Any gifts you made in the past 5 years may be included in your income and assets tests. If you aren't required to report your income to us regularly, you must tell us about any gifts within 14 days. If you do report regularly, you must tell us on or before your reporting date, of the period when the gift happens.
Your payment may be affected if you gift more than the value of the gifting free area each year.
What happens if the gifting limits are exceeded? If the gifting limits are breached, the amount in excess of the gifting limit is considered to be a deprived asset of the person and/or their spouse.
You can choose to give away any amount and as many gifts as you like. If the total value of your gifts is more than the value of the gifting free area, your payment may be affected.
Gifting free areas
$10,000 in one financial year. $30,000 over 5 financial years - this can't include more than $10,000 in a single financial year.
If you do report regularly, you must tell us on or before your reporting date, of the period when the gift happens. If you don't, we may overpay you. If your Centrelink online account is linked to myGov, sign in now to report gifts, sales or transfers.
Yes, you have to disclose your inheritance to Centrelink within fourteen days of being able to access your inheritance.
Whether you're a single person or a couple, the permitted amount is $10,000 in cash and assets over one financial year or $30,000 in cash and assets over five financial years.
In Australia, gifts and inheritances are generally not considered as income and don't require you to pay any Australian taxes. We define a gift with the following criteria: there is a transfer of money or property. the transfer is made voluntarily.
Give financial assets through a Uniform Gifts to Minors Act (UGMA) or Uniform Transfers to Minors Act (UTMA) custodial account. These accounts allow you to gift and transfer any amount of money, securities, and even property to a minor.
How Centrelink knows your assets without you telling them. Centrelink has multiple data-sharing agreements with government organisations like the ATO, Medicare, PayG and more. This helps them to maintain a view of your assets, and in certain circumstances they may apply additional scrutiny to individuals.
The Work Bonus income bank is useful for pensioners who wish to work, particularly those who undertake intermittent or occasional work. Note: from 1 December 2022 to 31 December 2023, a one-off, temporary credit of $4,000 applies to Work Bonus income bank balances.
Many people believe Centrelink has access to your bank account and will take it into consideration for your payment rate. This isn't true. Centrelink can't access your bank accounts to determine up to date figures. They're basing your assessment on the last amount you gave them.
Annually, you're only allowed to gift up to $10,000. The limit within a 5-year rolling period is $30,000. This limit applies to individuals and to couples as a combined total.
Gifting limits
The $10,000 and $30,000 limits apply together meaning that assets can be gifted up to $10,000 per financial year without penalty but gifts must not exceed $30,000 in a rolling five-year period.
Nope! Cash gifts aren't considered taxable income for the recipient. That's right—money given to you as a gift doesn't count as income on your taxes. Score!
You can essentially give any amount of money you like as a gift to family members, friends or other individuals – as long as you do not benefit from that action in any way.
Your gift or donation must be worth $2 or more. If the gift is property, the property must have been purchased 12 months or more before making the donation. The most you can claim in an income year is: $1,500 for contributions and gifts to political parties.
Under Australian law, you can give real estate to a relative as an outright gift. When giving ownership to a third party, there is no exchange of money. The gifting process involves filing a Transfer of Land with your title office. Filing a gift deed may also be necessary.
You can redirect your inheritance to anyone you want. It does not matter if the deceased left a Will or if you inherited under the intestacy rules (i.e. where there is no Will). You may wish to redirect your inheritance to: reduce the amount of inheritance tax or capital gains tax due in the deceased's estate.
Explanation: Only amounts disposed of in excess of the disposal free areas are assessable under the assets test. These amounts are called deprived assets.
Tell Centrelink
If you don't, you could be overpaid, and you will need to repay the money to Centrelink. This could be particularly difficult if you take a long time to tell them and have already spent the money. Our Keeping Your Pension service can help you keep Centrelink up to date if you need assistance.
If eligible, we may be able to backdate your subsidy for up to 28 days.
Once the estate proceeds are able to be paid, Centrelink will look to assess your entitlement as an asset. Most people are not aware Centrelink can assess funds held in an estate and as such keeping funds in the estate for a prolonged period may not be a viable option.