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Tax-free government pensions or benefits

What you need to include in the Tax-free government pensions or benefits section in myTax.

Last updated 25 June 2019

Income tax is not paid on certain tax-free government pensions or benefits, however, those pensions or benefits are taken into account when working out your adjusted taxable income. Your adjusted taxable income is an income test we use to work out your eligibility for certain tax offsets and the amount of those offsets.

You must include at this section the part of the following pensions and benefits that are exempt from tax (in some cases, all of it could be exempt from tax, and in other cases, only part of it might be. Do not include any part of it that is a bereavement payment, pharmaceutical allowance, rent assistance or remote area allowance, or language, literacy and numeracy supplement):

  • Disability support pension paid by Centrelink to a person who is under age-pension age.
  • Wife pension where either  
    • both the recipient and their partner are under age-pension age
    • the recipient is under the age-pension age and their partner has died.
  • Carer payment under Part 2.5 of the Social Security Act 1991 (this is not the carer allowance under Part 2.19 of the Social Security Act 1991).
  • Pension for defence, peacekeeping or war-caused death or incapacity, or any other pension granted under Part II or Part IV of the Veterans' Entitlement Act 1986.
  • Invalidity service pension where the veteran is under age-pension age.
  • Partner service pension where either  
    • the partner and the veteran are under the age-pension age and the veteran is receiving an invalidity service pension
    • the partner is under age-pension age, the veteran has died and was receiving an invalidity service pension at the time of death.
  • Income support supplement paid under Part IIIA of the Veterans’ Entitlements Act 1986.
  • Veteran payment under an instrument made under Part IIIAA of the Veterans' Entitlements Act 1986.
  • Defence Force income support allowance payable to you on a day when the whole of your social security pension or benefit, which is also payable to you on that day, is exempt from income tax under section 52-10 of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997.
  • Special rate disability pension under Part 6 of Chapter 4 of the Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2004.
  • Payment of compensation under section 68, 71 or 75 of the Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2004.
  • Payment of the weekly amount mentioned in paragraph 234(1)(b) of the Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2004 (including a reduced weekly amount because of a choice under section 236 of that Act) or of a lump sum mentioned in subsection 236(5) of that Act.

If you are not sure, for the purpose of this section, whether a government pension or benefit you have received is tax-free, phone 13 28 61.

Do not show at this section

Do not include any amount here that you have already shown in the Income statements and payment summaries section:

  • Australian Government payment such as Newstart, Youth Allowance and Austudy
  • Australian Government payment such as pensions and carer payments
  • Super income stream
  • Australian annuity payments.

Completing this section

We pre-fill your tax return with information provided to us. Check for any tax-free government pensions you received not pre-filled and ensure you add them.

  1. Enter the total amount of tax-free pensions and benefits you received during 2018–19.
  2. Select Save and continue when you have completed the Income tests section.

Note: Information shown in myTax may be updated based on pre-fill data. Before you lodge, you should review this information again to ensure it is correct.

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