The short answer

Work through it in this order, because each step opens the next: search the free registers for money that is already yours; claim any federal payment or concession card you qualify for; use the card to claim your state concessions; then ask your council what it offers on top. Doing it in the reverse order — which is what most people do, because the council rates notice is the bill that arrives — means being told you are not eligible for things you would have qualified for a fortnight later.

Tier one: the Commonwealth

Services Australia pays the income support payments — Age Pension, Disability Support Pension, JobSeeker, Parenting Payment, Carer Payment — along with family payments and the supplements that attach to them. The ATO pays offsets and refunds through the tax system and holds lost superannuation. Medicare runs the safety nets and the Child Dental Benefits Schedule. The Department of Veterans’ Affairs runs an entire parallel system with its own pensions and its own cards.

The trap at this tier is supplements. Claiming a payment does not assess you for everything that attaches to it. Commonwealth Rent Assistance is the clearest case: it is worth up to $219.40 a fortnight, it is not a separate payment and there is no separate claim — it is added to a payment you already receive, but only once somebody has told Centrelink what your rent is. Move house without updating your accommodation details and it quietly stops.

The cards are the point

The Pensioner Concession Card, the Health Care Card, the Low Income Health Care Card and the Commonwealth Seniors Health Card are issued federally and are the key to roughly forty state and council concessions each. A card is worth far more than the small payment that sometimes brings it — which is why applying for a part pension of a few dollars a fortnight is usually worth the afternoon.

Two of them are widely missed. The Commonwealth Seniors Health Card has no assets test at all, so a retired couple with a paid-off home and a large superannuation balance can hold one. The Low Income Health Care Card requires no Centrelink payment whatsoever and has no assets test either — the test is your average gross income over the previous eight weeks.

Tier two: your state or territory

Eight governments, eight sets of rules, eight different names for broadly similar things. Energy, gas and water concessions; council rates concessions; vehicle registration and licence discounts; public transport concessions; school and activity vouchers; first home grants and stamp duty relief; patient travel schemes; taxi subsidies; spectacles schemes.

The amounts are not trivial. Queensland pays $386.34 a year off electricity and up to $1,024.38 for a household running life support equipment. The ACT pays $800 a year across electricity, gas and water. Western Australia allows up to $750 off council rates. New South Wales pays $285 off electricity and another $285 for a certified medical need, and those two stack.

The trap at this tier is that none of it is automatic. Getting a concession card does not apply your state energy rebate; you have to ring your retailer. Changing electricity retailer does not carry the rebate across; you have to ring the new one. And several — the NSW Family Energy Rebate among them — have to be applied for again every single financial year.

Tier three: your council

Every state legislates a mandatory pensioner rates concession that councils must give. A large number of councils then add a voluntary remission on top, funded from their own revenue, set out in their rating policy, and advertised nowhere. There are 537 councils and each decides its own, so the only way to find out is to ring and ask the exact question: “beyond the mandatory state pensioner concession, does the council offer any voluntary remission, and am I eligible?”

Ask separately about waste, stormwater and any special levies, which are often governed by a different policy. And if anyone in the household generates medical waste — incontinence products, home dialysis — ask for an additional bin service on medical grounds. It is free in most councils and it is almost never advertised.

Money that is already yours

Before claiming anything, search the registers. The ATO holds lost and unclaimed superannuation. ASIC holds bank accounts dormant for seven years, life insurance unclaimed seven years after maturity, and share proceeds after six years of failed contact. Every state and territory holds a separate register for rental bonds, deceased estates, uncollected wages and refunds.

All of them are free to search, all of them are free to claim, and none of them has a time limit. Never pay a commercial finder a percentage of your own money for a search you can do in two minutes — see unclaimed money in Australia.

The order, once more

1. Search the free registers. Lost super, ASIC, and every state you have ever lived in.
2. Lodge any outstanding tax returns. They release Family Tax Benefit supplements and the Child Care Subsidy balance, and after twelve months an unlodged return turns a year of family payments into a debt.
3. Claim the federal payment or card you qualify for. This is the step that unlocks the rest.
4. Once the card is issued, ring your energy retailer, your water corporation and your council.
5. Then work through everything that keys off a card: registration, licence, transport, spectacles, patient travel.
6. Diarise the annual reapplications and the 1 July resets.

What we would say if you asked us in person

Two phone numbers are genuinely worth more than anything on this site, and neither has anything to do with us. Services Australia — 132 300 for older Australians, 132 850 for employment services, 136 150 for families — will tell you what you qualify for, for free, if you can get through. And the National Debt Helpline on 1800 007 007 is free, independent financial counselling, not a call centre and not selling anything. If money is genuinely tight, ring them first.

