Income, assets and rates of payment 108-01000000

Assets have no impact on the payment, until they reach the assets limit.

• For Allowances, no payment can be made once the assets limit is reached. Parenting Payment is subject to the Allowance Assets Test
• For Pensions, once the assets limit is reached, payments are tapered, reducing until it reaches zero

The assets test varies according to the customer's situation, for example, single, partnered, homeowner, non-homeowner.

Some assets are exempt, for example the person's principal home. The principal home is generally the home in which a customer or couple lives for the greatest amount of time each year. The principal home includes an area of land surrounding the home (usually up to 2 hectares).

If a person has assessable assets but little or no income (for example, a farmer with a large farm that is not productive) and the person is unable to rearrange their financial circumstances to provide an income, they may qualify for a payment under assets hardship provisions or apply under the Home Equity Access Scheme.

Income has no effect on payments until the income free area is reached. Exception: income received by Special Benefit customers, or income that is subject to direct deduction, for example, some compensation income, customers granted a pension under an international Agreement if they are receiving income from that agreement country.

The income test varies according to the customer's situation, for example, allowance or pension, single, partnered, homeowner, non-homeowner, transitional or non transitional.

Some income types are exempt and care must be taken when assessing a customer's entitlement that exempt income is disregarded as income, but may be an assessable asset.

If the customer has employment income additional deductions may apply.

• For customers of work force age, apply the Working Credit rules before applying the Income Test
• For pension customers of Age Pension age, if eligible, apply the Work Bonus before applying the Income Test

If the customer's income reduces their fortnightly rate to nil and some of that income is employment income, the customer's payment may remain current at nil rate for up to 12 fortnights during the employment income nil rate period. Customers also in receipt of Family Tax Benefit (FTB) Part A will be subject to the FTB Part A income test during this period and will be required to provide an income estimate within 21 days of commencing the employment income nil rate period or their FTB will cancel.

A customer may have their pension rate calculated using the transitional rules. The transitional rule will apply if the customer receives a higher rate of payment under the old income test rules (taking into consideration any Consumer Price Index (CPI) changes) compared to the new income test rules in place from 20 September 2009. If the customer's pension is paid under the transitional rules, the Work Bonus is not used to determine their rate entitlement under the pre 20 September 2009 Income Test but may still be used to calculate their partner's income support payment entitlement.

The Rates and thresholds page contains information about current rates and thresholds.

The rates for the previous year can be found on the Rate charts page.

The Centrelink / Family Assistance / Child Support / Child Care Estimator can be used by staff and customers to estimate potential entitlement. There are a number of online estimator options.

The 'Compare Centrelink rates only' option can be used to check the effect of a proposed change in circumstances such as starting work. For principal carers with mutual obligation requirements, this option can also be used to run the Financial Suitability Test for suitable work.

• Customers can access the rate estimator from the Services Australia or Starting Blocks websites. Customers do not need to be registered for online services
• Staff can access the Payment and Service Finder in Customer First by selecting Customer Online Account > Payment and Service Finder (including Centrelink rate estimators) from the menu