When it comes to retirement, entitlements is a term we hear a lot, but it can also be misunderstood.
Many people believe that retirement entitlements are confined to government benefits, specifically the Age Pension the associated Pension Concession Card. But there are many other benefits on offer to older Australians – these form the backbone of Retirement Essentials’ daily discussions with retirees who wish to know what their entitlements are and how they might be claimed. Booking some time with our Age Pension specialists can help get an understanding of all the rules and what is involved.
Today we offer a handy checklist that you can review now, file for later, or share with a friend.
Age Pension entitlements
Yes, this refers to a full or part Age Pension and Pension Concession Card. But it also includes the Pension Supplement, Energy Supplement and Rent Assistance. As we covered recently, the process to apply for an Age Pension can be quite onerous. Our Customer Services Team leader, Steven Sadler, believes the best way to prepare for any application is to start with the free Age Pension Entitlements Calculator to gain an idea of what you may be entitled to. That way you are fully across the kind of information you will be asked along the way. As well as your current likelihood of eligibility. If the calculator confirms entitlement, or close, the next step is to assemble all the necessary information. You could also book a 30 minute consultation to help you get on top of everything you need to pull together.
What do you need to prove?
The team who work with our members to help them get their entitlements have prepared very specific checklists for those they are representing. Details can vary, but in essence, Centrelink will wish to see:
- Personal information including proof of birth date, citizenship, residency in other countries and identity including (if you have one) a Centrelink Reference Number (CRN) and a Tax File Number (TFN)
- Proof of income might be pay slips, company earnings statements, tax returns and/or Notices of Assessment, severance payments, foreign income and/or superannuation details.
- Additionally, proof of income from assets may include bank account statements, investment and property returns.
Self-funded retirees
In recent years, the Commonwealth Seniors Health Card (CSHC) has become available to a high proportion of self-funded retirees in Australia, based on the increased income threshold of $99,025 for singles and $158,440 for couples (combined). Many retirees are unaware of this increased availability, and that there is no assets test. Others just ‘haven’t got around’ to applying yet. As we’ve reported before this can be a great money saver when it comes to medical services and pharmaceuticals as well as a range of other benefits depending upon where you reside.
What type of documentation do you need for a CSHC?
Happily the list of documentation is not quite as long as it is for those seeking an Age Pension. Again, however, you will need to cover the same broad areas of proof:
- Personal information includes passport, citizenship, overseas residence, Centrelink Reference Number and a Tax File Number
- Income includes a Tax Return or Notice of Assessment, evidence of pension drawings and member statements regardless of whether your super is industry, retail or in a Self-Managed Super Fund
- Bank account details are also required.
Superannuation benefits
Are there entitlements also attached to your super? There are certainly benefits that are offered to those of a certain age. As many retirees can attest, it’s helpful to have as full as possible an understanding of the rules of super as early as possible. Why? This is because there are many strategies that are triggered when you turn a certain age or wish to make a major financial decision. Not knowing these at the right time can prove very costly. Examples are:
- Reaching your Preservation age and being able to move funds into a lower tax environment
- Benefitting by employing the ‘younger spouse’ rules to improve your Age Pension entitlements
- Paying down a mortgage thus reducing assets and moving below eligibility thresholds
- Selling a property and contributing large sums under ‘Downsizing Contributions’ allowances.
As we mentioned, whether you wish to call these benefits entitlements or not, they are opportunities to maximise your income by knowing the rules that apply and using them in a timely fashion.
Tips and traps:
What it’s best to know beforehand
There are quite a few ‘oopsies’ that can occur with entitlements according to Steven. Many people have a MyGov account and number, but not everyone has a linked Centrelink Reference Number (CRN). It’s helpful if you have gone to the trouble of creating this before you start dealing with Centrelink, as it’s sure to shorten the process for you.
For Age Pension and Commonwealth Seniors Health Card purposes, it’s also useful to know that Centrelink requires original documents for your date of birth. If you don’t have a passport, this means an original birth certificate – not an Extract of Entry.
Partner status is also important. We have written about Centrelink’s definition of relationships previously. Steven mentioned a recent client who had just married his partner. But they had been in relationship for many years, although each lived in their separate family homes. In Centrelink’s eyes, this makes one of these houses an investment property and the new spouse was technically not ‘single’ while receiving a single Age Pension payment. This client and his new wife are now facing a very difficult discussion with Centrelink and they could be made to repay funds. Sadly, this was probably avoidable, but they simply didn’t understand the ‘fine print’.
