Noel Whittaker's Blog Welcome to the second part of our series explaining the tricks of the age pension system. Remember, you are tested under both an income and an assets test, and the one that produces the least pension is the one used. There is age pension calculator and a deeming calculator on my website www.noelwhittaker.com.au
Most wealthier pensioners are asset tested, yet I keep receiving emails from them asking if it’s okay to earn some more money. Of course it is –the income test is not relevant if you are asset tested. A single person with assets of $540,000 receiving a pension of $136.70 a fortnight could have assessable income of $45,000 a year including their deemed income, and employment income, without affecting their pension because they would still be asset tested.
Your own home is not assessable, but your furniture fittings and vehicles are assets tested. Many pensioners fall into the trap of valuing them at replacement value. This could cost them heavily because every $10,000 of excess assets reduces the pension by $780 a year. Make sure these assets are valued at garage sale value, not replacement value.
There is no penalty for spending money on holidays, living expenses and renovating the family home. But don’t do this just to increase your pension. Think about it, if you spend $100,000 renovating your home your pension may increase by just $7800 a year – but it would take almost 13 years of the increased pension to get the $100,000 back. Of course, the benefit of money spent should be taken into account too – money on improving your house, or travelling could have huge benefits for you. The main thing is not to spend money with the sole purpose of getting a bigger age pension.
Each year on 20 March and 20 September Centrelink values your market linked investments, such as shares and managed investments, based on the latest unit prices held by them. These investments are also revalued when you advise of a change to your investment portfolio or when you request a revaluation of your shares and managed investments. If the value of your investments has fallen, there may be an increase in your payment – if the value of your investments has increased, then your payment may go down.
The rules are in favour of pensioners. If the value of your portfolio arises because of market movements you are not required to advise Centrelink of the change – it will happen automatically at the next six monthly revaluation. However, if your portfolio falls you have the ability to notify Centrelink immediately.
You can reduce your assets by giving money away but seek advice. The Centrelink rules only allow gifts of $10,000 in a financial year with a maximum of $30,000 over five years. Using these rules you could gift away $10,000 before June 30th and $10,000 just after it, and so reduce assessable assets by $20,000.
There is devil in the detail. If a member of a couple has not reached pensionable age it’s prudent, if appropriate, to keep as much of the superannuation in the younger person’s name because then it is exempt from assessment by Centrelink. However, the moment that fund is moved to pension mode, it’s assessable irrespective of the age of the member.
A common trap is when a loan is used to purchase an investment property with the loan secured by a mortgage against the pensioners own residence. The principle is that a debt against an investment asset is not deducted from the asset value, unless the mortgage is held against the investment asset. If the mortgage is secured against an asset other than the investment asset the gross amount is counted for the assets test and the loan is not deducted.
The effect on the pension could be horrendous.