Age Pension calculator (September 2023 update)

This calculator assumes you are eligible for the Age Pension. When you apply for the Age Pension, you must satisfy certain requirements:

• You must have reached Age Pension age (although you can submit your claim up to 13 weeks before you reach Age Pension age). You can find out your Age Pension age here.
• You must be an Australian resident for at least ten years (or meet one of the residency exceptions). Note the residency rules became tighter from July 2018.
• You must meet an income test and an assets test, which enables you to be paid a FULL or PART Age Pension.

You can learn more about Age Pension eligibility here.

When you apply for an Age Pension, Centrelink takes into account the value of nearly all the assets you own. There are, however, some assets that are exempt from the Age Pension assets test – the most significant being your principal place of residence. Learn more about what assets count for the Age Pension assets test.

Centrelink also distinguishes between your non-financial assets and your financial investments. This is because they assume that financial investments achieve a certain rate of return. This is known as deeming. You can learn more about the current deeming rates and thresholds here.

It is worth noting that an investment property is not counted as a financial investment, so it is not assumed that it achieves an income at the deeming rate, but you should include any income from investment properties in the Other income section. The value of the investment property should be minus the value of the mortgage.

Non-financial assets include:

• Home contents
• Cars, boats and caravans
• Investment properties
• Antiques, stamp or coin collections

Financial investments include:

• Bank, building society and credit union accounts
• Cash
• Term deposits
• Cheque accounts
• Friendly society bonds
• Managed investments
• Assets held in superannuation and rollover funds
• Listed shares and securities
• Shares in unlisted public companies
• Gold, silver or platinum bullion
• Loans and debentures by you (that is, money owed to you).

The calculator assumes you and your partner are eligible for the work bonus and applies the work bonus.

For simplicity, the calculator asks for annual employment income, but note that the work bonus is assessed on each fortnight’s income. This means that if your income is not evenly spread throughout the year it could affect whether you are eligible for the work bonus each fortnight. Learn more about the work bonus.

Note that the work bonus is not available if you are self-employed.

This includes any income outside your salary, such as non-Centrelink pensions or income streams, and net income from an investment property.

If your investment property has a negative income, you should enter a zero amount and not a negative amount.

What if only one member of a couple is eligible?

Where only one member of a couple has reached Age Pension age, Centrelink will treat the application based on the assets and income of the couple combined, and pay the eligible Age Pensioner half of the couple’s rate. If only one partner is eligible to apply for the Age Pension, all jointly owned assets, financial investments and income and assets should be included, although special rules apply to superannuation.

If a member of a couple has not yet reached Age Pension age, then his or her superannuation benefits are not counted for Age Pension eligibility UNLESS he or she has started receiving superannuation pension payments. Learn more about how your super affects the Age Pension.

Reminder: If only one partner has reached Age Pension age, and the couple satisfy the Age Pension assets test and income test, the eligible partner will be paid half of the Couple rate, rather than the Single rate.

What if a couple is separated due to illness?

This calculator does not currently cater for couples separated due to illness. Please note though that there are higher asset and income thresholds for couples separated by illness. For more information see the following SuperGuide articles:

• Age Pension: Assets test thresholds
• Age Pension: Income test thresholds

This calculator is designed to give you an approximate estimation of your potential Age Pension but does not account for all of your personal circumstances. Only Centrelink can give you an exact figure for what your Age Pension will be.

The calculator assumes you are eligible for the pension supplement and energy supplement.

Annual figures are based on 26 x fortnightly payments, which equals 364 days per year, rather than 365 days. This is because Centrelink pays fortnightly.

This calculator is designed to give you an approximate estimation of your potential Age Pension but does not account for all of your personal circumstances. Only Centrelink can give you an exact figure for what your Age Pension will be.

Some of the situations this calculator does not allow for, include:

• Not being eligible for the Work Bonus
• Margin loans
• Transitional rates
• Couples separated due to illness
• Super pensions – pre-January 2015
• Pension Bonus Scheme
• Sale of principal home
• Granny flat rules
• Retirement village contributions
• Life interests
• Business assets
• Funeral investments
• Gifting