Navigating the complexities of Centrelink payments can be a daunting task for many Australians, especially for those who rely on these payments to make ends meet.

It's crucial to stay on top of Centrelink to ensure you receive the correct amount you're entitled to.

However, there's a common mistake countless Australians have been making, and it could have significant consequences on their Centrelink payments.

Services Australia Community Information Officer Justin Bott highlighted a widespread misconception that could be costing Aussies.

Many individuals believed that Services Australia could monitor their bank balances and other financial assets in real time.

Centrelink recipients do not report changes to their financial circumstances, which could lead to delayed payments.

Centrelink sends payouts to Australians during certain periods and circumstances. Image Credit: Pro Bono Australia

'We don't have the ability to see these things. It's up to you to let us know about changes that could affect your payment,' Mr Bott shared.

'You need to let us know of changes to your circumstances within 14 days.'

Forgetting to report these changes could lead to consequences.

If uninformed about any changes, Services Australia may overpay you and end up returning any excess funds.

This blunder could lead to unexpected debts and financial stress, which could be challenging for those on a fixed income.

It's essential to understand that if you receive a Centrelink payment, plan to claim a payment or owe money to Services Australia; you must report any changes.

These changes include job changes, a new address, or even banking information.

For those who are working, accurately report your earnings for each entitlement period.

Failing to do so could result in incorrect payment amounts and the aforementioned issues of overpayment.

Moreover, Aussies should also advise Services Australia about changes to their financial assets, such as bank accounts and shares.

While minor fluctuations in bank balances do not need reports, an increase in the balance by more than $2,000 should be reported to the agency.

The same goes when Aussies see an increase in the value of other types of assets by $1,000.

For recipients of part payments, it's essential to report any reductions in asset values.

These changes could increase Centrelink payments.

Interestingly, Aussies don't need to worry about reporting fluctuations in the market value of their shares.

Services Australia automatically updates this information every March and September.

However, Aussies still need to report if they changed the number of shares they own.

Lastly, Bott recommended paying close attention to the letters you receive from Services Australia—both online or in your mailbox.

These communications should inform Aussies about the changes they need to make and help everyone stay compliant with the reporting requirements.

In summary, the key takeaway for all Centrelink recipients is to proactively report any changes to their circumstances within the stipulated period.

By doing so, you can avoid financial stress and receive your payments on time.

Aussies, including seniors, may report changes on their Centrelink accounts by using the myGov app or by calling Centrelink's phone self-service.

Key Takeaways

• Services Australia highlighted a common misunderstanding that the government agency could see individuals' bank balances.
• Centrelink recipients should inform the agency about any changes to their circumstances that could affect their payments.
• Failing to notify Services Australia within 14 days of such changes could lead to overpayments.
• Changes that need to be reported include adjustments to personal circumstances, financial assets, and employment income to ensure proper management of Centrelink benefits.

Have you updated your Centrelink details yet? Share your experiences with Centrelink in the comments section below!

 

[freedy50]

Well back in the ‘90s i Used to show dogs, there was a person who worked for well it was called Dept Social Securities, she called a friend to say, your family maintenance is in your account.

Your first sentence answered that. "Back in the 90's".

It's certainly been tightened up since then.
In the 80's I was working in a big financial company in London which was mainly people buying on credit. If they got into debt we had people at that time who could get their payment history from anywhere. Banks, building societies, utility companies etc. That stopped when lots of various privacy laws were brought in.

People's private information is very safe now.

 

[mylittletibbies]

Yes but if you owe them money they probably expect it asap & cut payments off quickly if we told them all the bs excuses they use on us!

You are exactly right
Still waiting for my money. Another round of phone calls yesterday and told.by NDIS operator that it could be another ten days before I get paid.
Because I made so many unsuccessful attempts to download the invoice, their system flagged it as suspicious.

Despite having now received the invoice, which I ended up attaching to an email, where they can see all the details.
The same carer that my daughter has had for the last twenty years ,long before the NDIS, they couldn't explain why I still have to wait another ten days to be reimbursed.

PATS office have now advised me that I need to fill in a form with proof we have changed our address before I get reimbursed. As the payments go direct into my bank account to the same account they've been putting them in for donkeys years what does the new address have to do with getting paid and why didn't they tell me this three months ago when we first moved.
Oh. I forgot "they're busy you know".

What a load of BS. More like incompetent.

 

[mylittletibbies]

So what do you do if the balance of your savings account fluctuates up and down? I manage to save a fair bit of my pension as I don't have many expenses. Are you supposed to inform Centrelink if you save some of your income?

Yes. You're supposed to keep them up to date on your bank balance.
As the.limit is $314 000 before you loose anything of your pension I can't see the need to report until then
I just update details a couple of times a year.

