Skip to content

Australian Government Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs

International Involvement

New Rules for International Payments (20 September 2000)


Introduction

New rules for international payments have been introduced from 20 September 2000. The changes will benefit many tens of thousands of customers who travel overseas each year and will also benefit customers who have shared their working lives between Australia and another country.

The new rules have two components:
In the context of the Comparable Foreign Payment measure, a social security Amnesty has also been announced for the period 20 September 2000–19 January 2001 for all customers who have failed to declare or under declared their foreign pensions to Centrelink.

Changes to Portability Rules - Questions and Answers

Who will be affected by the new portability rules?

All social security payments will become portable for temporary overseas absences of up to 26 weeks.

Around 90,000 customers will benefit from simpler and more flexible portability rules and the availability of ancillary payments such as Rent Assistance and Pharmaceutical Benefit during temporary overseas absence.

To be paid while overseas, customers must continue to qualify for the payment. For example, Newstart and Youth Allowance customers have to satisfy the activity test to qualify for the payment. Thus, they can be paid during an overseas absence only if they are exempted from the activity test for the reasons specified in the legislation. These exemptions include overseas absence to seek medical treatment of a kind not available in Australia, or going overseas for humanitarian or acute family crisis reasons. Also, Youth Allowance customers who are full-time students can be paid for the period of overseas study where it is part of an Australian course.

Age Pension customers and Disability Support Pension customers who are severely disabled, and some Wife and Widow B customers, will continue to be paid for any period of overseas absence. The rate of payment for customers who have less than 25 years of Australian Working Life Residence between the ages of 16 years and Age Pension age may be proportionalised after 26 weeks of absence to reflect their years of residence in Australia.

Will former residents returning to Australia have their pension portable?

Former residents who resume Australian residency and are granted their pensions on or after 20 September 2000 will not be paid while overseas if they go overseas in the period of 24 months that follows the day they again became Australian residents.

Will customers have to obtain a departure certificate?

Customers going overseas will not have to obtain a departure certificate. Nevertheless, they must still notify Centrelink about their departure. They will receive all the information they need about their payments during their overseas absence and should provide Centrelink with contact details during their absence. Customers who fail to notify Centrelink risk suspension or cancellation of their payments if they do not continue to satisfy the qualification criteria while overseas.

Further information on how these new rules may affect customers who travel overseas may be obtained Centrelink.

More detailed information on Portability of Australian Income Support Payments is also available.

Extension of the Requirement to Claim Comparable Foreign Payments (CFP)

Who may be required to claim a CFP?

The new rules extend the requirement to claim a foreign pension (CFP) to non-agreement countries. All Centrelink claimants and recipients, as well as their partners, of specified income support payments who are of Age Pension age may be required to claim a foreign pension. (The specified payments are: Age Pension, Disability Support Pension, Wife Pension, Widow B Pension, Widow Allowance, Bereavement Allowance, Parenting Payment and Carer Payment). However, only customers who are likely to receive a CFP will be required to take reasonable action to claim their entitlements.

What will happen if a customer does not want to claim?

Only customers with serious reasons such as: fear of political persecution, advanced illness (that prevents them from providing the required CFP information), or the elderly with an insignificant amount of CFP, may be exempted.

Other customers who do not take reasonable action to obtain a CFP may have their income support payment suspended or cancelled.

What payments will the CFP Amnesty cover?

The Amnesty that starts on 20 September 2000 and finishes on 19 January 2001 will cover overpayments of social security income support payments that result from undeclared or under-declared foreign pensions under the income and assets tests.

To take advantage of the Amnesty, recipients of undeclared or under-declared foreign pensions will have to contact Centrelink by phone or in person and declare their foreign pensions during the period of the Amnesty.

The Amnesty will apply to all types of foreign pensions but will not cover any income derived from bank interest, shares or real estate.

The Amnesty does not cover undeclared or under-declared income under the Tax law. However, the ATO has agreed that if you disclose your foreign pension income for the years ended 30 June 1999 and 30 June 2000, you will not have to disclose earlier year(s) foreign pension income. The ATO will advise you how much tax and interest you have to pay - penalties on this income will be waived. Generally, all foreign source income must be disclosed to the ATO and the above concession only applies to disclosures of foreign pension income during the amnesty period.

Further information on how these new rules may affect customers who may have a foreign pension entitlement may be obtained from Centrelink. For the information on the ATO concessions call 13 28 61 before 19 January 2001 for further information.