Denise is worried that her part pension payments are not being calculated correctly by Centrelink.
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Q. Denise
I am struggling to work out how Centrelink calculates the penalty deducted from the pensions of both my partner and myself, for money earned for my casual work.
I have been starting with my fortnightly gross pay, deducting the $304 fortnightly allowance and then calculating the balance at $0.50 cents per dollar. Centrelink, however, is deducting a lot more than that from our pension.
Do I have the calculation formula correct?
A. You seem to be using the right formula, but perhaps you are not considering all of your income. Your income does not just include any money you earn for working, but also deemed income from financial investments, including money in both of your superannuation funds. So, the only problem with your calculation is that it does not appear to include all of the money that is being assessed as income.
If you would like further information, you can contact a Centrelink Financial Information Services officer by calling 13 2300.
If you have a Centrelink question, please send it to newsletters@yourlifechoices.com.au and we’ll do our best to answer it for you.
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