different families. Each has two children aged 6 and 11, and both earn the same. Each agreed a care plan in good faith, without seeing a table nobody had shown them. One ended up on 51 nights a year. The other ended up on 52.

51 nights

Agreed to "every second weekend"

26 weekends a year, less one night swapped for work
Below 14% of the year, so the care band is below regular care
Credited with 0% of the children's costs
Nobody mentioned that 52 nights was a line

Credited for care 0%

52 nights

Checked where the line was first

The same arrangement, with one night added back
14% of the year, so the band is regular care
Credited with 24% of the children's costs
One night, and it holds for as long as the assessment runs

Credited for care 24%

Same children. Same incomes. One night a year. - That is - a year, every year until the youngest turns 18. Neither parent did anything wrong. The care table has seven bands, five of them flat, and nothing either of them was sent showed where the lines were. See every step before you agree to anything. The full report costs $19, once.

Both parents are made up. Nothing else here is. The two incomes are annualised male total average weekly earnings and the default income the scheme itself uses, both published in the Child Support Guide, and the maths is the eight step formula applied to them. You can run the same figures yourself in about thirty seconds.

Your choices

Three ways to check your child support.
Only one is cheap and complete.

	Guess What most people do	A family lawyer Child support advice	Child Support Calculator This calculator
What it costs	Nothing now, years of the wrong figure	$1,500 to $5,000 typical fees	$19, once
Ready tonight, no appointment
The eight step formula, every line shown
All ten reasons to change an assessment, each priced		Usually only the one you ask about
What every extra night of care is worth		Rarely, and billed by the hour
Run it again when care, income or the January figures change		A new bill each time	Free, as often as you like
Advice personal to you, and someone to act for you

Key dates

Three child support dates that cost money when missed

Child support runs on dates. Miss one and you can be stuck with a figure you did not choose, and often cannot undo. These dates are set by the rules, not by us. None of them is a sales offer.

28 days

To tell Services Australia that care has changed

Report a change in care within 28 days and the new level generally applies from the day it changed. Report it later and an increase in your care usually applies only from the day you told them, while a decrease still applies from when it happened. See where the care steps fall.

1 January

The day every child support figure changes

The self-support amount, the whole costs of the children table, the fixed rate and the minimum rate all change on 1 January. A sum done on last year's figures is not a little out. It is out in every line. These are the - figures, and the self-support amount is -.

15%

The income drop you need before you can lodge an estimate

Your current income must be at least - below the income in your assessment before you can lodge an estimate. At 14% below you cannot lodge one. An estimate never backdates either, so every week you wait is a week assessed on the old figure.

Free vs paid

The Full Child Support Report: every option, priced to the dollar

The free estimate tells you what your assessment is and roughly how far apart your options are. The full report shows the working and puts a dollar figure on every option. Every section and every chart uses your own figures, with every line of the maths on show, so you can check it or question it.

Free: see where you stand

What you are assessed to pay or receive, a year and a week
Your care percentage, and what the rules credit it as
Where the next care step is, up and down
Every option named, with what each one means in full
A rough range for how much is riding on it, not the exact number

Full report, $19: what every choice is worth

The eight steps written out with your figures in every line, section by section of the Act
Every option ranked on what it leaves you with over the years remaining
All ten change of assessment reasons priced separately, with the per $1,000 rate
The assessment at every one of the 365 nights, and exactly where the steps fall
Every year until your youngest turns 18, with the children ageing through the table
What each income does across its whole range, so a wrong guess can be costed
The assistant, on your own figures, with no limit
The questions to ask before you sign anything, with your own figures in them
The whole thing as a PDF you can print or take to mediation, charts included

See a full sample report, free. It runs a made-up household all the way through, shows the open half exactly as a customer sees it, and lets you ask the assistant two questions.

How it works

Your child support, worked out in 3 steps

If you can read a payslip, you can use this. Simple mode asks only what decides most of the answer. Advanced mode adds second families, second cases and change of assessment amounts.

01

Enter the kids, the nights and both incomes

How many children and how old, how many nights a year they are with you, and both adjusted taxable incomes. That is it. We never need a name, a Customer Reference Number, a tax file number or a bank detail, because none of them are part of the arithmetic.

02

See where you stand, for free

Your assessment a year and a week, your care percentage and what it is credited as, where the next care step falls in both directions, and every legal option open to you named and explained in full.

03

See what every option is worth, before you sign

$19 opens the full report: the eight steps with your figures, all ten change of assessment reasons, every night of care, and every year until your youngest turns 18. PDF included, ready to take to mediation.

Built on the Child Support (Assessment) Act 1989

The eight steps are section 35. The costs table is Schedule 1. The care conversion is section 55C. The ten reasons are section 117(2). Every figure comes from the Child Support Guide, section 2.3.2.

Every sum shown, line by line

The report writes out all eight steps with your own numbers in each line and the section of the Act beside it, so you can check the line you disagree with rather than the whole answer.

Clear information, not advice

This is general information, not legal or financial advice. We are not licensed to tell you what to do, and only Services Australia can tell you what your assessment actually is. What most people are missing is the arithmetic, not an opinion.

Money back if it cannot model your case

If the calculator cannot properly model your situation, or something goes wrong, tell us within 14 days and we will refund you. No forms, no argument.

Included with the report

Stuck on a figure?
Just ask your report.

Every report comes with an assistant that has read your report: your children, your nights, your two incomes and every option priced. It answers questions about it in plain English. It is not a search box and not a help page.

Ask Agent

Why is my cost percentage 24% when I have them 28% of the time?

Because the table works in bands rather than smoothly. Anything from 14% to 34% of the nights is credited as a flat 24%, so your 28% and somebody else's 15% are worth exactly the same. Your 104 nights would have to reach 128 before it changes.

So the extra weekend they offered is worth nothing?

On its own, yes. 12 more nights takes you to 116, still inside the same band. Another 12 on top of that would cross 128 and move the cost percentage from 24% to 25%. Section 05 of your report shows what that step is worth in dollars.

An example of the kind of answer it gives, on made-up figures.

It reads your report, not a script "Which of the ten reasons fits me?" "Why did it go up when nothing changed?" "What happens if care goes to five nights a fortnight?" It answers from your own figures and quotes them back.
Plain English on a tricky subject It is built for this one subject and told to explain rather than impress: no abbreviation without the meaning attached, short answers, and no lecture.
Optional. Use it or ignore it. It sits behind one button on your report and does nothing until you press it. Nothing in the report is held back from somebody who never opens it, and nothing is sent anywhere unless you ask it something.
It is never told who you are What it receives is the figures on your report: incomes, nights, ages. Not your name, not your email address, not your account, and never a Customer Reference Number, tax file number or bank detail, because we do not hold those. The name you can put on the report cover is optional and is not part of what it is given.
Your conversation is not kept The conversation stays in your browser tab and is gone when you close it. We record that a question was asked so we know the feature is used, never what it said. Section 5 of the privacy policy sets out exactly what does and does not travel.
It explains. It does not advise. It will tell you what the rules say, what each option is worth and where the figures come from. It will not tell you what to do. That is the same line the report itself holds.

Price

Pay once. Check a figure that runs for years.

One payment. No expiry, nothing to renew, and we never keep your card. It opens the whole report and lets you redo the sums as often as you like. That matters, because a child support assessment is remade every January and every time care or income changes.

If it cannot model your situation, you get your money back. If the calculator cannot properly model your situation, or something goes wrong, tell us within 14 days and we will refund you. No forms, no argument.

Prices in Australian dollars. Pay securely through PayPal with a card or PayPal balance, no account needed. See a sample report before you decide.

From customers

What customers said after using it

Child support FAQ

Child support questions, answered in plain English

Child support is worked out with an eight step formula. Each parent's adjusted taxable income has a self-support amount of $31,046 taken off, plus an amount for any other children they support. The two results are added together, and each parent's share is their income percentage. Nights of care become a care percentage, which a table turns into a cost percentage. Income percentage minus cost percentage decides who pays and how much.

Usually, yes. Equal care gives both parents a 50% cost percentage, but it does not make their incomes equal, so the parent with the higher child support income generally still pays. Nothing is payable only when both parents' child support incomes are also equal. The 50% band runs from 176 to 189 nights a year, and every night in that range gives the same answer.

No. A new partner's income is not used in a child support assessment, on either side, at any income. Only the two parents' own adjusted taxable incomes count, and a non-parent carer's income is not counted either. A partner's income can affect Family Tax Benefit, which is a separate payment with separate rules. That is usually where the confusion starts.

Shared care starts at 128 nights a year, which is 35% of the nights, or about five nights a fortnight. At 128 nights the cost percentage moves from a flat 24% to 25%. From there, each extra percentage point of care is worth two points of cost percentage. The biggest single step is much lower down, at 52 nights a year.

It can be worth nothing at all or thousands of dollars a year, depending on which side of a step you are on. The care table has seven bands and five of them are flat, so between 52 and 127 nights a year an extra night is worth nothing. Then one more night crosses a line. The steps fall at 52, 128, 176, 190, 238 and 314 nights a year.

The minimum annual rate is $551 a case, and it only applies where the paying parent has less than regular care (under 14%) of every child in the case. A separate fixed annual rate of $1,825 a child applies to a paying parent whose adjusted taxable income is under $26,720, who received no income support payment in the last relevant year, and who has less than shared care. Both can be reduced on application.

The self-support amount is $31,046 a year for the child support period starting 1 January 2026. It is one third of annualised male total average weekly earnings. It is taken off both parents' adjusted taxable incomes before anything is shared out, whatever they earn and wherever they live, and it is indexed every 1 January.

A change of assessment is an application to have the formula set aside for your case because it gives an unfair result, and applying costs nothing. The law lists ten reasons in section 117(2), and you have to make out at least one of them with evidence. Either parent can apply. Services Australia decides it rather than a court, and the other parent gets to respond.

