When to update Centrelink when you are on the Age Pension

For those already on an Age Pension, it is important to update Centrelink on a regular basis with changes in your situation. It is optional to notify them of smaller changes which they identify as below:

• car, boat, real estate or personal effects of $1,000 or less
• shares, investments, bank balances or loan of $2,000 or less.

However, anything larger – needs to be updated with them within 14 days of the change occurring. You are required to tell them about any significant changes, i.e. your income or assets change, you start working, or you change addresses. Please see a full list of what to tell them here.

A lot of the time the updates can be done online, however – as I work with clients and their Centrelink a lot of the time, even though you tell them when it happens straight away online (which fulfills your obligation), Centrelink may take some time (even months to process it). Now the best course of action is to get it sorted straight away with Centrelink so you are getting your correct entitlement as you can be missing out on extra income or have to back pay them if your assets increase!

An example is if you have $10,000 in a bank account (that Centrelink already know about) – then you decide to go spend the $10,000 on a holiday. The maths works out to be if you are a single part pensioner or a couple part pensioner who is asset tested, having $10,000 less in assets equals $780 per year extra total for single person or combined for members of a couple (i.e. $390 p.a. each).

So, if you don’t tell Centrelink about this change for a year, you have just missed out on an extra $780 of extra age pension. Or if you don’t update them for multiple years, it could be more you miss out on…….