Registration for Pension Bonus Scheme (PBS) 065-07010010

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

First Contact Service Offer (FCSO) will not screen customers for PBS registration.

• Service Officers must not register customers in the PBS unless the customer reached Age Pension qualification before 20 September 2009 and lodged or can be deemed to have lodged an application to register before 1 July 2014
• If the Registration for the Pension Bonus Scheme (SA319) had not been lodged before 1 July 2014, or it cannot be deemed their registration was lodged before 1 July 2014 (check CCD screen), see Step 3 in PBS deletion, cancellation and rejection of late lodgement table
• If the PBS registration is on the system, and is to be deleted where registration has been recorded incorrectly, see Step 1 in PBS deletion, cancellation and rejection of late lodgement table

Customers who used the early registration provisions and registered 13 weeks before they qualified for Age Pension, and before 29 June 2009 (when Royal Assent was given), may be registered, even if they did not qualify for Age Pension before 20 September 2009.

Did the customer satisfy qualification for Age Pension before 20 September 2009?

• Yes, see Step 1 in PBS late registration table
• No, go to Step 2

Did the customer lodge a PBS registration form within 13 weeks prior to reaching Age Pension qualification and before 29 June 2009 (date of Royal Assent)?

Note: the lodgement date is the date of receipt of the SA319 or the date of customer contact if the form was received within 14 days of the contact. Up to 13 weeks after contact may be appropriate in the case of late lodgement due to a medical condition or special circumstance. See Intent to claim and vulnerable customers.

• Yes, see Step 1 in the PBS late registration table
• No, customer was ineligible to register in the PBS. The system will automatically reject the registration, reason 'PBX - Pension Bonus scheme closed'. See Step 4 in the PBS processing registration table

• Proof of age
• Proof of residence. See:
• Assessing if a customer is an Australian resident and
• Residence assessment for customers claiming Age Pension

Did the customer satisfy qualification for Age Pension before 20 September 2009? This will be automatically determined by the system.

• Yes, discuss the following key aspects of the PBS with the customer:
• If the customer has received an income support payment (other than Carer Payment and in some cases Special Benefit) after qualifying for Age Pension they can still join the scheme, but cannot be paid a bonus - their work can be used by their partner to meet the work test
• Possible current entitlement to pension - customer and/or partner may be better off claiming Age Pension and continuing to work rather than registering for the PBS - contact with a Financial Information Service (FIS) Officer who can assist the customer to make this decision must be recommended
• The bonus calculation
• Accruing membership, the work test, gainful work
• Non-accruing membership
• An annual reminder letter will be sent to customer on the anniversary of registration
• Record keeping requirements for the work test
• The purpose of an Evidentiary Certificate
• Residence requirements for PBS
• Claiming the bonus within 13 weeks of the date the customer fails the work test
• Gifting and allowable gifting amounts. See Deprivation effects on Centrelink payments
• PBS membership non-accruing during disposal preclusion periods
• Gifting and Age Pension
• Benefits of consulting an accountant or Financial Advisor
• PBS and Age Pension must be claimed within 13 weeks after an accruing or non-accruing membership ceases
• Explain where customer can find information on the Pension Bonus Scheme on the Services Australia Website
• No, the customer is not eligible to register as a member of the PBS. The system will automatically reject the registration, see Step 3 in the PBS processing registration table

• notify Centrelink if address changes or relationship status changes
• review circumstances re: possible Age Pension entitlement as income/assets limits change over time
• obtain advice from their own financial planner or accountant

Recommend the customer contact a Financial Information Services (FIS) Officer if customer has not already spoken to one.

