Age Pension Current Rates

Residential Care Guide

Age Pension Rates & Asset and Income Eligibility Tests

The Age Pension provides income support for eligible Australians and is indexed twice each year, on 20 March and 20 September, to apply changes in pensioners’ costs of living and community wage increases.

Eligibility is assessed on the basis of your age, residency status and an assessment of your income and assets.

Age Pension Rates from 20th September 2023 to 19th March 2024

Taxable income	Single	Couple	Couple (Each)
Maximum Rate per fortnight	$1,002.50	$1,511.40	$755.70
Maximum Pension Supplement	$80.10	$120.80	$60.40
Energy Supplement	$14.10	$21.20	$10.60
Total Fortnightly Rate	$1,096.70	$1,653.40	$826.70
Total Annualised Rate	$28,514.20	$42,988.40	$21,494.20

Qualifying for the Age Pension

To qualify for the Age Pension, you must:

Be an Australian resident and reside in Australia on the day that you lodge your claim (you also need to meet the 10-year qualifying Australian residence requirements), and
Be of eligible age - with the eligibility age gradually increasing to 67 for both men and women, see the table below:

If your birthdate is:	You will be eligible at age:
1/7/1952 to 31/12/53	65 years and 6 months
1/1/1954 to 30/6/1955	66 years
1/7/55 to 31/12/56	66 years and 6 months
From 1/1/1957	67 years

Income and Asset Tests

The age pension entitlement is calculated by reference to how much other income you receive (the "Income Test") and how much your assets are worth (the "Assets Test"). You can have a certain amount of income and assets and still receive the maximum rate Age Pension; but if your income or assets exceed certain thresholds then your Age Pension reduces on a sliding scale. Note that the test that results in the lowest payment rate will apply.

Age Pension Income Test

Most types of income ("assessable income") are taken into account when determining your Age Pension entitlement, including:

Financial investments (including money in super funds if you have reached age pension age);
Employment income (if you are still working); including amounts salary sacrificed into super
Income from sole trader or partnership businesses
Distributions or dividends from private trusts and private companies
Real estate income, including income from rental properties, boarders or lodgers
Income from outside Australia, including non-Australian pensions

Some financial investments (eg. term deposits, shares, managed funds) are "deemed" to earn a certain rate of income, regardless of what they are actually earning. This is referred to as "deeming" and the rate has been very topical recently, given historically low interest rates).

Current Annual deeming thresholds and rates - effective 1 July, 2023 - are as follows:

Single	Couple	Rate
First $60,400	First $102,200	0.25%
Over $60,400	Over $102,200	2.25%

Income Test Thresholds (Residents) effective 20th September 2023 - Fortnightly Income figures

	Full Pension	Part Pension	No Pension
Single	Up to $204	Between $204 and $2,397.40	More than $2,397.40
Couple Combined	Up to $360	Between $360 and $3,666.80	More than $3,666.80
Illness separated (couple combined)	Up to $360	Between $360 and $4,746.80	More than $4,746.80

How this works: The age pension is reduced by 50c for every dollar of income per fortnight over $204 for single pensioners ($5,304 pa) and $360 for couples ($9,360 pa). So, a single pensioner with an income of $1,000 per fortnight would be limited under the income test to the single rate pension of $1,096.70 less (($1,000 - $204) x 50%)) = $1,096.70 - $398 = $698.70.

	Individual pensioners from July 1, 2019 have also been able to earn up to $300 a fortnight from "personal exertion" without it counting towards the Age Pension Income test - this is called the Work Bonus. The Bonus was increased by $4,000 for the 2022/2023 financial year and the additional increment now applies until 31 December 2023. More info at: www.dss.gov.au/seniors/programmes-services/work-bonus.

Age Pension Assets Test

The value of the various assets you own are taken into account when determining your Age Pension entitlement. Generally, the value of the assets is based on what you would receive for them if you sold them at market value.

Assessed assets include (but are not limited to):

Real estate assets (excluding your principal home – unless it is used to conduct a business or it is on more than 2 hectares of land)
Life interests (eg. where you transfer an asset to another person but retain an interest in the asset)
Retirement village entry contributions – if you pay less than the threshold ( $242,000 as at 1/7/2023), you are considered to be a non-homeowner and your entry contribution is included in the assets test. The threshold is called the "extra allowable amount" (EAA) and is the difference between the asset limit for home owners and non-home owners
Financial investments
Superannuation investments (super owned by you or your partner is included in your asset test if the owner is over age pension age)
Income streams
Business assets
Funeral investments (although there are a range of different funeral investments that may be either partially or fully exempt from the assets test)

Asset Test Thresholds effective 20th September 2023

		Full Pension: Assets less than	Part Pension: Assets between	No Pension if Assets exceed
Single	Homeowner	$301,750	$301,750 and $667,500	$667,500
	Non-Homeowner	$543,750	$543,750 and $909,500	$909,500
Couple (combined)	Homeowner	$451,500	$451,500 and $1,003,000	$1,003,000
	Non-Homeowner	$693,500	$693,500 and $1,245,000	$1,245,000
Illness separated (couple combined)	Homeowner	$451,500	$451,500 and $1,183,000	$1,183,000
	Non-Homeowner	$693,500	$693,500 and $1,425,000	$1,425,000

How this works: The age pension is reduced by $3 per fortnight for every $1,000 above the requisite asset threshold. So, for a single, home owning pensioner with $500,000 in assets the pension is reduced by (500,000 - $301,750)/1000 x $3 = $594.75 = Pension of ($1096.70 - $594.75) = $501.95 pfn.

Determining whether you are entitled to a pension and to what amount can be complicated, and the above summary and scenarios are a useful guide but may not be all inclusive.

Further information can be found at Department of Human Services website.