Christmas is a tough time of year for your wallet. For people who are already struggling financially, the added pressure of presents, decorations and festive meals can seem insurmountable.

Imagine if, on top of that, you're stuck paying off a debt you're sure you don't owe in the first place.

The Department of Human Services, which runs Centrelink, has sent out one million debt notices to 700,000 people under the Government's automated debt recovery system, dubbed robodebt.

Some of those debts were raised using the practice of debt-averaging - where authorities calculate an average fortnightly income based on a person's annual tax return figure. This can cause errors for people who work casual or part-time hours, or are only on welfare payments for part of the year.

Under the robodebt system, which started in 2016, the Department matches data on the amount of welfare someone receives with data from the Tax Office on how much they've earned. If there's

any discrepancy, a computer generates a letter querying it, which can turn into a debt notice.

The Department admitted during Senate estimates that 20 per cent of letters sent out result in no debt whatsoever.

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Last month, the robodebt system suffered a blow, with the Federal Court finding that the debt of a plaintiff was unlawful. Human Services Minister Stuart Robert tried to get ahead of it, announcing

that the Department would no longer use debt averaging, and that debts raised using that method would be automatically reviewed.

But that has caused confusion among people who've got an outstanding debt notice.

So what do you do if you think you've been slugged with a debt you don't owe, or worse, if you've paid that questionable debt off already?

Here's some guidance.

Work out what kind of debt it is

The Department sends out all kinds of debt notices, but robodebt only refers to a specific kind of debt notice.

"The first step is, is it a robodebt that's covered by the ruling," Senior Lecturer at La Trobe Law School, Dr Darren O'Donovan, told Hack.

"Is it a payment that's covered by the [robodebt] program, so it's not family payments, it's not child care support. It is income payments, which are Newstart, Youth Allowance and parenting payments and Disability Pensions."

Timing is important here - Minister Robert announced the Government wouldn't send out new robodebt letters, and the Department pauses these kinds of debts before Christmas, so any new letters are probably not robodebts.

"If you receive a debt over the coming weeks, it's unlikely it is a robodebt," Joel Townsend from Victoria Legal Aid told Hack.

"If you're not sure whether or not you've got a robodebt, you can contact Centrelink's compliance division and ask them to provide in writing the details of the information used to raise a debt against you."

If you've called up Centrelink but aren't getting a clear answer, you can put in a Freedom of Information request.

"People are entitled to seek documents under Freedom of Information. People should be aware that they have those rights, and even if they're discouraged from doing so, they can't change the fact these are enshrined in law," Joel said.

Advocacy group Not My Debt has information on how you can do that.

It's definitely a robodebt. Now what?

If you've got all your documentation from the period covered by the debt, then you may be able to work out how the debt came about.

"You have to find out if the debt is averaged," Darren said.

If your debt was incurred through averaging, then it'll automatically be reviewed.

"I've asked my department to go back and identify the small cohort of Australians who have a debt raised solely on the basis of income averaging, so we can commence discussions with them and seek further points of proof," Minister Robert said in November.

"We'll contact them over the coming weeks."

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A spokesperson for the Department confirmed with Hack that averaging has now been scrapped.

"The Department is no longer raising a debt where the sole information relied on is income averaging."

"It is very important to note, this kind of income averaging doesn't occur in most compliance reviews and debt decisions," the spokesperson said.

"We are working through all previous online compliance debts raised solely through income averaging and will continue to work with customers who have a review underway to finalise the process.

How do I pause payments?

If you're on a payment plan but sure your debt was incurred through averaging, you can ask for your repayments to be paused.

"With all fairness to the Department, they are freezing the debts [from] averaging," Darren said.

But he said there have been some cases where the freeze period has lapsed, and payments start up again without the person who owes the debt realising. So he said it's important that you keep records of it.

"It's incredibly important that when the Department is using dates, that those dates are tracked. You yourself need to note down the date that they're giving you up until," Darren said.

You can also call Centrelink and ask for your money back at any stage of the process - that includes if you've already paid it off, or if it was garnished from your tax return.

"They [people with a debt] can call Centrelink and request a refund," Joel explained.

How do I ask for a review?

It's important to reiterate that you can ask for a review of your debt at any stage, too - again, that includes after your debt has been paid off.

"If you've got a debt with Centrelink and you're of the view that you don't owe that money, you have review rights. Even if you've paid Centrelink back that debt that was raised against you and you realise that was wrongly calculated, you can still seek review," Joel said.

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An Authorised Review Officer is the person within the Department who can rake through the finer details of your case, so Joel said it's important that when you asked for a review you make sure your case has been referred to the right person.

"We have seen people who want a review by an Authorised Review Officer, and there's been some other process by Centrelink," he said. "Insist that that's how it should be dealt with."

How long do I have to wait?

The Department did not answer Hack's questions regarding the wait time for a debt to be formally reviewed, but Darren reckoned the process would take a while.

"You might be in for quite a wait."

He said we don't know how much work is going into reviewing files for debts raised by averaging, and that workload has staff implications for other clients.

"One of the key things the Department didn't do was track the number of files that were averaged. So we can't underestimate the process of locating all the averaged files," he said.

Confusion within the Department around what happens in the wake of the Federal Court decision could also add to wait times, Darren said.

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"I think it's fair to say there's a lack of clarity about what Centrelink's approach is going to be, dealing with all the debts that have been affected," Joel said.

I'm over dealing with Centrelink. What are my other options?

If the thought of another phone call with Centrelink gives you the chills, then there are a few other things you can do.

You could contact welfare rights experts like Victoria Legal Aid or the Illawarra Legal Centre. They have resources for people who've incurred a debt, including legal options.

Gordon Legal has also got a massive class action lawsuit with 4,000 clients who've copped a robodebt notice. They are still taking registrations of interest.

You could contact your local MP or Senator - many of their offices have staff who can make representations to the Department on your behalf.

There's a stack of useful info on Not My Debt's website too.