If the customer:

• has ever lived and/or worked overseas explain the concept of Comparable Foreign Payments (CFP). Customers registered for the PBS do not have to pursue their CFP entitlements but should be encouraged to do so except for NZ. See the Resources page and Foreign pension claims
• has had an injury, illness or condition and could claim compensation or damages, issue a Compensation details (Mod C) form. Compensation payments and/or a preclusion period do not affect registration for PBS, however, they may mean the customer has a non-accruing period of membership
  See Actioning a compensation clearance
• wants to apply for a Commonwealth Seniors Health Card (CSHC), issue a Claim for a Commonwealth Seniors Health Card (SA296) or invite the customer to claim online. See Assessing Commonwealth Seniors Health Card (CSHC) claims

If the customer was not required to satisfy the 10 years Australian residence requirement to qualify for Age Pension before 20 September 2009 for 1 of the following reasons, the appropriate code will need to be inserted in the 10 Year Residence Test Exemption field which appears on the PDB screen after navigating to the AR screen and back to the PDB screen. The valid values are:

• AGR - Agreement. This is used when it is likely a customer would qualify for Age Pension under a Social Security Agreement. Customer appears to have sufficient residence/contributions in an Agreement country that, when added to their Australian residence, means they would meet the 10 years' residence requirement
• AUW - Australian Resident When Widowed, as per Social Security Act 1991, section 43 (1A), Qualification for age pension. See the References page for a link to the relevant Social Security Act 1991
• OTH - Other. See Social Security Act 1991, section 43, Qualification for age pension in the References page

Does customer meet Age Pension residence requirements?

• Yes, see Step 1 in the PBS late registration table
• No, see Step 4 in the PBS processing registration table

Any late registrations can be accepted if the customer would have been an accruing and/or a non-accruing member for the entire pre-application period (from their qualification for Age Pension until the date they lodged the SA319) if they had been a member.

The customer must have been accruing and meeting the work test or been a non-accruing member (or a mixture of both) for the entire pre-application period. Acceptable evidence to show they have met the work test may be a letter from their employer(s) or Income Tax Returns, which, when the type of work done and the amount earned are considered, indicate that the customer would have passed the work test for the period.

For more information on accruing and non-accruing membership, see:

• Accruing membership of the Pension Bonus Scheme (PBS), and
• Non-accruing membership of the Pension Bonus Scheme (PBS)

Note: if accruing, then the customer must have met the work test in each bonus period.

Can the late registration be accepted?

• Yes, on the Pension Bonus Registration (PDB) screen code the Late Registration Accepted?: field 'Y'. See Step 1 in the PBS processing registration table
• No, go to Step 2

Would their PBS eligible partner have been an accruing and/or a non-accruing member for the entire pre-application period?

Note: If accruing, then the partner must have met the work test in each bonus period.

• Yes, on the PDB screen code the Late Registration Accepted?: field 'Y'. See Step 1 in the PBS processing registration table
• No, on the PDB screen code the Late Registration Accepted?: field 'N'. Go to Step 3

The customer or their PBS eligible partner cannot qualify for late registration as a member of the PBS.

On the PDB screen code the Late Registration Accepted?: field 'N'.

The application to register for PBS will be rejected automatically by the system.

See Step 4 in the PBS processing registration table.

There may be special factors that would allow the registration to be backdated to the date the customer first qualified for Age Pension.

Special factors include:

• was overseas
• lives in a remote area
• speaks little or no English
• has a low level of literacy
• saw the original Budget announcement (which did not indicate a requirement to register) and thought they did not have to register, or
• did not see advertising of the scheme and based on their knowledge of the local advertising coverage, the delegate considers the person's claims to be reasonable, or
• did not originally register when they turned Age Pension age because they thought they would not be eligible for a pension

Does the customer have an acceptable reason for not registering within 13 weeks of qualification date?

• Yes, go to Step 2
• No, go to Step 3

Registration can be taken from the later of customer's Age Pension qualification date or 1 July 1998. This is the registration start date to be coded on the PDB screen.

Go to Step 4.

Registration takes effect from the date the registration form was lodged or date claim contact was recorded. This is the registration start date to be coded on the PDB screen.

Note: a Q716 letter is sent to the customer when further information is required. If this information is not provided the customer's claim will be manually rejected 'FRC' (Failed to Reply to Correspondence).

Index a new claim for PBS Registration. See Indexing, re-indexing and cancelling claim activities.

Note: ServRsn: field is 'PDB' and Act: field is 'NCL'.

