Assessing Pension Bonus claims 065-07030000

The Pension Bonus Scheme (PBS) closed to new registrations from 1 July 2014. Service officers must not register customers in the PBS unless the customer reached Age Pension qualification age before 20 September 2009 and lodged or can be deemed to have lodged an application to register before 1 July 2014.

To be eligible for a Pension Bonus, a customer must satisfy all of the following:

• be a registered member of the scheme
• have accrued at least one full 12 months bonus period
• have not already received a pension bonus under either the Social Security or Department of Veterans' Affairs (DVA) schemes
• have not received Age Pension
• have not at any time after qualifying for Age Pension received an income support payment from Social Security (other than Carer Payment), or a DVA Service Pension (other than a Carer Service Pension), or a DVA Veteran Payment, or a DVA income support supplement (other than a Carer Income Support Supplement (ISS))
• be qualified to receive Age Pension without the aid of an international agreement
• claim the Pension Bonus within the required time limit
• at time of claim a person must also lodge a claim for Age Pension

The claim for Pension Bonus is part of the Age Pension claim form. If the claim for Age Pension is rejected, the claim for Pension Bonus is taken to have been withdrawn.

In order to maintain membership of the Pension Bonus Scheme (PBS), once registered a person must meet the requirements of either accruing and meeting the work test or non-accruing membership.

To meet the work test for a full year bonus period, members of the scheme must engage in gainful work for at least 960 hours during the period. At least 640 of these 960 hours must be worked in Australia. The work test is flexible. The minimum accrual period is 12 months. See Accruing membership of the Pension Bonus Scheme (PBS).

During a non-accruing period a registered Pension Bonus Scheme (PBS) member retains membership of the scheme but does not accrue bonus periods. The time spent in a non-accruing period is not counted as time that the person deferred claiming Age Pension.

See Non-accruing membership of the Pension Bonus Scheme (PBS) for more information including changes affecting non-accruing members from 20 September 2009.

Annual reminder letters

PBS annual reminder letters are sent every year to remind customers that they are members of the PBS and to encourage customers to request an Evidentiary Certificate. PBS annual reminder letters also mention the lodgement time for claiming the Pension Bonus, the work test, and the possible entitlement to a Commonwealth Seniors Health Card (CSHC).

Customers registered for PBS have no notification requirements. The PBS annual reminder letters encourage customers to advise of any change of address.

A customer who has received a Pension Bonus payment may be entitled to a Pension Bonus Top-up Payment (PBTP) if their Age Pension entitlement increases within the 13 weeks after grant of Age Pension and the increase is due to a reduction in the assessment of their income or assets.