Day care operators face welfare crackdown

Day care operators who don't provide the tax office with accurate income information are being targeted by federal officials.

Family day care operators suspected of pocketing welfare payments on the side are being targeted in a ramped-up compliance blitz.

Authorities will manually sift through income data provided to Centrelink against day care fees reported to the education department.

Human Services Minister Alan Tudge says 6000 cases totalling $60 million in such over-payments have already been uncovered, and he expects to unearth a total of $200 million in coming years.

The average debt raised is over $10,000 per person, which is far higher than those discovered in ordinary income data-matching, he said.

Almost all of the cases investigated so far are where family day care operators have failed to declare to Centrelink any income at all.

One operater declared no income to Centrelink despite Department of Education records showing they'd earned more than $240,000.

"Family day care provides an important service for parents across Australia and there are many good operators out there," Mr Tudge said on Tuesday.

"However, these numbers show there is an alarming number of people who are not declaring their full incomes to Centrelink."