The March 1, 2014 deadline is almost here and if you were born on or before 19 September, 1944 (males) and 1 January, 1946 (females), then the information contained here could be worth a lot of money to you (up to $47,242.50 !!)
 

Background

The Pension Bonus Scheme (PBS) was a Federal Government initiative designed to encourage older Australians to delay claiming on their Age Pension entitlement until a later date and to continue to work beyond their Age Pension Age.

To encourage this, the PBS would pay a lump sum (tax free) “bonus” to eligible individuals who work beyond their Age Pension Age. The maximum pension bonus payable is as follows:

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If you:

  • were born on or before 19 September, 1944 (men) and 31 December, 1945 (women) and
  • continued to work beyond the age to which you would normally be entitled to the Age Pension and
  • have not claimed on the Age Pension even though you may have been entitled to claim it

then you must register for the Pension Bonus Scheme to be eligible to claim it when you eventually stop working. If you do not register by the March 1, 2014 deadline, you will not be able to claim against the PBS.

The fine print:

Centrelink can guide you interms of your eligibility and entitlement . Generally though, you will need to be:

  • an Australian resident for a continuous period of 10 years (although there is accommodation made for refugees, women who have lost their partner and for people with periods of residency which may not be consecutive but are 10 years or more in agrregate)
  • an Australian resident at the time you register for the PBS and claim on the PBS,
  • be physically in Australia on the day you register for the PBS and on the day you claim on the PBS,
  • if you are entitled to only a part Age Pension (due to other assets and/or income that you may have), you will receive a part PBS bonus,
  • working at least approximately 18.5 hours per week on average in the period between when you first became eligible for the Age Pension and when you make a claim against the PBS,
  • you can defer your Age pension beyond age 75 – but you can only ever accrue up to 5 years of the pension bonus.

What you need to do

If you beleive that you are eligible for the Government’s Pension Bonus Scheme (PBS), complete Centrelink’s “Registration for the Pension Bonus Scheme” and call them on 13 23 00 to make an appointment to meet with Centrelink so you can lodge your registration form.

Contact details for further information

Call Centrelink (Department of Human Services) on 13 23 00 (or 13 12 02 for languages other than English) and ask to speak with a Financial Information Service Officer,

Call Harvest Financial Group on (02) 8908 4300,

A link to the Registration form is here:    http://www.humanservices.gov.au/customer/forms/sa319

 

GENERAL ADVICE WARNING

© 2014 Harvest Employee Benefits. This Newsletter has been prepared for Harvest’s clients. The information contained herein is current and up to date at the time it was prepared.  Harvest Employee Benefits Pty Ltd, ABN 74 107 226 693 is a Corporate Authorised Representative and Mario Isaias, Noel Hucker and Inbam Devadason are Authorised Representatives of Harvest Financial Group Pty Ltd, ABN 80 111 998 068 AFS Licence No 284909. Harvest reserves the right to correct any errors or omissions.  Any advice contained herein has been prepared without taking into account any individual persons objectives, financial situation or needs. As such, before acting on any information contained herein, a person should consider whether the information is appropriate for that person, having regard to their objectives, financial situation and needs. The relevant Product Disclosure Statement should be obtained and read before making any decision regarding information contained in this Newsletter.