I received an alleged debt from when I was between jobs in 2011. As I have always been diligent with reporting the correct amount of earnings while receiving Centrelink benefits I was initially confused by this debt amount, as the information that was data matched with the ATO (and showed the debt owed) was exactly the same as the information I had for that tax year.
I have been told many different things by different staff, and I am still waiting to hear if the debt has been cleared. I had to find my old payslips from that year which included me wasting my precious time pulling apart my storage shed to find a box with old files, trawling through old emails to try and find payslips, annoying time-poor previous employers with requests for reprints of statements, and I am currently up to six + hours on the phone to clueless Centrelink staff.
Currently it appears the debt has arisen as because the earnings for one employer for whom I worked three months, have been spread across the entire year, accusing me of working when I wasn't. The last person I spoke on the phone tried to fix this issue for me as apparently although I had done this online as instructed two weeks earlier it 'hadn't worked' in the system, however when he did this, it showed that I then owed a debt for $1900 for a payment I'd never even received!
The debt is now being manually checked by staff and I am patiently waiting for the next fuck-up in this utterly ridiculous time-wasting debacle.
I feel bad for the countless people who don't have the nous, or simply the time to appeal their debt. I feel sorry for the Centrelink staff who are at the forefront of dealing with this monumental shit-storm. And I have gone beyond feeling angry and frustrated at the current government to feeling apathy at the obvious hypocrisy of chasing the poor for small incorrect debt while corporations get away with paying no tax, and government officials fritter away our tax dollars on their various frivolities.