Other benefits
Apart from the above-mentioned benefits of the Age Pension, concession cards and super concessions, there are quite a few other entitlements that are yours to claim if you wish. Many of these are associated with state-issued seniors cards.
Benefits include travel and transport discounts, cinema discounts and some pharmaceutical benefits. Certain travel organisations will encourage mid-week seniors visits whilst some supermarkets, optometrists and hearing specialists also offer discounts to those aged 60 and over. But remember, you’ll need to speak up to claim them.
How can we help you?
Circumstances vary enormously for older Australians. Some have substantial savings and are well-supported by financial professionals such as accountants and planners. But that doesn’t mean it’s not helpful to have an independent source of information, updates and reminders in your email inbox every week, letting you know of any changes or possible strategies that may be of use. It’s worth checking our weekly enewsletters to ensure you’re up to date.
Separately the majority of retirees and pre-retirees will need to interact with government services well before they retire. Retirement Essentials provides a suite of affordable, bite-sized advice consultations for such members. Here’s some of what we can do for you in a guided review of your income possibilities:
- Age Pension application support
- Commonwealth Seniors Health Card application
- Retirement Forecasting (Compare two scenarios of how your assets and income will look during your retirement journey).
- Understanding more about super (Assess the options to help make your super work better for you).
- Maximising your entitlements (Assess any changes you might be able to make to maximise your Centrelink entitlements)
Understand impacts of your home mortgage (look at the benefits of repaying or maintaining your mortgage in retirement)
What’s your situation?
Do you feel on top of all your entitlements?
Or are you concerned you may be missing out?
I would like your readers to know that it is taking a very long time to get a Commonwealth Seniors Health Card approval. It has taken us over 3 months from application date for it to be approved. There was no reason in our case other than the delay in actually doing the process
Hi Sue, thank you for sharing your experience. For what it’s worth you are not alone, Centrelink are very behind in their work and we are seeing most of our customers’ claims take 3 months or more to be reviewed as well.
Steve yes Centrelink can be a nightmare but you need to persist. I thought gees I will try for a part pension as eligible but in the closet was a Family Trust tied to an old Company that has not been used forever . I keep it registered as with the ABN you can get travel insurance rather easily when ove 80 …
That company thing really put it on the too hard basket and we have been dancing for 9 months and hopefully now they have all the answers to make a decision Will be an interesting outcome and makes me wonder HOW some of these older pensioner needy people actually cope .. .
Sue.
I have fudged out my CSHC a few times but it does not seem to make a difference.
The Lower Income Health Care card provides many more government, PBS and services discounts than the CSHC and is definitely worth chasing up and does not have the 67 yo caveat. (A couple can have up to about 2.3 million in Super, Investments, etc and still qualify). The CSHC really only gets PBS discounts.
When dealing with Centrelink it is worthwhile hassling them rather than waiting and waiting. Trying complaints processes and getting through to a human being the moment their ‘predicted completion time expires’- fun to get a screen capture of these, usually brings results.
I submitted a change in assets to Centrelink in July 2023. The change is still ‘pending’ (not yet processed) at Centrelink online in January 2024, which means that I cannot submit further changes that have occurred since lat July. I’ve not been contacted or asked for further documentation. How long can it possibly take?
Hi Rosetta, thank you for sharing your scenario with us! Whilst it is not unusual for Centrelink to take 3 months to action items at the moment, 6 months is too long and I believe something has gone wrong. I would contact Centrelink’s complaints line on 1800 132 468 to raise this as it should have been actioned by now.
Thank you for the informative articles, they are always interesting and thought provoking.
Last year I applied for an aged pension on the advice of my financial adviser. Despite providing all the paperwork requested, it has taken over five months for me to finally be accepted. I received a back-payment of five months but no apology for the delay. I still have not received the letter advising me of my pension although I did get a hard copy when I called into the office to find out what was going on. The assistant said, “Oh yes, you have been approved and as well as a back-payment you should have received your first two instalments”. Letters did not receive a reply and the attempt to phone said the wait time was an hour. Surely this is not satisfactory and adds stress to the whole business of growing old and trying to keep on top of one’s affairs.
my name is paul i am about to retire what a joke i have worked hard all my life paid
my taxes and we are forced to have super the goverment want it all their way my advise
is to put the min amount in super and collect the most benifit out of pensions and pension
cards so all you young ones spend your money and enjoy your life while you can get around
we should be like Newzealand you get a pension no matter how much money you have
I. Fully agree working for than 35 years and not getting any old age pension is a shame as the old and young who have never worked get full benefits and are better off than those who saved and sacrificed all their life
Old age pension should be given irrespective of our assets n savings
I agree, I have worked since the age of 16 now I am 68. I have a an investment property that has been on the market for some time. I do not qualify for any assistance as I have assets. I am in a situation that many are not fortunate to be in if the property was sold. I am in a worst position now than I have ever been. Hide your money under your mattress’s.
