Assets

Property and items you or your partner own or have an interest in, including assets held outside Australia, can affect your payment.

It’s important to know:

• the different types of assets we assess, and
• how we use them to work out your income support payment

We take most of your assets into account when calculating your payment. The value of your assets is what you would get for them if you sold them at market value.

Generally, we deduct any debt secured against a particular asset from the value of that asset.

Asset types

Assets we don’t assess

There are 2 types of assets we do not include when working out your payment rate.

Exempt assets

An exempt asset is a specific type of asset that we disregard irrespective of its value when we work out your payment rate. We consider the following assets exempt under the assets test:

• your principal home and generally up to 2 hectares of privately used, surrounding land on the same title
• rural customers and primary producers with larger properties on the same title may be exempt in some cases
• some income streams depending on their purchase date
• all Australian superannuation and rollover investments not in the drawn down phase in an approved fund until you reach age pension age
• any property or monies left to you in an estate which you can’t get for up to 12 months
• a cemetery plot and either a prepaid funeral or up to 2 funeral bonds that cost no more than the allowable limit
• aids for people with disability
• monies received from the National Disability Insurance Scheme to provide for the needs of people with disability
• principal home sale proceeds that you’ll use to buy another within 12 months - we deem the exempted amount and include it in the income test
• most compensation or insurance payments for loss or damage to buildings or personal effects
• accommodation bonds paid on entry to residential aged care
• your former principal home if you entered aged care and:
  • paying or liable for an accommodation charge, and
  • you rent out your former home
• any interest not created by you or your partner including:
  • life interest
  • reversionary interest
  • remainder interest or
  • contingent interest
• a Special Disability Trust if it meets certain requirements and does not have assets over the concessional asset limit
• your principal home if you temporarily vacate it, for up to 12 months, and
• granny flat rights where the amount transferred for the right was more than the extra allowable amount

Excluded assets

We assess a genuine capital injection made into a private trust or private company, as an asset of the investor and we do not attribute it to the controller of the private trust or private company.

Assets test limits

Most pensions and allowances have asset limits. These limits determine if your assets will affect your payment rate.

The assets test limits are updated in March, July and September each year due to indexation.

On 1 January 2017 the taper rate for the Pension assets test changed from $1.50 for $1,000 of assets to $3.00 per $1,000 of assets.

Read more about the 1 January 2017 Assets test changes.

Assets test limits for allowances and Parenting Payment Single

Payments cancel when assets are more than the following amounts.

Family situation	Homeowners	Non-homeowners
	1 January 2017	1 January 2017
Single	$250,000	$450,000
Couple combined	$375,000	$575,000
One partner eligible, combined assets	$375,000	$575,000

Assets test free area for full pension

Pensions start reducing when assets are more than the following amounts.

Family situation	Homeowners	Non-homeowners
	1 January 2017	1 January 2017
Single	$250,000	$450,000
Couple combined	$375,000	$575,000
Illness separated couple combined	$375,000	$575,000
One partner eligible, combined assets	$375,000	$575,000

Assets test limits for part pensions

Part pensions cancel when assets are more than the following amounts.

Family situation	Homeowners	Non-homeowners
	1 January 2017	1 January 2017
Single	$542,500	$742,500
Couple combined	$816,000	$1,016,000
Illness separated couple combined	$960,000	$1,160,000
One partner eligible, combined assets	$816,000	$1,016,000

Assets test limits for transitional rate pensions

Part pensions cancel when assets are more than the following amounts.

Family situation	Homeowners	Non-homeowners
	1 January 2017	1 January 2017
Single	$496,250	$696,250
Couple combined	$772,500	$972,500
Illness separated couple combined	$867,500	$1,067,500
One partner eligible, combined assets	$772,500	$972,500

Assets test limits for Disability Support Pension under 21 with no children

Part pensions cancel when assets are more than the following.

Family situation	Homeowners	Non-homeowners
	1 January 2017	1 January 2017
16 to 17 years, single dependent	$375,500	$575,500
18 to 20 years, single dependent	$392,000	$592,000
16 to 20 years, single independent	$442,500	$642,500
16 to 20 years, couple combined	$758,000	$958,000

We calculate the payment rate under both the income and assets tests. The results with the lowest rate, or nil rate, will apply.

Limits will increase if Rent Assistance is paid with your allowance or pension.

Other assistance

If you cannot get a payment, or your payment is reduced because of the assets test, you may be able to get other assistance, such as:

• Asset Hardship provisions, or
• Pension Loans Scheme