Accessing super between 60 and 65

In this guide

What is the retirement condition of release?
How do you apply for your super benefits?
Are there limits on how you can take your super?
Can you change your mind and go back to work?
Common questions about accessing super between 60 and 65
The bottom line

When you turn 60 you reach your preservation age. That makes accessing your super much easier, but don’t celebrate just yet.

You also need to meet a condition of release. One of those conditions is retirement, and the definition may not be as straightforward as you think. Here’s what it takes to get full access to your super balance between 60 and 65.

What is the retirement condition of release?

The retirement condition of release has two branches. Meeting either one lets you access all of your super, as a lump sum, an income stream, or a combination of the two.

The first branch requires you to declare you have permanently retired from the workforce. Under Australia’s super legislation, that means you must have:

Reached your preservation age (60)
Ceased gainful employment, at any time in the past, and
No intention of becoming gainfully employed again.

The second branch requires only that you ceased a gainful employment arrangement after turning 60. You may be changing jobs, you may have resigned from one job and kept another, or you may not intend to return to work at all. What matters is that the date you left a job is on or after your 60th birthday.

Gainful employment has a technical meaning here. It means receiving any sort of monetary reward for working at least 10 hours a week. If you have never worked, you can’t use the retirement condition of release.

Meeting the retirement condition of release under either branch gives you access to the super you have accumulated up to that point. Any super you accumulate with a new or second employer stays preserved until you meet a condition of release again, which could be meeting the retirement condition a second time or turning 65.

Need to know

If you are between 60 and 65 and can’t meet the retirement condition of release, you may instead access up to 10% of your super balance each year using a transition-to-retirement pension. When you turn 65, you can access your entire super balance regardless of your employment status.

Case studies

Farouk is 61. His last job was full time and he resigned when he was 54. He has not worked since and does not intend to return to the workforce. Farouk can declare he has permanently retired to access his super.

Lydia is 62. She has just resigned from a full-time job and will take up another full-time position after leaving her employer. Lydia can declare she has ceased a gainful employment arrangement after age 60 to access her super. The contributions from her new employer will be preserved until she meets a condition of release again.

Chen is 60. She has never worked in a paid job. Her super balance accumulated through contributions from her spouse, including contribution splitting from his account to hers. Chen can’t meet the retirement condition of release because she can’t declare she has ceased a gainful employment arrangement, since she has never been gainfully employed. Chen must wait until she turns 65 to access her entire super balance. Until then, she can consider a transition-to-retirement pension.

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How do you apply for your super benefits?

Requirements vary between super funds, but most will ask you to sign a form declaring you have met the retirement condition of release. You will usually tick the box that applies to you, either that you are permanently retired or that you left an employer after your 60th birthday. Some funds also require a declaration from your employer. You must provide proof of identity before your fund will release any money.

This might seem like bureaucratic box-ticking, but super fund trustees, including trustees of self-managed super funds, must comply with super legislation when paying benefits to members. SMSF trustees who get it wrong can face harsh penalties from the Australian Taxation Office (ATO).

Are there limits on how you can take your super?

No, there aren’t.

You can withdraw your super as a lump sum, as an income stream (also known as a super pension), or as a combination of the two.

How and when you take your super affects the tax you pay and how long the money lasts, so it’s worth understanding the options before you decide.

Learn more about your options for accessing super at retirement and what to consider.

Can you change your mind and go back to work?

If you declared you were permanently retired and accessed your super, you can still return to work. What matters is that at the time you signed the declaration you intended to permanently retire from gainful employment, meaning paid work of 10 hours or more a week.

Your circumstances may have changed since you retired and you need to earn extra income, or you may simply find retirement unfulfilling and decide to go back.

If you declared only that you had left a gainful employment arrangement after turning 60, there are no restrictions on returning to work. But new contributions and the earnings on them can’t be accessed until you meet another condition of release.

Common questions about accessing super between 60 and 65

The rules around accessing super can be confusing, so we’ve answered some common questions.

Q: I am 63 and retired at 61, when I informed my super fund and SMSF that I wanted to convert my super to “unrestricted non-preserved” status, as I had met the condition of release to withdraw funds. I transferred some super afterwards to pension mode for a continuous income stream. I recently accepted a casual job for a few months that will require me to work more than 10 hours a week during the peak Christmas and New Year period. This job will put super into my accumulation account, and I also usually add personal super contributions to claim tax deductions.

Do I need to tell my super fund I have worked more than 10 hours a week during this period, as I am no longer considered to have ceased work?

No. Your employment has not ceased, so reducing your hours makes no difference. The condition of release has not been met.

One of the requirements is that you cease gainful employment. If you have never been gainfully employed, the condition has not been met. You will have to meet another condition of release, such as reaching age 65. Alternatively, you could find gainful employment and retire from it after a short time.

No. Although you have reached preservation age, for genuinely self-employed people gainful employment covers your entire self-employment arrangement, so each contract forms part of that arrangement. The retirement condition of release is met when your whole self-employment arrangement ends, for example when your business is wound up.

Yes. One employment arrangement has ceased and you are over 60, so you have met a condition of release. As explained above, you can access the super you accumulated up to the date you stopped working one of the jobs. Future contributions and earnings from the other job can’t be accessed until you meet another condition of release.

Remember that your fund may apply stricter rules than the law requires. Even where the law would permit access, your fund may still refuse, particularly if you have a defined benefit arrangement.

This one is tricky and it is best to confirm it with your super fund. Your role is changing, but you have an agreement with the company that you will continue to be gainfully employed by them. As you are unlikely to have ceased a gainful employment arrangement, you have probably not met the retirement condition of release.

No. You will not technically be working, but you will still be receiving employment benefits in the form of long-service leave, salary or other payments for a year. Your overall employment arrangement has not ended, so you will not have met a condition of release when your leave starts.

The bottom line

Meeting the retirement condition of release gives you access to the super you have built up to that point, at any time between 60 and 65.

If your circumstances don’t meet the requirements, you can still access up to 10% of your super balance each year with a transition-to-retirement pension.

Consider getting independent professional advice on the tax implications and what suits your circumstances.

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