possible debt to ato from not taxing centrelink
i work a job alongside receiving youth allowance and no one informed me when i got this job (it’s my first ever job) that i needed to get taxed on my centrelink payments and now it’s predicted i’ll owe nearly 4k to the ato because of this.
although i have a job, i have had a number of weeks without pay due to being sick and having no sick leave (kept annual leave so i could get paid while recovering from surgery for 3 weeks), so even though i was receiving centrelink and money from work (while occasionally dipping into savings to cover medical appointments, medications, hospital parking, rent, bills, food, etc.) i also have weeks of placement for university where i do not receive CSP or get paid leave from work as i needed it for surgery. i was and have been living paycheck to paycheck. at my job i also sometimes finish work at around midnight and have no other way to get home so i unfortunately have to pay for parking as well which is another daily cost that doesnt help.
can anyone help me in terms of how to go about debt release? i don’t earn enough as it is and i genuinely cannot afford to have a payment plan.
any other advice would be greatly appreciated.