 

[mylittletibbies]

Centrelink is not the only one we need to watch. I received a message from them last Saturday saying my pension was going to be cut basically in half because of a (incorrect) massive increase in my AMP allocated pension. My daughter helped me to work out that there was a mistake to the tune of $200,000 at AMP. Fortunately I was able to contact my financial advisor and he was able to sort it out for me but my next payment is going to short by $150 because the supposed increased money was there for approximately a week.

Same thing happened to me recently when I sold my house and invested some of the money.
They counted the invested money along with the house I just sold as assets and put me way over..
I had to travel two and a half hours
to their nearest office to sort it out.
When I queried about being reimbursed the pension money they had deducted, I was basically told I have to go there again, with the same paperwork and explain the whole, according to them, confusing situation.
What is so confusing about the fact that the house was sold. That's how I had the money so how could I have both at the same time.

 

[LizBa]

They want it updated within 14 days? i lodged a change in Feb 23 it took them until November 23 to add the changes to my details. I lodged another change a month ago. I took it into my local branch. They said that it had to be sent to head office. No change yet. I have to add another change in two weeks. How long will it take for them to update those records. One rule for them and another for us.

 

[IAN3005]

I have always been aware that Centrelink didn't have access to your bank accounts, but it is amazing how many people.brlieve that they do.
However the tax office can access your bank accounts if they think they have need to, so I would imagine Centrelink would as well if they were investugsting you for any reason.

Wait....it is coming soon with modern technology.

 

[mylittletibbies]

Same thing happened to me recently when I sold my house and invested some of the money.
They counted the invested money along with the house I just sold as assets and put me way over..
I had to travel two and a half hours
to their nearest office to sort it out.
When I queried about being reimbursed the pension money they had deducted, I was basically told I have to go there again, with the same paperwork and explain the whole, according to them, confusing situation.
What is so confusing about the fact that the house was sold. That's how I had the money so how could I have both at the same time.

Mmmmm, it's hard to believe that so many mistakes can happen thru government departments to one person at the same time.

Between Centrelink owing me reimbursement of $465.00 for money they subtracted in error, PATS non-payment of $700 in travel claims for my daughter, because they say they need proof of our change of address but hadn't bothered to advise me of that over three months ago when the first of the seven claims was lodged. On top of that the $7100 owed to me by NDIS for my daughter's carer., who I payed myself, when their system kept rejecting the claim because although it said the invoice had been received by download, they say it wasn't.
I attached it to an email, which they confirmed having received over a week ago, but still I haven't been reimbursed .
$8,265.00 in total. I can just imagine what would be happening if it was the reverse situation and I owed them.

Because of the WA ekections I can't even get through to the local member.

 

[Beany]

I was told by my accountant to make sure I didn't have over $10,000 in my bank as Centrelink could look at it, keep it under that. Obviously I must have had it wrong.

I always thought you couldn't have more than 5000 in your account before it affected your pension, maybe that would depend if you receive part payments and had more assets as in owning your own home.

 

[mylittletibbies]

I always thought you couldn't have more than 5000 in your account before it affected your pension, maybe that would depend if you receive part payments and had more assets as in owning your own home.

Your own home isn't counted when assessing Centrelink payments.
That is the reason non home-owners are allowed to have a higher threshold when their payments are assessed.
A single non home-owner can have $566,000 in assets before loosing anything off their pension . Home-owners can have $314,000. More if you are a couple.

 

[Trina G]

All I can say is thank god our financial advisor deals with CL for us. It’s worth the cost to avoid having to deal with them ourselves.

 

[Reet]

If we all won powerball or lotto, then we wouldn't have to worry about Centrelink at all.
It's funny with them, that in many cases, the staff think that they know more than you do of your own situation.
Our example was, where the super company we were with, well they advised us,&, which they did, turned our super funds over to another company with heaps of info etc.
When the deal was done & the dust settled, we went to Centrelink with every piece of info., account numbers, balance of units, the portfolios we were invested therein including the roll'd over totals & all of that jazz.
The processor at Centrelink said we didn't have enough info as she knew more than we did. Ha ha ha. She knew "Jack Shit" about ZERO.
3 trips it took us to get the mess sorted. In the end, who was right & who was wrong. Only one guess & it wasn't her.
Of course, no apologies from her at all for all confusion she put us in.
To think, we pay their wages with our tax. Makes one wonder.

It really depends on the person at Centrelink that you deal with. Some are extremely helpful and some have an attitude that they are always right. I found when I lived in Lismore the staff at Centrelink were most unhelpful and had a self-righteous attitude thinking they are always right. On moving to Grafton I found the staff most helpful and really friendly and seem to care.

 

[BabsL]

I accidentally retired in 2009 with Cancer and hv not worked since, except as a volunteer and advocate,
But the ATO has hit me with PAYING TAX of around $1500 for two years!

I receive Disability Pension, a $356 allowance, ~ $450 in franking credits, and normal bank interest - no other income. Yet am taxed ~$1580 each year.
Why? The ATO just says I hv to pay it.
Being female, my SuperAnn is only $163k to which I hv access to pay my bills. So why am I being taxed?

