Assessing income and assets from cooperatives 108-04030000
Expand allThis document outlines an explanation of how income and assets from a cooperative are assessed for Centrelink purposes.
Shareholders in a cooperative
A cooperative is an organisation which is established for the mutual benefit of its members for some specific purpose such as making loans or providing goods and services. Customers who are members of a cooperative are shareholders, and they may receive bonus shares in place of the payment of a rebate for past purchases. This is a notifiable event.
Shares held in cooperatives are financial assets which are assessable at their current market value.
The annual income derived from a customer's investment in a cooperative is deemed unless the security is exempt from deeming. The actual income a customer receives from a financial investment that has been granted an exemption is assessable.
Income from cooperatives is not employment income, it is other ordinary income and is not used when calculating the accrual of Working Credits. The customer is unable to use their Working Credit Balance or the Work Bonus (if over Age Pension age) to offset this income.
The Resources page contains a link to Income and investments form (Mod iA).