Section 117(2) sets out ten: the high cost of spending time with a child; the child's special needs; an education both parents intended; the child's own income or property; money or property already transferred for the child; child care costs for a child under 12; necessary expenses that reduce capacity to pay; income, earning capacity or resources the assessment misses; a duty to maintain another child or person; and a resident child.

Yes, if your income has dropped by at least 15%, you can lodge an income estimate. It takes effect from the day you lodge it and never before, so every week of delay is a week assessed on the old figure. A drop of less than 15% is not enough on its own, and would need one of the ten change of assessment reasons instead.

You have 28 days. Report a care change within 28 days and the new level generally applies from the day care actually changed. If you report it later and your care went up, the change usually applies only from the day you told them. If your care went down, it still applies from when it happened.

Yes. A grandparent or other non-parent carer can apply for child support if they care for the child at least 128 nights a year and are not the partner of either parent. The carer applies for child support from both parents, not just one. The carer's own income is never counted in the assessment, and neither is their partner's.

No. Salary sacrificing into super lowers your tax but does nothing to your child support. The assessment uses adjusted taxable income, which adds four things back onto taxable income: reportable fringe benefits, reportable super contributions, net investment losses and foreign income. Negative gearing works the same way, with the loss added straight back. Both parents' figures are printed on the assessment notice.

Yes, through a change of assessment under reason 3, but only where both parents intended the child to go to that school. The test is what both parents planned, not what one of them now wants, and enrolment forms signed by both parents are the strongest evidence there is. The parent paying the fees is credited with them, and applying costs nothing.

No, and nothing here pretends to be. Services Australia runs the child support scheme and is the only body that can tell you what your assessment actually is. This calculator applies the published rules to the figures you type in, shows every step, and prices options a quick estimate cannot show.

The care plan you agree to now can set your child support for years.

A parenting plan gets signed and a care percentage gets recorded. Both stay put until someone goes to the trouble of changing them. Three minutes on the real maths now costs you nothing. Finding out in four years that one night mattered costs a lot more.

No card. No sign up. Your estimate appears as soon as you finish.

You do not need to understand the formula. You only need to know what it gives you, and what else it could.

Start here. About three minutes, no card, no sign up, and you never need to give your name.

Step 1 Just started

Child support figures as at -.

1 Are you paying, receiving or caring?

It changes the wording, not the arithmetic. The formula works out who pays from the incomes and the nights of care, so if you pick the wrong one, the calculator will tell you.

Which of these is you?

Only the questions that decide almost all of it: the children, the nights, and both incomes.

2 Which children are in this case?

Only the children you and the other parent have together. Children from another relationship are counted differently and are asked about later.

How many children?

Three children and six children sit on the same row of the costs table, so a fourth child does not add to what the children are treated as costing between them. It divides the same total further.

How old is the youngest?

This decides how long the assessment has left to run. Child support ends when a child turns 18.

And the eldest?

The costs table has a separate, higher row for children aged 13 and over, so ages change the answer as well as the length of it. With one child, put the same age in both.

3 Nights of care a year: where the money is

This is where the money is. The rules turn nights into a percentage, then into a share of the children's costs, in steps, not smoothly. Drag the slider and watch the last line change, or stay exactly where it is.

The nights the children are with you Nights with the first parent 104 nights · 7.4 a fortnight · 28% care · credited 24% of the costs

Count the nights across a whole year, holidays included. Every second weekend is about 52. Every second weekend plus half the holidays is around 80 to 90. Five nights a fortnight is 128, and 128 is a line, not just a number.

Nights with you, the carer 0 nights · 0 a fortnight · 0% care · credited 0% of the costs

You need at least 128 nights a year before you can apply for an assessment at all. Whatever is left after the first parent's nights and yours is taken as the second parent's. Your own income is never asked for, because it is never used.

4 Your income for child support The first parent's income for child support

Adjusted taxable income for the last financial year. That is the figure on your assessment notice, not the one on your payslip.

The first parent's adjusted taxable income for the last financial year. Your own income is not asked for anywhere in this calculator, because a non-parent carer's income is never used in a child support assessment.

Your adjusted taxable income The first parent's adjusted taxable income

$

Taxable income plus reportable fringe benefits, reportable super contributions (salary sacrifice), net investment losses (negative gearing) and foreign income. Those add-backs are why a lot of people are assessed on more than they think they earn.

What you are earning now optional

$

Only if it is lower than the figure above. An income estimate can only be lodged when current income is at least 15% below the income in the assessment. At 14% below, you cannot lodge one at all.

Did you get a Centrelink payment last year?

It decides which of the two floors applies if your income is low: without an income support payment it is the fixed annual rate, with one it is the minimum annual rate, which is under a third as much.

5 What the other parent earns What the second parent earns

Almost nobody knows this exactly. Put in your best estimate. The report shows the assessment at every income they could have, so you can see whether a wrong guess matters.

Their adjusted taxable income The second parent's adjusted taxable income

$

Services Australia prints both parents' adjusted taxable incomes on the assessment notice, so a guess is only ever needed before the first assessment. Where a parent has not lodged a tax return, a provisional income is used.

Your new partner's income optional

$

This field exists to prove a point. Whatever you put in it is counted as nothing: a new partner's income is not part of a child support assessment on either side, at any income. It can affect Family Tax Benefit, which is a different payment.

Children living with them, not in any assessment

Their own children from a later relationship. An amount for them comes off their income first, which raises your share of the combined figure. If you are the paying parent, that raises your assessment.

The youngest of those

A rough age is fine. The costs table steps up at 13, so it moves the deduction rather than transforming it.

Children in their other child support case

A separate assessment they have with somebody else. It gives them a multi-case allowance off their income and puts a cap over what your case can assess them for.

The youngest of those

A rough age is fine. Their multi-case allowance is worked out on the costs table, which steps up at 13, so this moves the size of the deduction rather than whether they get one.

Did they get a Centrelink payment last year?

Only matters if they are the paying parent and their income is under $26,720. Then this one fact decides between the fixed annual rate of $1,825 a child and the minimum of $551 a case, and the fixed rate is more than three times as much. "I don't know" takes the lower of the two, and the report says so.

6 Second families: other children you support

Two different things that both come off your income. Neither is applied unless Services Australia is told about it.

Children living with you, not in any assessment

Your own children, usually from a later relationship, in your care at least 128 nights a year and not part of any child support assessment.

The youngest of those

A rough age is fine. It moves the deduction by a few hundred dollars rather than by thousands.

How much of the time they are with you 365 nights a year

Children in your other child support case

A separate assessment with a different other parent. This is the multi-case machinery: an allowance comes off your income, and a cap goes over what any single case can assess you for.

The youngest in that case

Age matters here for the same reason it does everywhere else: the costs table steps up at 13.

Your care of the children in that case 0 nights a year

7 Could a change of assessment apply?

Ten reasons in the Act let an assessment be departed from, and applying costs nothing. The four boxes below cover all ten between them, grouped by which part of the formula each reason moves. Leave them at nought and the report still prices every one of the ten, modelled on the smallest amount the rule itself will consider.

Extra costs of the children you meet yourself, a year

$

Reasons 1, 2, 3 and 6. Flights and fuel to see them, therapy or equipment for a disability, private school fees you both agreed to, child care for a child under 12. Count what is left after any rebate or subsidy.

The child's own money, or what has already changed hands

$

Reasons 4 and 5. The child's own income, property or trust, or money and property already transferred for the child's benefit, often as part of a property settlement.

What genuinely reduces your capacity to pay, a year

$

Reasons 7, 9 and 10. Necessary expenses that are out of the ordinary, a duty to maintain another child or person, or a resident child such as a stepchild. An ordinary mortgage is not this.

Income the assessment cannot see, a year

$

Reason 8. Money or resources the other parent has that never reach a tax return, or the gap between what they earn and what they could earn.

8 Check your answers, then see your result

This is everything you have told us. Anything wrong? Tap the line to go back and change it.

Name for the report cover optional

Printed on the cover and nowhere else, so a report you send to a lawyer or a mediator is recognisable when they open it. It is never sent to the assistant.

Name this scenario

Saved automatically so you can reopen it from My reports. Change one number later and save that as another. Comparing two arrangements side by side is most of what this is for.

Free. No card, no sign up, and your answer appears on the next screen.

Which child support rules apply to you

What the full report shows you

Your options are $0 apart

You have seen where you stand. What you have not seen is which option is worth what, on your own figures, over the years until your youngest turns 18.

A family lawyer's child support advice $1,500 to $5,000

How far apart your options are -

Your full report, paid once $19

See every option priced before you agree to anything

Email address

Your login and receipt go to this address. It can be different from your PayPal email.

Secured by PayPal Refundable Nothing renews

And you can ask it questions. If you want to, you can ask the assistant that comes with your report to explain any figure in plain English. It is given the amounts on your report, never your name or your email, and the conversation stays in your browser.

See everything it includes · See a sample report

If it cannot model your situation, you get your money back. If the calculator cannot properly model your situation, or something goes wrong, tell us within 14 days and we will refund you. No forms, no argument.

Not deciding today?

Email this estimate to yourself, free

A link straight back to this estimate, the 1 January 2026 figures it was built on, and the two dates that matter most: the 1 January indexation and the 28 day rule on reporting a change in care.

Your estimate now, then three short follow-ups over the next week, and we stop. Unsubscribe in one click. We never sell your address.

One payment, and it never expires

See what every choice is worth before you sign

Child support is paid every week until your youngest turns 18. A small error, or one night of care on the wrong side of a line, repeats in every one of those weeks. The full report prices every legal option you have, on your own figures, so the arrangement is agreed on arithmetic, not on a guess.

If it cannot model your situation, you get your money back. If the calculator cannot properly model your situation, or something goes wrong, tell us within 14 days and we will refund you. No forms, no argument. See a sample report before you buy.

