Age Pension Entitlements: Are you being under paid?

For a person in receipt of a part rate Age Pension – as a result of their assets and their income being above the applicable thresholds – understanding the pension they are being paid and working out whether it is correct can sometimes be a hit and miss process.

The asset and income thresholds which affect your pension entitlement are adjusted every year on 1 July. The age pension itself is increased in March and again in September every year.

If you have money invested in shares or managed funds, the asset value of these are also adjusted automatically every year in March in September. Depending on the movement in the official interest rate the deemed rate of interest which would be applied to a pensioner’s financial assets could also be adjusted at least twice a year.

Five to seven of these movements are automatic reviews carried out by Centrelink at the push of a button.

These automatic reviews do not take into account a change in a pensioner’s circumstances, which they are required to report to Centrelink within 14 days. It is not wonder a large section of the pension community are confused by their correct entitlement and I would suggest a fairly substantial number are receiving the incorrect entitlement.

As a pensioner, if you are concerns about your entitlement and don’t fully understand the letters that you receive from either Centrelink or Veterans Affairs, you definitely need to talk to someone who specialises in this type of advice – like Etlanda Taxation & Accounting.

You don’t want to find yourself in a position of being under paid, or even worse, overpaid.

Find out more. Call us on 02 9533 7599

Disclaimer: The articles included on our website are for general information only and have not taken into account a clients’ personal circumstances, goals or objectives. Prior to making any investment decisions you should contact us to ensure that the advice is appropriate to your personal needs and objectives.

This article originally appeared in the InterPrac Financial Planning Investment Newsletter, March 2015 and was written by Mark Teale, Centrepoint Alliance. Re-published with permission.