The pensions

Three payments share one rate, one means test and one card. The Age Pension from 67, the Disability Support Pension for people who cannot work fifteen hours a week because of a permanent condition, and Carer Payment for people providing constant care. All three pay $1,200.90 a fortnight single or $905.20 each partnered, including the Pension Supplement and the Energy Supplement, and all three issue a Pensioner Concession Card.

The means test is the same for all three. A single homeowner can hold $733,500 in assets on top of the family home; a couple $1,102,500. Income up to $226 a fortnight single, or $396 a couple, has no effect, and the payment reduces by 50 cents in the dollar above that. The family home is never counted.

Apply even when you expect to fail. A part pension of five dollars a fortnight carries exactly the same card as a full one, and the card is worth well over a thousand a year on its own.

The Work Bonus, which almost nobody uses

A pensioner can earn $300 a fortnight from work before the income test touches the rate, and unused amounts accumulate in a bank up to $11,800. Somebody who has not worked all year can therefore take a few weeks of seasonal work and lose nothing. This is a genuine, legislated provision and it is one of the most commonly unused parts of the whole system.

The allowances

JobSeeker Payment is the main working age payment: $817.50 a fortnight single with no children, $875.50 with children, and $882.50 for a single principal carer or for anyone 55 or over after nine continuous months. It also covers people temporarily unable to work through illness or injury who have a job to return to — a use almost nobody knows about, and one that does not require you to look for work while you are unwell.

The allowance assets test is far tighter than the pension one: $333,000 for a homeowner, $600,000 if you do not own a home. There is also a liquid assets waiting period of up to thirteen weeks above $5,500 single or $11,000 partnered, which is why a redundancy payout delays payment rather than preventing it. Lodge anyway, so the clock starts.

Youth Allowance runs from 16 to 21 for job seekers and 16 to 24 for students, and Austudy covers full-time students and apprentices from 25. The away-from-home rate is nearly two thirds higher than the at-home rate, and independence can be established by a work history — full time for fourteen months, or over fourteen hours a week for two years — or by an “unreasonable to live at home” assessment, which removes the parental income test entirely.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students should compare ABSTUDY rather than assuming it is the same money under another name. It adds School Fees Allowance of up to $13,582 a year for boarding students, Incidentals Allowance of up to $2,080, Fares Allowance, Relocation Allowance and a Masters and Doctorate rate of $1,316.20 a fortnight. None of those exists in Youth Allowance or Austudy.

Parenting Payment

$1,066.30 a fortnight for a single principal carer, $748.20 partnered. Single parents can receive it until the youngest child turns 14 — a change many parents whose children passed eight under the old rules never noticed. Partnered parents are cut off when the youngest turns six.

The supplements, which is where the missed money is

None of these is a separate payment somebody sets out to claim. Every one attaches to a payment you already have, and every one is missed by somebody who assumed it was automatic when it is not.

• Rent Assistance — up to $219.40 a fortnight, $5,704 a year. Update your accommodation details every time you move or the rent changes. See the full guide.
• Pension Supplement — up to $86.50 a fortnight. Automatic on a pension, but Parenting Payment, Austudy, ABSTUDY and Special Benefit recipients who have reached Age Pension age can move from the basic amount to the maximum, worth over $1,400 a year. Ring and ask which one you are on.
• Telephone Allowance — $151.20 to $222.40 a year, quarterly, and only paid if Centrelink knows you have a phone service.
• Remote Area Allowance — $18.20 a fortnight plus $7.30 per child, for residents of tax Zone A. Not automatic; your recorded address has to be your actual usual residence.
• Essential Medical Equipment Payment — $203 a year per item of medical equipment, and again for a condition requiring extra heating or cooling. It renews automatically once granted and it stacks with your state medical energy rebate.
• Education Entry Payment and Pensioner Education Supplement — $208 a year and $62.40 a fortnight for people on certain payments who study. Neither is offered; both are separate claims.

The timing rules that cost the most

Register your intent to claim on day one. For JobSeeker and most allowances, payment runs from the date you register intent provided the claim is completed within fourteen days — not from the date the paperwork is finished.

Claim the Age Pension thirteen weeks early. The claim opens thirteen weeks before your 67th birthday, and payment runs from the date you lodge rather than the date you turned 67. A claim lodged three months late is three months of pension gone and it is not recoverable.

Carer Allowance can be backdated twelve weeks where the care was already being provided — but it is not offered, so you have to raise it.

The four cards

Pensioner Concession Card

Issued automatically with the Age Pension, Disability Support Pension, Carer Payment, Parenting Payment Single, and JobSeeker or Youth Allowance for single principal carers, people 55 or over after nine months, and people with a partial capacity to work. It is the most valuable card in the country — it opens council rates concessions, water concessions, energy rebates, vehicle registration concessions, licence discounts, spectacles schemes and public transport concessions in every state.

