The complainant, who is a single mother of two children and legal guardian of her aging father, was concerned with the ATO offsetting her Centrelink Family Assistance (CFA) payment of approximately $8,000 towards a debt of $23,000. She did not receive the $8,000 CFA payment, but instead had a debt of approximately $15,000 remaining after the offset. She was relying on the $8,000 Centrelink payment to support her family, as she was unemployed at the time due to undertaking full time care responsibilities for her children and her father.

Through the IGTO complaint process, the ATO agreed to refund the $8,000 offset from Centrelink, by recognising that it was not appropriate to pursue debt collection given her circumstances at the time.