Questions to ask before you buy

Yes, it is included, and using it is entirely your choice. It sits behind one button on your report and does nothing until you press it. Nothing in the report is held back from somebody who never opens it.

When you do ask it something, what it receives is the figures on your report: incomes, nights and ages. Not your name, not your email address, not your account, and never a Customer Reference Number, tax file number or bank detail. We do not hold those in the first place. The name you can put on the report cover is optional and is not part of what it is given. The conversation stays in your browser tab and is gone when you close it, and we record that a question was asked without recording what it said.

Section 5 of the privacy policy sets out exactly what does and does not travel, including who processes it.

No. You pay once and the access is yours. There is no subscription and nothing renews. PayPal handles the payment, so we never even see your card number.

No, and nothing here pretends to be. Services Australia administers the scheme and is the only body that can tell you what your assessment is. This applies the published rules to the figures you type in, shows all eight steps of the working, and prices every option a quick estimate cannot show: a change of assessment, a second case, a second family, or what one more night of care is worth.

Child Support Calculator provides general information, not legal or financial advice. We are not licensed to give personal advice, and we never tell you which option to pick. We apply the published rules to the figures you enter and show you what they produce, with all the working visible. Your actual assessment is made by Services Australia, and so is any decision on a change of assessment.

What your payment unlocks

Total $0.00

Email address

Your login and receipt go to this address. It can be different from your PayPal email.

Secured by PayPal Pay by PayPal or card No renewals

What you can count on

A refund if it cannot model your situation^* If the calculator cannot properly model your situation, or something goes wrong, tell us within 14 days and we will refund you. One email, no forms, no argument.

We never see your card PayPal handles the payment end to end. No card number ever reaches this site, and nothing is stored on file.

Nothing renews, ever You pay once and the access is yours to keep. There is no subscription and no automatic charge to cancel later.

Australian made and operated Built here, for the Child Support (Assessment) Act 1989, against the child support figures that took effect on 1 January 2026. Prices in Australian dollars, GST included.

Australian support, by a person Email us and a person here answers, within one business day. No offshore call centre, and never the assistant. Support is a person.

A secure connection The whole site runs over HTTPS, and passwords are stored as salted PBKDF2 hashes, not as text we could read.

Ask the report anything, if you want to Your report comes with an assistant that has read it and answers questions about your own figures in plain English. It is optional and does nothing until you press the button. It is given amounts and categories, never your name, your email or your account.

General information, not advice We apply the published rules to your figures and show the working. It is not legal or financial advice. We do not sell products, take commissions, or refer you to anybody.

^* Refunds are made to the original payment method within five business days of the request. Ask at support@calculatedchoices.com.au. This is in addition to your rights under the Australian Consumer Law, which nothing here limits.

Done. Your full report is unlocked

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Two lines is plenty. We publish these so the next parent knows whether this is worth their money, and we never publish anything we made up.

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Child support examples

13 child support examples, worked out in full

Every household on this page is invented. Nothing the calculator does with them is. The same engine that builds a paid report solves them when this page loads, and the cards show exactly what it produces. When the figures are indexed next January, this page moves with them.

3 things to know before you read any example

1

Nights of care turn into money in steps, not smoothly

The rules credit each parent with a share of the children's costs based on how much of the year the children are with them. That share moves in seven bands, and five of the seven are perfectly flat. So dozens of extra nights can be worth nothing at all, and then a single night is worth a whole step.

2

The combined income is not the two salaries added up

A fixed self-support amount comes off each parent's income first, whatever they earn. Two parents on $60,000 each have a combined child support income of about $58,000 rather than $120,000, and the children's costs are read off that smaller figure.

3

There are ten reasons to change an assessment, and applying is free

Section 117(2) sets out ten grounds for departing from the formula. Either parent can apply, there is no fee, and Services Australia decides it rather than a court. The hard part is not the cost. It is that nothing in the ordinary process mentions that the ten reasons exist.

Everything below is those three facts in real dollars, for thirteen different households. Worked out on the current child support figures.

None of these is you. Your own answer takes 3 minutes.

Your figure turns on five things: how many children, how old they are, how many nights a year they are with you, and both adjusted taxable incomes. Change any one of them and the routes above change size and change order. It costs nothing to find out.

These are Nathan's numbers, not yours Nathan is invented: two children aged 7 and 12, 96 nights of care a year, $104,000 against their mother's $58,000. Change any one of those and the routes below change size and change order completely. A single night of care either side of a step can be worth thousands a year on its own.

Nothing on this page is an answer for your situation, and none of it should be relied on for a decision about you. What it does show is exactly what your own report looks like and how to read it: the same engine, the same eight steps and the same 1 January 2026 child support figures. This is the paid report in full, all thirteen sections and the disclaimer, with the first seven open to read and the rest behind the blur.

Child Support Calculator

Your Child Support
Assessment Report

Prepared for your household

ReferenceSAMPLE0000Prepared2 October 2026Figures1 January 2026Children2, aged 7 to 12

01

Your options, side by side

Every legal way your child support could change, and what each one leaves you with over the 11 years until your youngest turns 18. Same 2 children, same two incomes, same rules. Only one thing changes in each. Open Show Details on any of them to see what it means and what the process involves.

What each figure is. All the child support between now and the day your youngest turns 18, with the children getting older as the years pass and leaving the assessment at 18. Money you pay counts against you and money you receive counts for you, so the list works the same whichever side you are on.

How far apart your options are. On your own figures your options are $65,196 apart (the 3 options worked out on figures you entered). That is the same figure the free page showed. Counting the 6 options priced on example amounts as well, the list runs $91,744 from top to bottom. Those rows say "modelled on" and the example amount. Leaving things as they are is on the list too, with its own figure.

Every option here is legal. Each one is set out in the Child Support (Assessment) Act 1989, and Services Australia decides them, not a court. They differ in what they leave you with, not in whether you are allowed to use them. Nothing in this report is a recommendation. It is your own figures run through the published rules, and the choice is yours.

02

The short version

Four numbers. The rest of the report shows where they come from.

You pay$11,394a year$219 a week, on this year's figures

Share of the costs your care covers24%96 nights a year, 26% of the nights

Options priced9optionsRanked on what each leaves you with

How far apart your options are$65,196over the 11 years left, across the 3 options worked out on your figures

Your options are $65,196 apart

That is the gap between the highest and lowest totals among the 3 options worked out on figures you entered, over the 11 years until your youngest turns 18: about $5,927 a year, or $114 a week. It is the same figure the free page showed. It is not a forecast and not a guess at your chances. The other 6 options are priced on an example amount, because you did not enter one, and each says so on its row. Counting them as well, the list runs $91,744 from top to bottom. Whether an option is really open to you depends on evidence. Sections 06 and 07 set out what each one needs.

03

How your child support is worked out

This is the formula in section 35 of the Child Support (Assessment) Act 1989, run the same way Services Australia runs it. Each line shows the section it comes from, so you can check any line you disagree with.

Step	What happens	You	The other parent
-	Adjusted taxable income s 43	$104,000	$58,000
1	Less the self-support amount s 45	−$31,046	−$31,046
1	Child support income s 41	$72,954	$26,954
2	Combined child support income s 42	$99,908	$99,908
3	Income percentage s 55B	73.02%	26.98%
4	Percentage of care s 48	26% (96 nights)	74% (269 nights)
5	Cost percentage s 55C	24%	76%
6	Child support percentage s 55D	49.02%	−49.02%
7	Costs of the children s 55G, Sch 1	$23,242	$23,242
7	Cost of each child s 55H	$11,621	$11,621
8	Annual rate of child support s 35, 67A	$11,394	-

What comes off each income before anything is shared, and what is left.

Step 6 is the answer. Your share of the income minus the share of the costs your care covers is 49.02%. A positive number means that parent's care covers less than their share, so they pay the difference. A negative number means their care covers more than their share, so they receive it. With just two parents the two numbers are exact opposites, so only one parent can ever be the one who pays.

A new partner's income is not in any of this. It is never part of child support, for either parent, at any income. It can affect Family Tax Benefit, which is a separate payment with separate rules. That is usually where the confusion comes from.

04

Every option, ranked

Ranked on one thing only: what child support leaves you with over the 11 years left. Money you pay counts against you and money you receive counts for you, so the top row leaves you with the most. Nothing here is a recommendation.

#	Route	This year	A week	Over 11 years	Against leaving it
1	Change of assessment on the costs of the children modelled on $5,200 of recognised costs a year	$8,743 out	$168	$98,683	−$29,156
2	Record one relevant dependent child living with you modelled on one dependent child, in your care full time	$9,400 out	$181	$106,400	−$21,439
3	Change of assessment on income, earning capacity or resources the assessment cannot see modelled on $10,000 a year attributed to the other parent	$10,697 out	$206	$118,672	−$9,167
4	Change of assessment on the child's own resources, or what has already changed hands modelled on $1,000 of resources a year	$10,903 out	$210	$122,443	−$5,396
5	Lodge an income estimate for this year (it covers one year only) modelled on $88,400 a year, the highest an estimate could be	$8,743 out	$168	$125,188	−$2,651
6	Care recorded at 128 nights a year, the next step up modelled on 128 nights a year	$11,161 out	$215	$125,231	−$2,608
7	Change of assessment on your capacity to support the child modelled on $1,000 a year recognised	$11,233 out	$216	$126,193	−$1,646
8	Leave the assessment exactly as it is	$11,394 out	$219	$127,839	-
9	Care recorded at 51 nights a year, the next step down modelled on 51 nights a year	$16,972 out	$326	$190,427	+$62,588

Every option, drawn to scale: the total child support over the 11 years left.

