Low Income Health Care Card - Income test

How the income test works

We assess the gross income you earnt for the 8 weeks before you submit your claim. This is to see if you can get the card.

Your income must be below the amount in the table for your situation.

Income test when claiming and renewing a card

Status	Weekly income	Income in an 8 week period
Single, no children	$570.00	$4,560.00
Couple combined, no children	$984.00	$7,872.00
Single, 1 dependent child	$984.00	$7,872.00
Couple combined, 1 child	$1018.00	$8144.00
For each extra child, add	$34.00	$272.00

What type of income we assess

Examples of income we assess are:

employment income, such as wages, salary and self employment income
employer provided fringe benefits
rental income
reportable super contributions, salary sacrifice
Centrelink pensions, benefits and some supplementary payments
Paid Parental Leave payments
Department of Veterans' Affairs payments.

We also assess:

deemed income from financial investments, such as bank accounts, managed investments and shares
deemed income from account-based income streams
income from income stream products, such as super pensions and defined benefit income streams
foreign income
private trusts and companies
compensation, including periodical and lump sum
lump sum payments, such as compensation, redundancy, leave, or termination payments.

We also assess income you get from the New Business Assistance with New Enterprise Incentive Scheme (NEIS). Read more about New Business Assistance with NEIS on the Department of Education, Skills and Employment website.

How we assess lump sum payments

We assess lump sum payments as income for 12 months from the date you get them. This includes:

compensation payments
redundancy payments
lump sum leave payments.

We’ll assess redundancy and lump sum leave payments. This is only if you take leave and don’t return to the same employer once it’s ended.

What you need to do to renew the card

When you apply to renew your card each year you need to:

pass the income test again
be in Australia.

We’ll tell you when it’s close to expiry.

What you need to do to keep the card

To keep the card, your gross weekly income mustn’t go over the limit in the following table. This is in any 8 week period, before your card expires. If it does, we may cancel your card. We’ll send you a letter to let you know.

Income limits when you have a card

Status	Weekly income	Income in an 8 week period
Single, no children	$712.50	$5,700.00
Couple combined, no children	$1230.00	$9,840.00
Single, 1 dependent child	$1230.00	$9,840.00
Couple combined, 1 child	$1272.50	$10,180
For each extra dependent child, add	$42.50	$340.00

Add the extra child rate for each child you have to the couple combined rate in the table. This will give you the amount your income should be below to qualify to keep the card.

If your income changes, or there’s a change of circumstances you must tell us. We’ll work out if you can keep your card.

Page last updated: 21 May 2020

Income test