You earn $300 a fortnight

When you earn more than $300 a fortnight

When you earn more than $300 we’ll use your Work Bonus to reduce your employment income by $300. We will then reduce the remaining eligible income by any Work Bonus balance you have.

Example of applying Work Bonus to income of $300 or more

If Sarah earned $400 a fortnight, we’ll apply $300 to Sarah’s eligible income. If Sarah’s Work Bonus balance is greater than $100 we will use that to reduce Sarah’s income to zero. If Sarah has no Work Bonus balance, $100 will be included in Sarah’s assessable income.

Example of applying Work Bonus if you’re self-employed

Alex runs a business and earns income from self-employment. From 1 July 2019 the Work Bonus will apply to this income.

Alex’s business income is $32,500 per year. This is $1,250 per fortnight. Alex hasn’t worked as an employee since getting Age Pension over 12 months ago. Because of this, Alex has a Work Bonus balance of $6,500 as at 1 July 2019.

We’ll apply the Work Bonus accrued to Alex’s self-employment income until the balance reaches $0. Once the balance reaches $0, we’ll apply the Work Bonus to Alex’s income up to the Work Bonus limit of $300 per fortnight.

For the first 6 fortnights after 1 July 2019, Alex’s Age Pension rate will increase. This is because we won’t include business income in Alex’s income test until his Work Bonus balance is $0. Then Alex will have 1 fortnight when we’ll only include $150 in the income test. From 7 October 2019, once Alex’s balance is $0, we’ll include all income over $300 in Alex’s income test.