Change of assessment on the costs of the children. Reasons 1, 2, 3 and 6: the cost of getting to the children, special needs, a school both parents chose, and child care for a child under 12. All four add to the children's costs, and the parent paying those costs gets credit for them. Priced on $5,200 of recognised costs a year. Section 117(2), reasons 1, 2, 3 and 6

Record one relevant dependent child living with you. A child of yours who lives with you at least 128 nights a year and is not in any child support case. An amount for them comes off your income before anything is shared. Priced on one dependent child, in your care full time. Section 46

Change of assessment on income, earning capacity or resources the assessment cannot see. Reason 8, the widest of the ten. It covers money that never shows up in taxable income, and a parent who could earn a lot more than they do. Priced on $10,000 a year attributed to the other parent. Section 117(2), reason 8

Change of assessment on the child's own resources, or what has already changed hands. Reasons 4 and 5: the child has income or property of their own, or money or property has already been handed over for the child. Both reduce the costs left to share. Priced on $1,000 of resources a year. Section 117(2), reasons 4 and 5

Lodge an income estimate for this year (it covers one year only). You can only lodge an estimate if your income now is at least 15% below the income in the assessment. For you that means $88,400 or less. An estimate only covers one year, so this option changes the first year only. Priced on $88,400 a year, the highest an estimate could be. Sections 60 to 64A

Care recorded at 128 nights a year, the next step up. The next number of nights where the share of costs your care covers goes up. Nights 96 to 127 change nothing. Night 128 moves you up a step. Priced on 128 nights a year. Sections 48 and 55C, and the care and cost table

Change of assessment on your capacity to support the child. Reasons 7, 9 and 10: unusual costs you cannot avoid, supporting another child or person, or supporting a stepchild who lives with you. All three lower the income the formula uses. Priced on $1,000 a year recognised. Section 117(2), reasons 7, 9 and 10

Leave the assessment exactly as it is. The formula run on the figures already recorded. Every other row on this list is this one with one thing changed. Sections 35 to 66 of the Child Support (Assessment) Act 1989

Care recorded at 51 nights a year, the next step down. The nearest number of nights below you where the share of costs your care covers drops. Care can be disputed both ways, and a step is lost all at once. Priced on 51 nights a year. Sections 48 and 55C, and the care and cost table

05

What each night of care is worth

You have the children 96 nights a year. That is 26% of the nights, which counts as covering 24% of their costs. The next step up is at 128 nights and the next step down is at 51 nights. Every night in between is worth the same.

Your child support at every number of nights from 0 to 365, with everything else unchanged. Where the line is flat, an extra night changes nothing.

What each single extra night adds or takes away. Nothing for weeks at a time, then a step.

The next 32 nights of care are worth nothing, then one night is worth $233 a year. At 96 nights your care covers 24% of the children's costs. At 128 nights that becomes 25%. Nothing in between changes anything. Over the 11 years left, that one step adds up to $2,608, the same figure shown in the "Against leaving it" column of section 04.

It works the other way too. If the nights recorded dropped to 51 nights a year, your child support would change by $5,578 a year, or $62,588 over the 11 years left. A step is lost all at once, not a night at a time.

Tell Services Australia within 28 days. A care change reported within that time usually applies from the day it happened. Reported later, more care usually only counts from the day you told them, while less care still counts from the day it happened. So reporting late costs the parent whose care went up, and nothing to the parent whose care went down.

The care table in section 55C: seven bands, five of them flat.

06

The ten reasons to change an assessment, priced

The law (section 117(2)) lists ten reasons Services Australia can change an assessment. Each one is priced below on your own figures. Each row shows the amount it was worked out on, and what every extra $1,000 would do, so you can scale it to your own situation.

#	Reason	Modelled on	A year	Per $1,000	Over 11 years
1	The cost of spending time with the child must exceed 5% of your income - $5,200	$5,200 modelled	−$2,651	−$510	−$29,156
2	The child's special needs	$1,000 modelled	−$510	−$510	−$5,605
3	Education both parents intended	$1,000 modelled	−$510	−$510	−$5,605
4	The child's own income or property	$1,000 modelled	−$491	−$491	−$5,396
5	Money or property already transferred	$1,000 modelled	−$491	−$491	−$5,396
6	Child care costs, child under 12 must exceed 5% of your income - $5,200	$5,200 modelled	−$2,651	−$510	−$29,156
7	Necessary expenses reduce capacity	$1,000 modelled	−$161	−$161	−$1,646
8	Income, capacity or resources not in the assessment	$10,000 modelled	−$697	−$72	−$9,167
9	Supporting another child or person	$1,000 modelled	−$161	−$161	−$1,646
10	Supporting a resident child	$1,000 modelled	−$161	−$161	−$1,646

How much each of the ten reasons would change your child support in a year, on your figures.

Reasons that move the same part of the formula share the figure you entered for them, so some rows above are identical. Reasons 1, 2, 3 and 6 all raise the costs of the children and all read the same box; reasons 4 and 5 both reduce them; reasons 7, 9 and 10 all adjust your own income. That is the arithmetic being honest rather than a duplication: two reasons that work the same way on the same amount are worth the same, and which of them you can actually make out is a question about evidence rather than about money.

Which direction a reason moves the assessment depends on which side of it you are on. On your figures every one of the ten would lower what you pay, and none of them would raise it. The other parent can apply under any of them too.

The largest single effect here is reason 1: The cost of spending time with the child. On the amount it is modelled on it moves the assessment by $2,651 a year, and $29,156 over the 11 years remaining. That is not a prediction that an application would succeed. It is what the arithmetic does if one did.

The per $1,000 column is the one to use if none of the modelled amounts fit you. It is a rate of change rather than a claim: multiply it by whatever your own figure is and the answer is the same arithmetic this report ran.

07

What each reason needs as evidence

A change of assessment is decided on evidence, not on how strongly either parent feels. Being unhappy with the amount is not one of the ten reasons, and three kinds of material are always refused.

Reason 1: The cost of spending time with the child. Getting to the children costs a lot: flights, fuel, somewhere to stay, phone calls. The costs have to be more than 5% of the adjusted taxable income used in the assessment. Where a parent already has the children at least 52 nights a year, travel is the only cost that counts here, because the rest is already in the formula. Evidence: Airline bookings, fuel and accommodation receipts, a parenting plan or court order, or an estimate of what the coming year will cost. Not counted: Food, clothes and entertainment are never counted under this reason.

Reason 2: The child's special needs. A physical, mental or learning disability, and also a special talent or ability. Therapy, equipment, a private tutor for a significant learning disability, tuition for a gifted musician. What is counted is what is left after any rebate or refund. Evidence: Medical evidence of the condition and its treatment, receipts for support services, and an estimate of future costs. Not counted: Anything reimbursed, and ordinary daily costs like food, clothing and standard medical care.

Reason 3: Education both parents intended. Usually a private school. The point of this reason is not that the school is expensive. It is that both parents meant the child to go there, and one of them is now carrying the fees alone. Evidence: Enrolment forms signed by both parents, a parenting plan or court order, and receipts for the fees. Not counted: A school one parent chose on their own is much harder to run under this reason.

Reason 4: The child's own income or property. The child has enough money of their own to need less from their parents: a job, an inheritance, a trust. It has to be real money, not pocket money. Evidence: Payslips, bank statements or trust records for the child. Not counted: Any Centrelink income support payment the child receives is left out of this.

Reason 5: Money or property already transferred. Something has already changed hands for the child, often as part of a property settlement, sometimes a car, a house, or school fees paid years in advance. The assessment does not know about it unless somebody says so. Evidence: Court orders, settlement agreements, and bank statements showing the transfer. Not counted: Ordinary gifts and ordinary spending on the children are not transfers.

Reason 6: Child care costs, child under 12. Day care, before and after school care, vacation care, for a child under 12. For a parent the costs have to be more than 5% of their adjusted taxable income. For a non-parent carer they have to be at least 25% of the costs of the child. Evidence: Child care receipts, enrolment forms, and statements of the subsidy already received. Not counted: Only the amount left after the Child Care Subsidy and any other assistance counts.

Reason 7: Necessary expenses reduce capacity. High costs that are both necessary and out of the ordinary, such as major medical treatment, or the cost of setting up a home again after separating. An ordinary mortgage is not this. Evidence: Payslips, medical accounts, and receipts for the expense itself. Not counted: Normal living costs, and debts taken on by choice.

Reason 8: Income, capacity or resources not in the assessment. The widest of the ten reasons. It covers two different things: money and resources that never reach adjusted taxable income at all, and a parent who could earn far more than they do. Services Australia can start a change under this reason without anybody applying. Evidence: Payslips, business profit and loss statements and balance sheets, and anything showing a parent is choosing to earn less than they could. Not counted: An income drop of 15% or more is an income estimate, not a change of assessment. A drop of less than 15% is not enough on its own.

Reason 9: Supporting another child or person. Another child, a former partner receiving maintenance, or a partner who cannot support themselves. A child already counted in the assessment as a relevant dependent child cannot be counted again here unless they have special needs. Evidence: Court orders, proof of payments, and evidence of why the person cannot support themselves. Not counted: Stepchildren are dealt with under reason 10, not this one.

Reason 10: Supporting a resident child. A child who lives with the applicant, is not legally theirs, is under 18, is not in a couple, and needs financial help, usually a stepchild. The applicant has to have been the partner of one of the legal parents for two years in a row, or the legal parents have to be unable to support the child. Evidence: Evidence that the legal parents cannot support the child, and evidence of the child's need. Not counted: A child who could be supported by their own parents is not a resident child for this.

Three kinds of material are refused outright. Anything offensive, abusive or derogatory; any statement from a child, including voice recordings, text messages and social media posts; and anything obtained illegally. An application carrying any of them is not weakened, it is refused.

Everything sent is copied to the other parent except Part A of the form. Part B and every attachment go across in full. Personal details are removed from attachments before they are sent: a phone number, an address, an email, a workplace, the children's school or day care, a vehicle registration. Where there is a risk to anybody's safety, Services Australia is told before anything is lodged.

