Income

Income

Income includes:

• an amount you earn, derive or receive for your own use or benefit
• profits
• some regular payments you get as a gift or allowance.

It can be in the form of:

• money
• goods, services or other benefits in return for an item, action or promise.

We use the gross amount in the income test. This is the amount before tax or any other deductions.

The income test includes income from anywhere in the world, not just Australia. This includes pensions from other countries. Read about overseas income.

Assessable income

This is the amount we count in your income test. This also includes your partner’s income.

Examples of assessable income

Assessable income includes the gross employment income you earn from work. This can be:

• wages
• bonuses
• penalty rates and overtime
• commissions
• fringe benefits
• amounts you salary sacrifice
• directors fees.

Assessable income can also be:

• real estate income from things like rental properties or boarders and lodgers
• deemed income from financial investments
• deemed income from money in superannuation funds if you’ve reached Age Pension age
• income from a sole trader or partnership business
• income from a farm
• distributions or dividends from a private trust or private company
• reportable superannuation contributions
• some lump sums
• some types of income specific to Indigenous Australians
• Paid Parental Leave payments.

Deeming

Deeming is the method we use to work out the income from your financial assets. We include this deemed income in your income test.

Read more about deeming.

Details we need from you

Normally we ask for your gross income.

If you own a business or rental property we’ll also ask for one or both of the following:

• income tax return
• profit and loss statement.

You can use your Centrelink online account through myGov to:

• report your income
• update details of your savings, shares, managed investments, income streams, real estate and other assets
• report any gifts you get.

Exempt income

This is income we don’t include in your income test.

Examples of exempt income

Exempt income can be:

• rent assistance from government
• most payments from us - these may still count in the Family Tax Benefit income test
• compensation for loss or damage to things you own
• child support - this may still affect your Family Tax Benefit Part A
• any free board and lodging you get
• regular payments from a close relative
• emergency relief or similar assistance
• payments as a victim of National Socialist persecution
• First Home Saver Account withdrawals or interest
• repayment for expenses
• some allowances if you spend the whole amount on what it’s meant for, for example, work travel
• payments through a National Disability Insurance Scheme package
• some lump sums.

Scholarships

We include equity or merit based scholarships in your income test if they’re over a certain amount.

This is any scholarship you get:

• so you can study or do research
• for achievement in study or research.

This covers most education scholarships including:

• Tertiary Access Payment
• Relocation Scholarship.

Some scholarships are exempt.

When scholarships are exempt

We don’t count up to $8,355 per year from an equity or merit based scholarship in your income test.

Any amount over $8,355 per year counts as income and may affect your payment rate.

If you get more than one scholarship, the $8,355 applies to the total amount you get, not to each 1.

The exempt amount is indexed each year.