 

[Mattymoo]

we have until 14th of March to get to the office with our paperwork. I have been ill and had difficulties walking but will be there on Monday my name is Susan Cox

 

[summadale]

If we all won powerball or lotto, then we wouldn't have to worry about Centrelink at all.
It's funny with them, that in many cases, the staff think that they know more than you do of your own situation.
Our example was, where the super company we were with, well they advised us,&, which they did, turned our super funds over to another company with heaps of info etc.
When the deal was done & the dust settled, we went to Centrelink with every piece of info., account numbers, balance of units, the portfolios we were invested therein including the roll'd over totals & all of that jazz.
The processor at Centrelink said we didn't have enough info as she knew more than we did. Ha ha ha. She knew "Jack Shit" about ZERO.
3 trips it took us to get the mess sorted. In the end, who was right & who was wrong. Only one guess & it wasn't her.
Of course, no apologies from her at all for all confusion she put us in.
To think, we pay their wages with our tax. Makes one wonder.

I wonder how much they will claim from one who won a $1million? When I got a payout from a car accident I think from memory was about $12-15thous!

 

[Phantom55]

Interestingly, Aussies don't need to worry about reporting fluctuations in the market value of their shares.

Nor should they. Playing the share market is a form of gambling and is no different to punting on the horses. There is copious amounts of information for both market players and punters alike. That is not the case with poker machines, lotteries, keno or lotto which are totally random events and never follow a trend. Ever seen form guide on a pokie?

According to Services Australia:-

Lump sums may be exempt from the income test if they meet all of these:

• unlikely to happen again
• hard to predict
• not for a service or work provided.

They include any of these:

• a one off gift, prize, reward, lottery win, or amount of superannuation
• an inheritance
• a payout from a property settlement, or for damages to property or personal effects
• flood, bushfire and drought assistance
• some redress payments, such as for negligence
• compensation from an Australian trust.

However, no specific mention of shares.

wouldn't a lottery win be a one off , not likely to

 

[Phantom55]

wouldn't a lottery win be a one off ?, not likely to win often ...I want to win the lottery so I can get rid of Centrelink....thats my dream not so much the money, remember, all age pensions paid out by the govt go straight into the economy (very little is hoarded in the bank) so its very good for the general economy to have that cash injection into the economy

 

[Veggiepatch]

wouldn't a lottery win be a one off , not likely to

From my previous post....

They include any of these:

• a one off gift, prize, reward, lottery win, or amount of superannuation

 

[Catherines]

Centrelink don't do apologies, don't accept responsibility for their own stuff ups. Somehow it always ends up our fault, even when its not.
All government departments are the same.
Twelve days ago I paid my daughter's carer ($7000) and lodged a claim for reimbursement, I spent over two hours trying to download the attached invoice with no luck. On the Monday morning I spent over an hour on the phone with one of their operators and after all that time we finally got the message that it had gone through.
Thank goodness. success. No, when I checked my account no funds.
Another phone call and told the claim was rejected as they said I didn't attach the invoice. I said their system had said it had. So somebody was going to ring me.
Comes Friday no phone call. I sent an email and attached another copy of the invoice. Finally yesterday I got a reply that it was received last Ftiday, uploaded to my daughters file, and passed onto the appropriate department for payment. Still waiting .
Am also still waiting for reimbursement from.PATS for seven trips to hospital appointments since the beginning of January, almost $700. for my daughter
They're very busy, so they say.
Very frustrating

What a mess this department seems to be in. Perhaps it might be time for someone, somehow, to get and disclose Hank Jorgensen’s email address - all those waiting can then bombard him with emails about their accounts within that system. But, hey, that email address must have a freeze on it for being put out to the public!!

There are so many who are having to wait on the phone, wait for accounts to be properly sorted by that department, and so many being wrongly accused of lying to them. Shame, Shame, Shame!! Time for a good change and tearing that department apart by the public who are becoming daily statics of mismanagement. I do not get a cent from them as I am self-funded but there needs to be a good clean-up and clear-out soon. I am sick of this departmental mess in our government and the needy who seem to really bear the brunt of their ineptitude.

 

[Mika in the van]

Yes he's definitely wrong and he should know better.
You can have up to $314.000 in cash and other assets, such as car, furniture etc before you loose anything off your pension, if you are a home-owner or $566,000 for a.couple. Even more if you aren't a home-owner.
Tine for a new accountant I think.

It’s $450,000 in assets for a couple (home owners) if one of you is on the FULL pension.

 

[Mika in the van]

Get real, who is going to sit on the phone or at Centrelink for hours to say, oh I bought a new TV that cost $1000 more than my 10 year old one. I’m pretty sure Centrelink aren’t that interested, they can’t even keep up with the current workload let alone recipients running to them every 5 inuites with a minor change to their finances. $2000 is less than the council rates!!