08

Year by year, until your youngest turns 18

Your child support worked out again for each year left, as the children get older and leave the assessment at 18. This is where a weekly amount adds up.

What is assessed each year, and the running total behind it.

Year	Children	Costs of the children	Assessed	A week	Running total
2026	2	$23,242	$11,394	$219	$11,394
2027	2	$25,739	$12,618	$243	$24,012
2028	2	$25,739	$12,618	$243	$36,630
2029	2	$25,739	$12,618	$243	$49,248
2030	2	$25,739	$12,618	$243	$61,866
2031	2	$25,739	$12,618	$243	$74,484
2032	1	$21,769	$10,671	$205	$85,155
2033	1	$21,769	$10,671	$205	$95,826
2034	1	$21,769	$10,671	$205	$106,497
2035	1	$21,769	$10,671	$205	$117,168
2036	1	$21,769	$10,671	$205	$127,839

The steps in this table are birthdays. The costs of the children table has a separate, higher row for children aged 13 and over, so an assessment rises at the assessment after a birthday without anybody applying for anything or being told it is coming. It falls the same way when a child turns 18 and leaves the assessment.

Every year in this table is in 1 January 2026 money. Both incomes are held at what you entered and the six basic values are held at this year's, so the only thing that moves down the column is the children getting older. That is deliberate: the six values are indexed on 1 January every year and neither of you knows what you will earn in 2030, so a projection that guessed at both would be a forecast rather than an assessment. Read the column as today's rules run forward, and read the ranking in section 01 as a comparison between routes measured the same way, which is the comparison that survives indexation, because every route in it is indexed by the same amount.

The running total under the routes furthest from where you are now, so you can see when they separate rather than only where they end.

09

Other children in either household

Children who live with a parent, or are in another child support case, lower that parent's income before anything is shared. Neither counts unless Services Australia is told, and both are often never reported.

Whose household	Children	Off that income
Children living with you, not in any assessment	0	-
Children in your other child support case	0	-
Children living with the other parent	0	-
Children in the other parent's other case	0	-

You have not recorded a child living with you. A child of your own in your care at least 128 nights a year, who is not part of any child support assessment, reduces your income before anything is shared - on your figures one such child would move this assessment by $1,994 a year, $21,439 over the 11 years remaining. Nothing in the ordinary process asks whether you have one.

A stepchild is not the same thing. A stepchild only counts as a relevant dependent child where a court order imposes a duty to maintain them. Otherwise they are reason 10 of a change of assessment, which needs evidence that the child's own legal parents cannot support them.

The other parent's household moves your figure too. You have not told us of any children in their household. If they have a new child living with them, or a second child support case, their income falls before the sharing starts and your assessment rises, with nothing having changed at your end. Both are printed on the assessment notice.

10

How much each income matters

Few people know what the other parent earns, and most people think their own income matters more than it does. Both incomes are priced across their whole range here, so you can see what a wrong guess would cost.

The assessment at every income the other parent could have, with yours held where it is.

And the same from your side. The tooltip carries the cents in each extra dollar that reach the assessment.

Around 16 cents of your next dollar reaches this assessment. Not all of it, and usually nowhere near it. Your income percentage is a share of a combined figure, and the costs of the children stop rising once combined child support income passes $232,843. "It all goes in child support" is the commonest thing said about a pay rise and it has never been true.

The other parent's income is on your assessment notice. Services Australia prints both adjusted taxable incomes on it, so a guess is only ever necessary before the first assessment. The chart above shows how much a wrong guess is actually worth, which is usually the answer to whether it is worth chasing.

Where a parent has not lodged a tax return, a provisional income is used. Where there is not enough information for one, it can be the last lodged return adjusted for inflation or two thirds of average earnings ($62,091 this year), whichever is higher. An actual income later found to be lower usually cannot be backdated, so the overpayment stands.

11

What the rules say your children cost

The costs of the children come from a table in Schedule 1 of the Act, built on research into what Australian families actually spend and set net of Family Tax Benefit. On your combined child support income of $99,908 it comes to $23,242 a year for 2 children, or $11,621 each.

The costs of the children at every combined income, for your number and ages of children, with you marked on it.

The combined child support income, split the way the formula splits it.

The costs table is net of Family Tax Benefit. The figures in it are what the research says separated households spend on children after family payments, which is why they look lower than what raising a child appears to cost.

The costs stop rising at $232,843 of combined child support income. That is two and a half times annualised male total average weekly earnings. Above it, another dollar of combined income changes nothing at all, which is $132,935 above where you are now.

Three children and six children are the same row. The table has separate columns for one child, two children and three or more, so a fourth child adds nothing to what the children are treated as costing between them. It divides the same total further.

12

What stands out in your numbers

Things worth noticing about your particular situation, and why your figures came out the way they did. These are facts about your numbers, not advice about what to choose.

Your options are $65,196 apart

Over the 11 years left, that is about $5,927 a year, or $114 a week. Of the options worked out on your own figures, "Care recorded at 128 nights a year, the next step up" leaves you the most and "Care recorded at 51 nights a year, the next step down" leaves you the least. If nothing changes, child support comes to $127,839 in total. Section 01 lists every option and what it involves.

The next 32 nights of care are worth nothing, then one night is worth $233 a year

It works the other way too. If the nights recorded dropped to 51, your child support would change by $5,578 a year. Five of the seven bands in the care table are flat, so an arrangement can add a fortnight of care and change nothing. Section 05 shows every night.

A child of your own living with you would be worth $1,994 a year

You have not recorded one. A child in your care at least 128 nights a year who is not part of any child support assessment comes off your income before anything is shared out - $21,439 over the 11 years remaining. It is applied only if Services Australia has been told the child exists, and nothing in the ordinary process asks.

One of your children turns 13 within a year, and that raises the assessment

The costs of the children table has a separate, higher row for children aged 13 and over. Nobody applies for that increase and nobody is warned it is coming. It takes effect at the assessment after the birthday. Section 08 shows the step.

All of your children are 12 or under, which is the lower row of the costs table

The costs of the children table has three columns (one child, two children, and three or more) and separate rows by age. On $99,908 of combined child support income yours come to $23,242 a year between both households, $11,621 each. The mixed age row is exactly the average of the other two, so a household with children on both sides of 13 sits halfway.

Every figure in this report is replaced in 91 days

The self-support amount, the whole costs of the children table, the fixed rate and the minimum rate are all indexed on 1 January. A calculation against the old figures is not slightly out, it is out in every line. So this report is worth running again after that date, and your assessment can change with nothing at all happening in either household.

Family Tax Benefit moves in the opposite direction and is not in any of these figures

The more child support a parent receives, the less Family Tax Benefit Part A they generally get, and the same care percentage drives both. An option worth $29,156 in child support can be worth materially less once family payments move against it. Nothing on this site models that, so it is worth working out separately before acting on any option above.

13

What to ask before you sign anything

Print this page and take it with you. These are the questions that catch the expensive surprises, with your own figures in them, grouped by who to ask.

Ask Services Australia (131 272)

My notice records my care as 26%. I have the children 96 nights a year. Can you confirm the nights you have recorded and the date they apply from?What a straight answer sounds like: A number of nights and a start date. 96 nights out of 365 is 26%, which counts as covering 24% of the costs. If the nights on the notice are not the nights really happening, that is the first thing to fix.
What adjusted taxable income are you using for each of us, and which financial year is it from?What a straight answer sounds like: Two figures and a year. Mine should be $104,000. Both parents' incomes are printed on the assessment notice, so this is just reading it back.
Has a relevant dependent child amount been applied to my income, and if not what do you need from me?What a straight answer sounds like: A child of my own in my care at least 128 nights a year and not in any assessment. They need the name, date of birth and care arrangements in writing. It is not applied unless they are told.
When does my current child support period end, and what will trigger the next assessment?What a straight answer sounds like: A date, and normally "when a tax return is lodged". The figures are also indexed every 1 January, so the assessment can change with nothing happening in either household.
If my care went to 128 nights a year, what would my assessment be?What a straight answer sounds like: A figure, and it should change. 128 nights is where the next band in the care table starts. Anything from 96 to 127 nights should give exactly the same amount as now.

Ask before lodging a change of assessment

Which of the ten reasons in section 117(2) fits my circumstances, and what evidence would I need for it?What a straight answer sounds like: A reason number and a list of documents. Being unhappy with the amount is not one of the ten. Section 07 of this report sets out what each reason is decided on.
I meet $0 a year of costs for the children directly. Does that clear the 5% threshold on reasons 1 and 6?What a straight answer sounds like: The threshold on my income is $5,200 a year. Reasons 1 and 6 cannot be considered at all below it; reasons 2 and 3 have no fixed floor but still have to be significant.
If I apply, what happens to my Family Tax Benefit?What a straight answer sounds like: That it moves in the opposite direction: more child support received generally means less Family Tax Benefit Part A. Nothing in this report models that, and it can be large enough to change whether an application is worth making.
What of what I send is copied to the other parent?What a straight answer sounds like: Everything except Part A of the form. Part B and every attachment go across in full, so personal details come off attachments first. If there is any safety concern, say so before lodging rather than after.

Ask yourself

Is the arrangement I am about to agree to on the right side of a care step?What a straight answer sounds like: A number of nights, checked against the steps at 52, 128, 176, 190, 238 and 314. An arrangement that moves care within a flat band changes the assessment by nothing at all.
Am I about to spend months on an application worth less than the conflict it will cause?What a straight answer sounds like: A figure from section 06, multiplied by the years remaining. Some of the ten reasons are worth thousands a year on these figures and some are worth a few hundred.
Have I told Services Australia everything that comes off my income before the sharing starts?What a straight answer sounds like: The self-support amount is automatic. A relevant dependent child amount and a multi-case allowance are not. They are applied only when Services Australia has been told.

