Payment allocation policy
The Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment will allocate payments from a client according to a number of factors. There are a number of options to make payments to the department.
Credit card and BPAY
Payments made by credit card through our website or BPAY will be automatically allocated to the relevant invoice.
Verified Electronic Funds Transfer
Payments made using Verified Electronic Funds Transfer (VEFT) will be allocated against outstanding invoices in the following way:
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By statement balance
If you pay the total outstanding statement balance, the payment will be allocated to the outstanding invoices referenced on that statement.
Exact invoice match
Single invoice payments will be matched to individual invoices where the amount paid matches a particular invoice.
Oldest to newest debt
Payments that cannot be allocated using the above methods will be applied to the oldest outstanding invoice (including any penalty invoices outstanding) until there are no further outstanding debts.
The department can apply an exemption from the oldest to newest debt policy in limited circumstances. In these cases, payments made to the department must be accompanied by a remittance advice provided within 5 days of the payment detailing the paid invoice number(s). The department will manually apply payment to the invoice identified by the remittance. If a remittance advice has not been received by the department within 5 days, payments will be automatically allocated in the order of oldest to newest debt invoices, with the exception of invoices that have been officially disputed. This exemption is at the department's discretion and may be removed if payment remittance is not provided in a timely manner.
Cheque and direct deposits
You can pay single or multiple invoices by cheque, and must include the payment slip found at the bottom of the last page on your tax invoice.
If you are making multiple payment by cheque or direct deposit you must provide the payment slip or a remittance advice for the invoices that you want to pay. If a remittance or payment slip has not been received by the department within 5 days, payments will be allocated in the order of oldest to newest debt invoices.
Credit on the account
Where a credit arises on an account as a result of an invoice adjustment or an overpayment, the credit will be allocated to the future debts within an account, on an oldest to newest policy, unless:
- the payment was made to the department in error
- an invoice has been officially disputed
- the credit relates to a replacement invoice, in which case the credit will be allocated to the replacement invoice
- the account remains in credit balance
About the policy
- This policy comes into effect on 4 February 2019, and is prepared in accordance to:
- the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013 (PGPA Act) and Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Rule 2014 (PGPA Rule)
- section 596 of the Biosecurity Act 2015
- clause 22 of the Export Control (Fees) Order 2015
- section 13 of the Export Charges Collection Act 2015
- section 37 of the Imported Food Act; and section 13 of the Imported Food Collection Act