Avoiding OAP Suspension

[bear]

Excerpt:-
For pensioners though, the major change revolves around the suspension of payments. From January 1, 2023, Services Australia can suspend your Age Pension payment if you get Australian employment income.

“We can do this if your employment income goes over the cut-off point for more than six fortnights in a row,” Services Australia said.

“We can do this for up to two years. This means that you don’t have to reclaim if you start earning less, or stop working.”

If your employment income goes over $2,243.00 for an individual or $3,431.20 for a couple, it would reduce your Age Pension to $0 for that fortnight.

“You don’t need to ask us to suspend your payment, we’ll do this automatically. When this happens, we’ll write to you to let you know. We’ll tell you the dates of the period we can suspend your payment for,” Services Australia said.

“You won’t need to report your employment income while your payment is suspended.”

au.finance.yahoo.com/news/centrelink-changes-you-may-have-missed-payment-suspended-225109762.html

[bear]

Probably not a problem for the majority though......guess it'll depend on the definition of 'employment income' and whether annuities and the like are included in that; a la tax law. Cheers 🐻

[ann]

They are probably telling everyone this as there are soo many Age Pensioners working these days, even at Maccas!!!! Grey Nomads are picking up a lot of work in the country towns as they travel around. Nice to be earning that much though.

[dswau]

Well they have been doing this for DSP for a while. I got suspended on 23/6/22, but they didn't tell me until 29/12/22. Interestingly, the PCC is still valid for two years, when the social security guide says that it's definitely 12 months.

Needless to say, I may as well reduce my hours to trigger a small payment - cancellation will occur after two years. If you're suspended, you need to be aware that you have to proactively request restoration - it won't happen automatically.

And for some reason, I still report income? Go figure.