Important

This report applies the child support figures in effect from 1 January 2026 to the figures you entered and shows what they produce. It is not legal advice, it is not financial advice, and it is not a recommendation. Routes are ranked on a single arithmetic measure: what the assessment leaves you with over the 11 years it has left. That measure deliberately ignores everything a number cannot capture.

Services Australia is the only body that can tell you what your assessment is. This calculator works on what you typed in. If the incomes, the nights of care or the children's ages recorded on your assessment notice differ from what you entered here, the notice is what governs and this report is a model of something else.

What this measure cannot see. Whether an application is worth the conflict it will cause. What a change of assessment does to Family Tax Benefit, which moves in the opposite direction and is not modelled here. Whether the evidence exists to make out a reason at all: every one of the ten is decided on evidence, and a well founded reason with nothing to support it is refused. And what either parent will do next, which no calculator has.

Where a decision has already been made. An income estimate cannot be lodged where the assessment comes from a change of assessment decision, a court order, a binding or limited child support agreement, or an assessment from another country. Those cases need a different route and this report does not model them. Nor does it model Formula 5 or Formula 6, which are used where only one parent's income is available (a parent who has died, or one living in a country with no reciprocal arrangement).

6 more sections, and the 6 charts in them

08Year by year, until your youngest turns 18
09Other children in either household
10How much each income matters
11What the rules say your children cost
12What stands out in your numbers
13What to ask before you sign anything

Everything above is real arithmetic on a fictional household: the paid report's own sections, unaltered. Run yours and this half opens on your own figures: your children, your nights of care, your two incomes.

And you can ask it questions. Every report comes with an assistant that has read your report and explains any figure in it in plain English: why a route ranks where it does, what a term means, what changes if one more night of care is agreed. Using it is entirely your choice, it does nothing until you press the button, and it is given the amounts on your report and never your name, your email or your account.

That is somebody else's answer. Yours takes about three minutes and costs nothing.

That link is no longer available

The person who sent it may have switched it off, or the link may not have been copied in full. Ask them to send it again.

We could not find that link

The link may have been used already. If you still get emails, contact us and we will stop them.

Reading is useful. Knowing what your own assessment comes to, and what else it could be, is better.

Change of assessment

Travel Costs to See Your Children: Reason 1

Where the cost of spending time with your children is high enough, reason 1 of a change of assessment can recognise it. The threshold is hard: the costs have to be more than 5% of the adjusted taxable income used in your assessment. And there is a rule about which costs count that catches a great many applicants by surprise.

Section 117(2), reason 1 8 min read Australia

A car on a long highway at dusk with a child's booster seat visible in the back.

Who can claim travel costs?

Parents separated by real distance. A parent who moved interstate for work, or whose ex-partner did. A parent flying children between capital cities for school holidays. A parent driving eleven hours each way, twice a month, on a modest income.

The formula makes no allowance for any of it. Two parents with identical incomes and identical care percentages are assessed identically, whether they live in the same suburb or two thousand kilometres apart. Reason 1 exists because that produces an obviously unfair result in some households.

What is the 5% threshold?

Your adjusted taxable income × 5% = the floor the costs have to exceed

On an assessment built on $78,000, the costs have to exceed $3,900 a year before reason 1 can be considered at all. On $104,000, $5,200. The threshold rises with income, which means a higher earning parent needs proportionately larger costs to get through the door.

It is worth working the figure out before anything else. If the annual travel bill is under it, this ground is unavailable regardless of how genuine the expense is, and another ground would have to be found.

Which travel costs count?

Transport. Airfares, fuel, tolls, car hire, train and bus fares.
Accommodation. Where you have to stay somewhere to see the children.
Communication. Phone calls, where the cost is genuinely significant.

Costs that never count

Food, clothes and entertainment are expressly excluded. Not weighed and found insufficient - excluded. The reasoning is that those are ordinary costs of having children with you, and the formula already accounts for them through the cost percentage.

This is where applications most often go wrong. An application totalling up everything a weekend costs - petrol, a motel, meals out, a trip to the zoo - will have most of it struck out, and the remainder may not clear the 5% floor.

The 52 night rule that catches people out

If you care for the children at least 52 nights a year, travel is the only cost that can be considered under this reason. Accommodation and communication drop out.

The logic is that at 52 nights you are already credited with 24% of the children's costs through your cost percentage, and the scheme treats that credit as covering everything except the travel itself. Below 52 nights you are credited with nothing at all, so the other categories remain open.

Fifty-two nights is also the biggest step in the care table, which makes it worth knowing exactly which side of it you are on for two separate reasons at once.

What evidence do you need?

The general process is that documents establishing both the arrangement and the cost are gathered before anything is lodged:

a court order or parenting plan showing the care arrangement
airline bookings and confirmations
accommodation receipts
fuel receipts, or a log of trips with distances
an estimate of future costs - expressly acceptable, and useful where the arrangement is new

That last point is worth noting. This ground does not require a year of receipts before it can be run. A credible forward estimate of what the coming year will cost is accepted.

How much reason 1 can be worth

Reason 1 works by raising the costs of the children by the amount recognised. The parent who actually meets that cost is then credited with the whole of it, so their liability moves by their share of the increase less the whole of what they paid - which comes out as a reduction rather than an increase.

In practice the assessment falls by roughly the amount recognised multiplied by the other parent's share of the costs. On a household where the paying parent carries about half the child support percentage, recognising $5,200 of travel moves the assessment by somewhere around $2,300 a year.

That makes reason 1 one of the more valuable grounds in dollar terms, which is worth knowing given how rarely it is used.

Before you lodge: what the other parent sees

Everything you send except Part A of the form is copied to the other parent, and travel applications necessarily contain a great deal about where you go and when. Remove your address, your workplace, the children's school and any vehicle registration from attachments before they go in.

The other parent responds and can apply for different changes of their own. Where their answer is going to be that the distance was your choice, it is worth addressing that in the application rather than waiting to respond to it - reason 1 does not require the distance to be anybody's fault, but the Registrar still has to be satisfied that a change would be just and equitable.

What each of the ten reasons actually needs covers the evidence rules in full, including the three kinds of material that are refused outright.

What is your own 5% threshold?

The report works out the floor on your own income, prices reason 1 against the other nine, and gives the rate per $1,000 recognised so you can scale it to your own travel bill.

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support@calculatedchoices.com.au Questions about the calculator, getting back in, or a refund

Services Australia, Child Support: 131 272 Monday to Friday, 8:30am to 4:45pm. The only people who can tell you what your assessment actually is, change your care percentage, take an income estimate or accept a change of assessment application. Interpreters are arranged free.

Family Relationship Advice Line: 1800 050 321 Free, independent, and not part of Services Australia. Information about parenting arrangements and child support, and referrals to family dispute resolution. Often the right first call if you and the other parent are trying to agree something.

1800RESPECT: 1800 737 732 24 hours, every day. National counselling for domestic, family and sexual violence. If exchanging information with the other parent would put you or anybody else at risk, tell Services Australia before you lodge anything. Everything except Part A of a change of assessment form is copied to them.

National Debt Helpline: 1800 007 007 Free financial counselling, independent of anybody you owe money to. Worth a call if child support arrears or an overpayment after an income estimate have become unmanageable.

Lifeline: 13 11 14 24 hours, every day. Separation is one of the hardest things people go through, and a calculator is not the right thing to be alone with at three in the morning.

Administrative Review Tribunal: 1800 228 333 Where a child support decision goes after an objection has been decided by Services Australia and you still disagree. Independent of Services Australia, with time limits that matter, and it can withhold your contact details and anything that would disclose your location from the other parent. You can also apply online or email reviews@art.gov.au.

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How can we help?

Almost everybody meets the child support scheme at the worst possible moment. A relationship has ended, a care arrangement is being argued about, and a letter arrives with a figure on it and no working. That figure can run for years, often for more than a decade, and it is set at the point when neither parent has the time, the money or the calm to go and check it. A small weekly difference, the kind nobody thinks worth an argument, repeats every single week until the youngest child turns eighteen.

None of the rules are secret. The eight step formula is section 35 of the Child Support (Assessment) Act 1989. What the rules say children cost is a table in Schedule 1 of the same Act. The conversion from nights of care to a share of those costs is section 55C. The ten reasons an assessment can be departed from are section 117(2). The six figures that move every 1 January are published in the Child Support Guide at section 2.3.2, and the costs of the children table is on Services Australia's own website. Every one of them is free to read. What almost nobody ever sees is those rules applied to their own numbers, because they are spread across an Act, a schedule, a guide written for decision makers, and an annual indexation cycle nobody outside the field follows.

Child Support Calculator does one thing: it applies those published rules to your figures and shows you, in full, what they produce. All eight steps written out with your own numbers in every line and the section of the Act beside each one. Every legal option you have, priced on a single stated measure. All ten change of assessment reasons, separately. The assessment at every one of the 365 nights of care, so you can see exactly where the steps fall before you agree to an arrangement rather than four years after. And every year until your youngest turns 18, with the children ageing through the costs table as they go.

We do not tell you what to do, and we are not licensed to. Services Australia administers the child support scheme and is the only body that can tell you what your assessment actually is. If the figures on your assessment notice differ from what you type in here, the notice is what governs. Nothing on this site is legal or financial advice, no route on it is recommended over any other, and whether an application is worth making turns on evidence, on what it does to Family Tax Benefit, and on whether it is worth the conflict. None of that is arithmetic. The arithmetic is the part people are missing. If you want the opinion as well, here is who does what, and the support page lists the free helplines.

One more thing, because people ask. We never need a name, a Customer Reference Number, a tax file number, a bank detail or anything that identifies a child. None of them are part of the arithmetic, so none of them are collected. The name you can put on the report cover is optional, is printed there and nowhere else, and is never part of what the assistant is given.