I am a self funded retiree and have a SMSF . approx value $510K, mainly consists of a rental property ( $450K) and balance in cash at bank and some listed shares. My wife and I are 74 years and we currently receive a part age pension about $140 each PFN. In the last 18 months I spent about $70K in total for home renovations, personal expenses and overseas travel. These expenses were funded from rental property income and sale of some shares.
Question
1.Would the funds drawn out of the Account Base Pension (ABP) from my superfund which funded the expenses are treated as income for “income test purposes” for Age pension entitlements?
2. I note that the drawdowns from the ABPwere not treated as taxable incomes in mine or my wife’s income tax returns
I would really appreciate your thoughts on these issues
Regards and thanks
Paul Devellerez
Hi Paul, thanks for sharing your scenario with us! Thankfully your 2 questions are both easy to answer because no, drawdowns from your ABP are NOT counted as income by Centrelink. Doing so would be like saying that an ATM withdrawal from your bank account is income.
Hi, We live on a rural property in Darwin NT, we only have our home, a horse paddock and chickens. I have been told that because it is over 2 Hectares (2.02) that centrelink will count our home as an asset and therefore my Husband (74 yrs) will not be eligible for the age pension. Can they do this?
Hi Diane, thanks for seeking further clarity! You are partially correct, Centrelink will exclude your home and the surrounding 2ha from their assessment but additional land beyond that may be assessable as an asset. As with most things Centrelink, there are a few ifs, buts and maybes involved in whether the additional land will count and if so how will it be valued. You can read more about it HERE.
I decided I did not want to have a Centrelink pension but rather rely on my Comsuper pension due to all the Centrelink demands. However at age 78 I decided to try for that bit extra so started to apply to Centrelink.
Let me say that it just did my brain in! I eventually went into Centrelink to get help and found their staff excellent- helpful and patient.
It took at least 4 months but I did get a part pension with back pay.
Now I just need to comply with any of their requirements.
I would also warn that since getting the pension I have constantly got scams saying I have an item on MYGov to deal with so “click here”. I have deleted them and logged on to MyGov the correct way to find NO message so be warned
Hi I have worked since I was 15 , now I’m 76 and still no pension only have my super and rely on shares and bank interest, I receive a CSHC but I find it’s only good for prescription medicines which I hardly use l refuse to go to Centrelink unless I really need to, I am not wealthy but own a small house. Just great full of getting by.
john michael prior i agree. i have recently started to receive a aged pension and have been sent countless scams requesting me to logon to mygov when there is nothing there. go through your correct procedures and be very careful. when your a new applicant it can be very unsettling.
I am eligible for my aged pension in 2028 at the age of 67. Once approved, for exactly how long can I stay outside Australia, and do I have to inform Centrelink before I leave and when I return? My research pointed me towards a ” pension portability period” of 2 years and during that time I am only permitted to leave and live outside Australia for a limited time and would receive a reduced age pension?
My wife is from the Philippines and ideally, we would love to relocate to live there permanently as soon as my (reduced and adjusted) aged pension is approved.
Any advice is greatly appreciated 🙂
We are being stung cap gains tax twice. The first was for an investment unitthat our accountantant joyfully got as much depreciation as he could for without telling us wed be paying ut back on selling.
The second is for a next door house we bought that had been rented for years to untold unsavouries. We renoed it and rented it at low rent deliberately to ease other peoples burden. After ten years we started dow sizing…sold our home and moved into the rental. Sale proceeds went into my wifes super.
We renoed more. I retired but a year later felt there must be more as my wife was still working. I secured a lecturing position in nw WA and we moved for a few years.
We sold the house in August and I withdrew from my super to buy a block around the corner for us to build small and handleable with the sale proceeds.
We are now looking at at least 25G capital gains.
Any advice would be more than welcome.
Thanks everbody.
With compulsory super now into its 33rd year and a safety net age pension system Australia has one of the best retirement income systems in the world. It is important to note that the pension is a safety net and not an entitlement as we have not contributed to it as taxpayers as is the case in other countries. Whilst an old article now it is worth checking out the ‘Barefoot Investor’s’ retire of $250,000 (super and assets. Part super and most of the age pension.