The Pension Bonus Registration (PDB) screen is automatically selected from the Pension Task Selection (PTS) screen for updating.

• complete the following compulsory fields:
• Registration Start Date: Day the deferment period will start. Frequently this will be the Age Pension qualifying date
• Transfer DVA Deferment Years: 'Y' or 'N'
• Late Registration Accepted?: 'Y' or 'N'
• Total Assets: Customer's total assets (apart from the principal home)
• Estimated Bonus Period: Customer's estimation of how long they plan to defer claiming Age Pension
• complete other fields as required. If the claim is to be rejected manually when the customer has failed to reply to correspondence the Manual Rejection Reason: field is to be completed with the rejection reason 'FRC'. Note: the Manual Rejection Reason: field will only display where a new registration is being provisionally recorded and a manual rejection cannot be recorded where the registration has been confirmed
• press [Enter]

To finalise the registration:

• check assessment before finalising activity on the Assessment Results (AR) screen. If the customer's registration will reject 'Not Sufficient Residence (NSR)' but the customer could qualify for Age Pension without 10 years' residence, then navigate back to the PDB screen and code the appropriate reason in the 10 Year Residence Test Exemption field
• record details on a DOC
• PBS registration forms should be stored on file
• where a claim for a Pension Bonus Payment (PBP) has been determined, the PBS registration is automatically cancelled PBC regardless of the outcome of the claim for payment (i.e. where the claim for payment is either paid or rejected). This ensures that the PBS membership has ceased but will not prevent the customer from being re-registered if required
• the registration process will create a manual follow up (MFU) to prompt the completion of an online letter Q700 or Q701:
• select the MFU from the Activity List (AL) screen
• if applicable, select appropriate options in the letter
• to complete the letter, code 'FIN' in the Command: field and press [Enter]
• a Q700 will be sent when the customer's application to register for the scheme is accepted
• a Q701 will be sent when the customer's application to register for the scheme is rejected
• process claim for CSHC, if necessary. See Assessing Commonwealth Seniors Health Card (CSHC) claims
• process claim for Comparable Foreign Payment (CFP), if necessary. See Foreign pension claims

Note: be aware of possible consequences for customer claiming CFP from New Zealand. See the Resources page for further information.

A PBS registration can only be deleted when the registration has been recorded incorrectly (on the wrong customer's record) without preventing the customer from registering in the future.

Before requesting a deletion of a PBS registration, ensure the Data Quality Unit (DQU) has assessed the case and all follow up actions completed. See Centrelink customer has multiple Customer Reference Numbers (CRN).

To action a deletion of PBS registration from an incorrect CRN:

• Go to mySupport
• In the search bar, enter 'Support when assisting ageing customers'
• Complete and Submit the webform providing details of the incorrect CRN. For example, primary CRN and multiple CRN and required actions to be completed by the Centrelink Payment Support Team (CPST)
• DOC the correct record detailing the system issue, action already taken and mySupport reference number

If the customer is a registered member of the PBS and requests a cancellation of membership, see Cancellation of membership for Pension Bonus Scheme (PBS).

Registration for the Pension Bonus Scheme (SA319) form has not been lodged and cannot be deemed to have been lodged before 1 July 2014.

Index a new claim for PBS registration. See Indexing, re-indexing and cancelling claim activities.

Note: ServRsn: field is 'PDB' and Act: field is 'NCL'

The Pension Bonus Registration (PDB) screen is automatically selected from the Pension Task Selection (PTS) screen for updating.

The Pension Bonus Registration (PDB) screen

Complete the following compulsory fields:

Registration Start Date: Day the deferment period will start. Frequently this will be the Age Pension qualifying date.

Transfer DVA Deferment Years: 'Y' or 'N'

Total Assets: Customer's total assets (apart from the principal home)

Estimated Bonus Period: Customer's estimation of how long they plan to defer claiming Age Pension.

Check assessment before finalising activity on the Assessment Results (AR) screen. The PDB registration should be rejected PRR (Not lodged before 1 March 2014).

Finalise activity via the AR screen and record details on a DOC.