Effective 7 August 2026. This policy is issued by XTO Pty. Ltd. (ACN [ACN NOT SET]) of , Australia.

XTO Pty. Ltd. operates calculatedchoices.com.au and the calculators published on it. Child Support Calculator is one of them, and is the one this policy is being shown to you from. The same policy applies to all of them.

1. About this policy

This policy explains how XTO Pty. Ltd. (we, us, our) collects, holds, uses and discloses personal information, and how you can access, correct or complain about it. We handle personal information in accordance with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs).

It applies to calculatedchoices.com.au and to every email we send you. It does not apply to any third party site we link to.

2. What we never collect

We do not ask for, and you should never send us, your Medicare number, tax file number, tax file numbers, Customer Reference Numbers, bank account numbers, or any government identifier, bank account details or card number. The calculator does not need them. If you send one to us anyway we will delete it rather than store it.

We do not collect sensitive information as defined in the Privacy Act - health information, racial or ethnic origin, political or religious beliefs, sexual orientation, or criminal record. Where the calculator asks about care needs it asks about funding categories, never about a medical condition.

3. What we collect, and why

Information you give us

Account details - first and last name, email address, and optionally phone, suburb, state, postcode and your relationship to the person entering care. Used to create and secure your account and to deliver what you bought.
Saved reports - the figures you entered and the results produced, stored against your account only if you choose to save one. Used so you can return to and compare them.
Purchases - the order, amount, currency, access period and the PayPal transaction reference. Used to grant access, issue receipts and meet our tax and record keeping obligations.
Correspondence - what you write to us and our reply. Used to answer you and to resolve disputes.
Email estimates and reviews - the email address you give us to receive a free estimate, and any review you submit for publication.

Information collected automatically

Technical data - IP address, browser user agent, device type, screen and viewport size, and the referring page.
Activity data - the pages you open, the order you open them in, time spent on each, how far you scroll, which calculator steps you complete, and which buttons you press. Used to understand where the site is confusing and to improve it.
Advertising identifiers - where you arrive from an advertisement, the click identifier appended to the link (for example Google's gclid) and any campaign parameters, so we can measure which advertising works.

4. Where the calculation happens

In your browser, on your device. The figures you type into the calculator are processed locally to produce your result. They are transmitted to us only if you choose to save a scenario to your account. If you never save one, we never receive them.

Two exceptions, and both are things you have to choose to do:

If you ask us to email your free estimate, the headline figure that estimate produced is stored with your email address so the estimate we send you is the one you saw.
If you use the optional report assistant, the figures in the report you have open are sent to us and on to the service that answers it. That is the only part of this site that sends anything to a third party, and section 5 sets out exactly what does and does not travel.

5. The report assistant

A paid report comes with an optional assistant you can ask questions about your own figures. It is the one part of this site that sends anything to a third party, so it is set out here in full.

It is entirely your choice, and it does nothing until you use it. Nothing is sent anywhere unless you open the assistant and ask a question. If you never open it, this section does not apply to you at all, and the rest of the report works exactly the same.

What is sent when you do ask

A plain-text summary of the figures in the report you have open - the amounts, categories and comparisons the report already shows you on screen.
The question you typed, and the questions and answers already in that conversation, so a follow-up makes sense.

What is not sent

Your name. The name field on the calculator is optional and is used only on your own report cover. It is not part of what the assistant is given.
Your email address, your account, your phone number or your street address. The assistant is not told who you are, and is given no way to find out.
Your Medicare number, tax file number, tax file numbers, Customer Reference Numbers, bank account numbers, or any government identifier, bank account or card details - we never hold these in the first place. See section 2.

What travels is a set of amounts and categories. On its own it does not identify anybody, and we do not send anything alongside it that would.

Who processes it

The request is answered by Google's Gemini API, which processes it outside Australia - see sections 10 and 11. We do not train any model on your figures and we have no arrangement permitting anyone to do so; what Google does with data sent to its API is governed by its own terms, which we do not control.

How long it is kept

The summary of your figures is held in our server's memory for one hour so a conversation does not have to re-send it with every question, and is then discarded. It is never written to our database.
The conversation itself is stored in your own browser tab and is gone when you close that tab. We do not keep a copy.
We record that a question was asked, and how long it was, so we know whether the feature is used. We do not record what it said.

Because the assistant is optional, you can have the entire paid report without any of the above ever happening. Nothing in the report is withheld from somebody who never opens it.

6. Cookies and browser storage

We use the following, and nothing else:

An authentication cookie - set only when you sign in, so you stay signed in. Strictly necessary.
A guest identifier - so a scenario saved before you register can be attached to your account when you do.
A session key (browser session storage) - identifies one visit for the activity data described above. It is a random value and is discarded when you close the tab.
A visitor key (browser local storage) - a random value kept for up to twelve months so we can tell a returning visitor from a new one. It contains no personal information and is not shared with anyone.
Preferences - your light or dark theme choice.

You can clear or block these through your browser at any time. Clearing them will sign you out and reset your preferences; the site will otherwise work normally.

7. Analytics and advertising

We use Google Analytics and Google Ads to measure how people find and use the site and whether our advertising is worth running. Where these are enabled, Google receives your IP address, device and browser information, the pages you viewed, and - when you complete a purchase - the order reference and the amount paid. Google may set its own cookies and may combine this with data it holds from other sources. Google's handling of that data is governed by its own privacy policy, not ours.

We do not sell your personal information, and we do not disclose it to data brokers, advertising networks other than as described above, a Customer Reference Number or any other government identifier, or anyone who might try to sell you something.

You can opt out of Google Analytics using Google's browser add-on, and you can adjust personalised advertising in your Google account settings.

8. Payments

Payments are processed by PayPal. Your card or account details are entered on PayPal's systems and are never transmitted to, seen by, or stored on our servers. We receive only the transaction reference, the amount, the status and the email address associated with the payment.

9. Who we disclose information to

Service providers who host the site, send our email and process payments, and only so they can perform that function.
Google, as described in sections 5 and 7.
Professional advisers - our accountants and lawyers, under obligations of confidence.
A purchaser of our business, if it is ever sold, on terms that require them to honour this policy.
Law enforcement, courts or regulators, where we are required or authorised by law.

10. Overseas disclosure

Some of these providers store or process data outside Australia, principally in the United States (Google, PayPal) and, depending on our email provider, in other countries. By using the site you acknowledge that we take reasonable steps to ensure overseas recipients handle your information consistently with the APPs, but that we cannot control and are not accountable for how an overseas recipient handles it once disclosed, and that you may not be able to seek redress in that jurisdiction.

11. Security

The site runs entirely over HTTPS. Passwords are stored as salted PBKDF2 hashes, not as text anyone here can read. Access to the database is restricted to those who need it. No system is perfectly secure, and we cannot guarantee the security of information transmitted over the internet, but we take reasonable steps to protect it from misuse, interference, loss and unauthorised access, modification or disclosure.

If a data breach occurs that is likely to result in serious harm, we will notify you and the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner as required by the Notifiable Data Breaches scheme.

12. How long we keep it

Account and saved reports - until you delete them or ask us to.
Order and payment records - seven years, as required by Australian tax law. We cannot delete these earlier, even on request.
Activity data - up to twenty‑six months, then deleted or aggregated so it no longer identifies anyone.
Email leads - until you unsubscribe, then only the record needed to honour that unsubscribe.

13. Direct marketing

If you give us your email address for a free estimate we may follow up about the full report. Every commercial email we send identifies us and carries a functional unsubscribe link, as required by the Spam Act 2003 (Cth). We action unsubscribes immediately. You will still receive transactional email - receipts, access details and password resets - because those are not marketing.

14. Accessing, correcting and deleting your information

Write to support@calculatedchoices.com.au. We will:

give you access to the personal information we hold about you, or explain why we cannot;
correct anything inaccurate, out of date, incomplete, irrelevant or misleading;
delete your account and every scenario attached to it, subject to the retention periods in section 12.

We will respond within 30 days and will not charge you for making a request. We may need to verify your identity first.

15. Complaints

If you think we have breached the APPs, write to support@calculatedchoices.com.au with "Privacy complaint" in the subject line. We will acknowledge within 5 business days and respond substantively within 30 days.

If you are not satisfied with our response, you may complain to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner: oaic.gov.au, 1300 363 992, or GPO Box 5288, Sydney NSW 2001.

16. Children

The site is intended for any parent or carer with a child support assessment, or about to have one. It is not directed at children and we do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 18.

17. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy. The effective date at the top changes when we do. Where a change is material we will tell you by email or by notice on the site before it takes effect. Continuing to use the site after that means you accept the updated policy.

18. Contact

Privacy Officer
XTO Pty. Ltd. (ACN [ACN NOT SET])

support@calculatedchoices.com.au

Effective 7 August 2026. These terms are a contract between you and XTO Pty. Ltd. (ACN [ACN NOT SET]), of , Australia.

XTO Pty. Ltd. operates calculatedchoices.com.au and the calculators published on it. Child Support Calculator is one of them, and is the one these terms are being shown to you from.

1. Agreement

By using calculatedchoices.com.au (the site) or buying a pass you agree to these terms. If you do not agree, do not use the site. In these terms we, us and our mean XTO Pty. Ltd.; you means the person using the site or, where you use it on behalf of another person or an entity, both you and that person or entity.

2. Eligibility

You must be at least 18 and legally able to enter a contract. The site is intended for use in Australia and applies Australian law and the Child Support (Assessment) Act 1989 and the child support figures published each January only. If you use it from outside Australia you do so on your own initiative and are responsible for local compliance.

3. What this service is

Child Support Calculator is an information and calculation service. It applies the Child Support (Assessment) Act 1989 and the child support figures published each January to figures you supply and reports what those rules produce, showing its workings and naming the fee schedule used.

