Assets include any: financial investments. home contents, personal effects and vehicles. real estate, annuities, income streams and superannuation pensions.
Some types of things you own or money you receive are not included in the assets test – Centrelink calls these exempt assets: Income support payments from life insurance, reversionary beneficiary, etc. Compensation and insurance payouts. NDIS amounts and interest.
The assets test helps us work out if you can get paid Age Pension, Carer Payment or Disability Support Pension. It also affects how much you'll get.
Assets Test
A single homeowner can have up to $634,750 of assessable assets and receive a part pension – for a single non-homeowner the higher threshold is $859,250. For a couple, the higher threshold to $954,000 for a homeowner and $1,178,500 for a non-homeowner.
Your home is not counted as an asset when calculating pension or payment, but it does affect how your pension or payment is assessed under the assets test.
Your home and the pension
If you are retired your major asset may be the home you live in. Centrelink does not count your home as an asset when calculating your pension if it is your 'principal place of residence' – any residence you occupy or in which you have an interest or the right to occupy.
Centrelink has very wide powers to thoroughly investigate deposits that have been made into your account. For example, it has the power to obtain your information from other government agencies as well as accessing information from banks, building societies and credit union accounts.
The Work Bonus income bank is useful for pensioners who wish to work, particularly those who undertake intermittent or occasional work. Note: from 1 December 2022 to 31 December 2023, a one-off, temporary credit of $4,000 applies to Work Bonus income bank balances.
You need to tell us when your circumstances change. Then we can assess your eligibility for payments and services using the correct details. This includes changes to real estate assets for you and your partner. Read more about real estate assets and how they can affect your payment.
We check your bank account information is up to date. We do this to check we paid you the right payment and amount in the past.
Can I Get the Pension if I Have Super? Having superannuation savings does not deny you from receiving Age Pension payments. Eligibility for the Age Pension is based on an Assets Test and an Income Test.
Many people believe Centrelink has access to your bank account and will take it into consideration for your payment rate. This isn't true. Centrelink can't access your bank accounts to determine up to date figures. They're basing your assessment on the last amount you gave them.
Depending on the circumstances, any of the following may be qualifying assets: (a) inventories (b) manufacturing plants (c) power generation facilities (d) intangible assets (e) investment properties (f) bearer plants.
An asset is anything you own that adds financial value, as opposed to a liability, which is money you owe. Examples of personal assets include: Your home. Other property, such as a rental house or commercial property.
Any stocks in trade, consumable stores, or raw materials held for the purpose of business or profession have been excluded from the definition of capital assets. Any movable property (excluding jewellery made out of gold, silver, precious stones, and drawing, paintings, sculptures, archeological collections, etc.)
Unreasonable to live at home
You may be independent if you're unable to live at home with either of your parents due to extreme circumstances. A social worker will assess this if you're younger than 18. An extreme circumstance includes: extreme family breakdown.
We use current market value when we assess your real estate. This is different from how state and local governments value properties.
The payment rates for Age Pension, Carer Payment and Disability Support Pension are increasing from 20 March 2023. Age Pension, Carer Payment and Disability Support Pension will increase by $37.50 a fortnight for singles and $56.40 a fortnight for couples combined.
From 1 December 2022 to 31 December 2023, your maximum Work Bonus balance limit increases from $7,800 to $11,800. This will reset to $7,800 on 1 January 2024. You'll also get a one-off increase of $4,000 to your Work Bonus balance during this period. Work Bonus is not money you can draw on to use for other things.
The Government announced on 1 February 2022 that an aged care workforce bonus of up to $800 will be paid to eligible aged care staff in Government subsidised home care and residential care.
You can request a Statement of Debt for any 5 year period going back to 1998. You can make more than one request.
Typically, Centrelink will send you a letter every six months or so with their understanding of your assets and income clearly listed. If your current financial reality doesn't match Centrelink's understanding of it, it's your responsibility to correct your details.
The information collected is being used to catch those cheating the system, but if you still aren't comfortable with a DHS employee snooping through your social media account, you'll need to update your social media settings. Without a doubt, the easiest social media website for Centrelink to monitor is Facebook.