Initial contact by customers registering for Pension Bonus Scheme (PBS) 065-01010020

The PBS provides a tax free lump sum bonus for people who choose to work past Age Pension age and defer claiming an Age Pension.

The PBS is closed to new registrations from 1 July 2014.

Service Officers must not register customers in the PBS unless:

• the customer qualified for Age Pension before 20 September 2009, and
• lodged or can be deemed to have lodged an application to register before 1 July 2014

The Registration for the Pension Bonus Scheme (SA319) cannot be accepted from 1 July 2014. However, if the customer has a completed application form to lodge, it should be taken and the customer advised of the outcome in writing.

All registered members may remain in the scheme and claim Age Pension in due course, in line with existing arrangements.

The start date of the scheme was 1 July 1998. Customers must be a registered member of the PBS to qualify for a pension bonus. Membership of the scheme is voluntary.

Applications to register in the PBS could be lodged with the Department of Human Services, or for ex-service people, the Department of Veterans' Affairs (DVA).

As part of the Government's Secure and Sustainable Pension Reforms, the PBS was closed to new entrants who do not qualify for Age Pension before 20 September 2009.

If a customer who is not registered for the PBS enquires about the scheme from 1 July 2014, they should be advised that the scheme is closed to new registrations.

Run the First Contact Service Offer (FCSO) workflow to screen the customer for other service offers.

Customers may wish to claim:

• Age Pension
• Commonwealth Seniors Health Card (CSHC)

The Resources page links to the Payment and Service Finder which the customer may be referred to.

Customers could lodge a registration form (SA319) up to 13 weeks before and up to 13 weeks after Age Pension age to have their registration start from the date they qualified for Age Pension.

If a customer lodged their registration form more than 13 weeks after their Age Pension qualification date, they must have been either accruing and meeting the work test (or non-accruing) for the whole pre-application period, to have their registration accepted.

The registration date was the date of receipt of the form or the date of customer contact if received within 14 days of contact. However, if the customer had an acceptable reason for not registering on time, registration could be backdated to the date the customer qualified for Age Pension (or 1 July 1998 if qualified for Age Pension pre 1 July 1998).

Most reasons were acceptable, for example not understanding the need to register, not knowing about the scheme. Customers had an acceptable reason for not registering within 13 weeks of their Age Pension qualification date if they did not expect to be paid Age Pension due to their assets but have benefited from legislative changes such as extended curtilage from 1 January 2007 and the reduced assets taper from 20 September 2007.

For a customer registering in the PBS it was mandatory that the Service Officer recommend an appointment with a Financial Information Service (FIS) Officer. They explained the scheme in detail and discussed all options available to the customer.

Enquiries from a customer, financial planner or organisation involving complex issues of entitlement comparisons or 'what if' scenarios, should be referred to the local Financial Information Service (FIS) Officer.