4. What it is not

It is not financial product advice, personal advice, legal advice, tax advice, accounting advice or legal or financial advice, and it is not a recommendation to acquire, dispose of or deal in any financial product.

We do not hold an Australian Financial Services Licence and are not authorised representatives of any licensee.
We do not know your full circumstances, objectives, financial situation or needs, and nothing produced by the site takes them into account.
Where the report ranks options it does so on a single arithmetic measure that deliberately ignores everything a number cannot capture - health, family circumstances, tax position, estate planning, the nights of care recorded and both parents' adjusted taxable incomes, and what actually matters to you.
We receive no commission and have no relationship with any the other parent, any non-parent carer, and Services Australia.

You should obtain independent, licensed advice before acting. Any decision you make is yours.

5. Accuracy and estimates

We take considerable care to keep the rates current and the formulas right, and every report prints the schedule it was built on. Even so:

All output is an estimate based on the figures you entered. If those figures are wrong, incomplete or out of date, the output will be too.
Services Australia, which administers the child support scheme and is the only body that can tell you what your assessment actually is Those prevail over anything the site produces.
Rates, thresholds and caps change by legislation and indexation, and legislation can change without notice or retrospectively.
Projections rely on assumptions about the future - investment returns, indexation, home values, length of stay - which are inherently uncertain and will not be accurate.

Always confirm before you act.

6. Your responsibility for decisions

You acknowledge and agree that you are solely responsible for evaluating the output, for verifying it against official sources, for obtaining independent professional advice, and for every decision you make or do not make. We are not your adviser and no fiduciary or advisory relationship arises from your use of the site.

7. Accounts

You are responsible for keeping your password confidential and for everything done under your account. Tell us immediately at support@calculatedchoices.com.au if you suspect unauthorised use. We may suspend or close an account we reasonably believe is being used in breach of these terms.

8. Passes, price and payment

A pass grants access to the full report from the moment payment is confirmed, and it does not expire. It does not renew and nothing is charged automatically. There is no subscription and no card is kept on file.
Prices are in Australian dollars and include GST where applicable. We may change prices at any time; the price shown when you buy is the price you pay.
Payment is processed by PayPal under its own terms. We do not receive your card details.
A pass is for personal or single household use. It is not transferable and may not be shared, resold or used to provide a service to others.

9. Reports you export

A report you export as a PDF or otherwise save remains yours to keep and to show to family, an adviser or Services Australia. That licence is personal and non‑commercial. It does not permit republication, resale, or use as part of a product or service you provide to others.

10. Refunds

Our promise: if the calculator cannot properly model your circumstances, or something has gone wrong, write to us within 14 days of purchase and we will refund the pass. No form and no argument. We would rather refund you than have you rely on a number that does not fit.

This is a voluntary commercial guarantee offered in addition to, and it does not limit, your rights under the Australian Consumer Law. Refunds are made to the original payment method within five business days of us accepting the request.

11. Acceptable use

You must not:

scrape, crawl, harvest, mirror or systematically extract the site or its content;
attempt to access the paid report engine, any account, or any data without authorisation;
reverse engineer, decompile or attempt to derive the source of any part of the service;
interfere with the site's operation or security, or impose an unreasonable load on it;
resell, sublicense or commercially exploit the service or its output;
use the site to provide financial, legal or placement advice to third parties; or
use it unlawfully, or to infringe anyone's rights.

12. Intellectual property

All content, code, calculation methodology, report design, text and branding on the site is owned by us or licensed to us and is protected by copyright and other laws. Legislated rates and government data are not owned by anyone; our expression, arrangement and implementation of them is. Nothing in these terms transfers ownership to you.

13. Availability

We aim to keep the site available but do not guarantee it will be uninterrupted, timely, secure or error free. We may modify, suspend or discontinue any part of it, and may perform maintenance, at any time. If we permanently discontinue the service while your pass is running, we will refund the unused portion.

14. Third parties

The site relies on third party services including PayPal, Google and our hosting and email providers, and links to third party sites and government resources. We are not responsible for those services or sites, their availability, their content or their terms.

15. Australian Consumer Law

Our goods and services come with guarantees that cannot be excluded under the Australian Consumer Law. For major failures with the service, you are entitled to cancel your service contract with us and to a refund for the unused portion, or to compensation for its reduced value. You are also entitled to be compensated for any other reasonably foreseeable loss or damage. If the failure does not amount to a major failure, you are entitled to have problems with the service rectified in a reasonable time and, if this is not done, to cancel your contract and obtain a refund for the unused portion of the contract.

Nothing in these terms excludes, restricts or modifies any consumer guarantee, right or remedy conferred by the Australian Consumer Law or any other law which cannot lawfully be excluded, restricted or modified. If any part of these terms would do so, that part does not apply.

16. Limitation of liability

Subject always to section 15, and to the maximum extent permitted by law:

the site and its output are provided "as is" and "as available", and we exclude all warranties, conditions, guarantees and representations not expressly set out in these terms, whether express, implied, statutory or otherwise, including as to accuracy, fitness for a particular purpose, merchantability and non‑infringement;
we are not liable for any indirect, incidental, special, punitive or consequential loss, or for any loss of profit, revenue, savings, opportunity, goodwill, data, anticipated benefit, or for any loss arising from a decision made or not made in reliance on the site, however arising and whether in contract, tort (including negligence), statute or otherwise, even if we were advised of the possibility;
our total aggregate liability to you for all claims connected with the site or these terms is limited, at our election, to resupplying the service or to refunding the amount you actually paid us in the twelve months before the claim arose; and
where liability cannot be excluded but can be limited, it is limited as set out above.

You agree that this allocation of risk is reasonable given the price of the service and that the service is information rather than advice.

Our liability is reduced to the extent your loss is caused or contributed to by you, including by entering incorrect figures, by failing to verify output against official sources, or by failing to obtain independent advice.

17. Indemnity

To the maximum extent permitted by law, you indemnify us against any claim, loss, liability, cost or expense (including reasonable legal costs) arising from your breach of these terms, your misuse of the site, or your provision of the site's output to a third party who relies on it. This does not apply to the extent the claim arises from our own breach, negligence or wilful misconduct.

18. Termination

You may stop using the site at any time. We may suspend or terminate your access immediately if you breach these terms. Sections 4, 5, 6, 9, 12, 15, 16, 17, 19 and 20 survive termination.

19. Privacy

Our Privacy Policy forms part of these terms and explains how we handle personal information.

20. Governing law

These terms are governed by the laws of New South Wales, Australia. You and we submit to the non‑exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of New South Wales and the courts entitled to hear appeals from them.

21. General

Changes. We may amend these terms. The effective date changes when we do, and material changes will be notified by email or on the site before they take effect. The terms in force when you bought a pass govern that purchase.
Severability. If a provision is unenforceable it is read down to the minimum extent necessary, or severed, without affecting the rest.
Waiver. A failure to enforce a right is not a waiver of it.
Assignment. You may not assign these terms without our consent. We may assign them on a sale of the business.
Entire agreement. These terms and the Privacy Policy are the entire agreement between us about the site.

22. Contact

XTO Pty. Ltd. (ACN [ACN NOT SET])

support@calculatedchoices.com.au

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Don't lose over $60,000. Our child support calculator runs the real formula and prices every lawful option you have, to show you your choices before a bad decision costs you.

Two kids. Three questions. One number.

Child support is confusing.That is the system, not you.

"I got a letter with a number and no working."

"What is a cost percentage, and why is mine 24%?"

"Does my new partner's income count or not?"

"If I agree to this care plan, am I stuck with it?"

So we built the missing piece.

Same kids. Same pay. One night apart.- difference.

Agreed to "every second weekend"

Checked where the line was first

Three ways to check your child support.Only one is cheap and complete.

Three child support dates that cost money when missed

To tell Services Australia that care has changed

The day every child support figure changes

The income drop you need before you can lodge an estimate

The Full Child Support Report: every option, priced to the dollar

Free: see where you stand

Full report, $19: what every choice is worth

Your child support, worked out in 3 steps

Enter the kids, the nights and both incomes

See where you stand, for free

See what every option is worth, before you sign

Built on the Child Support (Assessment) Act 1989

Every sum shown, line by line

Clear information, not advice

Money back if it cannot model your case

Stuck on a figure?Just ask your report.

Pay once. Check a figure that runs for years.

What customers said after using it

Child support questions, answered in plain English

The care plan you agree to now can set your child support for years.

Child Support Calculator: Work Out What You Pay or Get

Start here. About three minutes, no card, no sign up, and you never need to give your name.

1 Are you paying, receiving or caring?

2 Which children are in this case?

3 Nights of care a year: where the money is

4 Your income for child support The first parent's income for child support

5 What the other parent earns What the second parent earns

6 Second families: other children you support

7 Could a change of assessment apply?

8 Check your answers, then see your result

What you are assessed to pay, and what could change it

Which child support rules apply to you

Your options, drawn to scale

Your options are $0 apart

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Email this estimate to yourself, free

Finding your figures now

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See what every choice is worth before you sign

Questions to ask before you buy

Checkout: unlock your full report

What your payment unlocks

Done. Your full report is unlocked

How did it go? Tell us in two lines

13 child support examples, worked out in full

3 things to know before you read any example

What people said after running their own

None of these is you. Your own answer takes 3 minutes.

Your Child SupportAssessment Report

6 more sections, and the 6 charts in them

That link is no longer available

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Child support in Australia, explained in plain English

Who can claim travel costs?

What is the 5% threshold?

Which travel costs count?

Costs that never count

The 52 night rule that catches people out

Child support is confusing.
That is the system, not you.

Same kids. Same pay. One night apart.
- difference.

Three ways to check your child support.
Only one is cheap and complete.

Stuck on a figure?
Just ask your report.

Your Child Support
Assessment Report