Retention rules matter. When a payment stops, you can often keep the card for a period — up to twelve months in some cases when you return to work. Ask rather than assuming it goes with the payment.

Health Care Card

Issued automatically with JobSeeker, Youth Allowance, Austudy, ABSTUDY Living Allowance, Parenting Payment Partnered, Carer Allowance for a child, and — the one people miss — maximum rate Family Tax Benefit Part A. Families on maximum rate Part A are issued a card and frequently never notice, then pay full price for medicines for years.

Carer Allowance for a child issues a card in the child’s name, which is separate money again through the PBS and through state concessions.

Low Income Health Care Card

The card almost nobody knows about. You do not have to receive any Centrelink payment. There is no assets test. The test is average gross income over the previous eight weeks: under $811 a week for a single person with no children, $1,385 for a couple or a single person with one child, plus $34 a week for each additional child.

Casual workers, part-time workers, people between jobs and self-funded retirees under 67 routinely qualify and never apply. Because the test is a rolling eight week average, timing the application matters: if a one-off payment falls inside the window, wait until it does not.

Commonwealth Seniors Health Card

For self-funded retirees who have reached Age Pension age and receive no income support payment. Income limit $101,105 a year single, $161,768 for a couple combined, $202,210 for an illness-separated couple, plus $639.60 for each dependent child. There is no assets test whatsoever — a retired couple with a paid-off house and a very large superannuation balance can hold this card.

The income test counts adjusted taxable income plus deemed income from account-based pensions. An account-based pension started before 1 January 2015 and held continuously is exempt from deeming, which is often what brings a household under the limit. See the full guide.

What every card is worth

• Medicines. Concessional PBS co-payment of $7.70 a script instead of up to $31.60. For somebody on five regular medicines that is over $1,400 a year.
• PBS Safety Net. Free medicines after $277.20 in a calendar year, instead of after $1,748.20.
• Medicare Safety Net. The Extended threshold drops from $2,699.10 to $861.20 — more than $1,800 of gap costs.
• State energy rebates. $285 in NSW, 17.5% of the bill in Victoria, $386.34 in Queensland, $291.27 in South Australia, $326.33 in Western Australia, about $513.70 in Tasmania, $800 across three utilities in the ACT.
• Council rates. Up to $250 in NSW, $272.70 in Victoria, $200 in Queensland, up to $750 in Western Australia.
• Vehicle registration and licences. Free registration in some states for pensioners, about half price in others.
• Transport. A $2.50 daily fare cap in NSW, free weekend travel statewide in Victoria, free off-peak travel in Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia.
• Spectacles. Free or heavily subsidised glasses every two years in most states.

The mistake that costs the most

Believing the card does the work. It does not. Being issued a Pensioner Concession Card applies exactly nothing automatically — you have to ring your electricity retailer, your gas retailer, your water corporation, your council, and Service NSW or its equivalent, one at a time, and ask for each concession by name. Every one of them is a separate conversation, and the rebate starts from the day you have it rather than the day you got the card.

1. Lost superannuation — the ATO

Every job with a different fund, every name change and every move without updating an address leaves an account behind. Accounts become “lost” when a fund cannot contact you, and inactive low-balance accounts are transferred to the ATO automatically, where they sit until claimed and earn interest.

Sign in to myGov, link the ATO, then go to Super → Fund details → Manage → Transfer super. Lost and ATO-held amounts appear there. If you have changed your name, ring the lost super line on 13 28 65 and have them search under previous names, because the online search will not.

One warning before you consolidate. Closing a super account cancels the insurance attached to it. For somebody with a health condition, that insurance may be irreplaceable at any price. Check what each account holds before merging anything — see the full guide.

2. Bank accounts, life insurance and shares — ASIC

A bank account becomes unclaimed money after seven years of inactivity. A life insurance policy becomes unclaimed seven years after it matures. Share proceeds and managed investment amounts become unclaimed after a company has been unable to contact the holder for six years or more. All of it goes to ASIC, which holds it indefinitely and pays interest.

Search free at moneysmart.gov.au/find-unclaimed-money. Search every name you have used and every misspelling you can think of. If you are administering an estate, search the deceased person’s names too — estates can claim. ASIC says to expect a response within about sixty days.

3. Your state or territory register

Separate from both of the above, and holding entirely different things: deceased estates, uncollected wages, court refunds, proceeds of sale, trustee company money and — very commonly — rental bonds.

• NSW — Revenue NSW unclaimed money register. Rental bonds are held separately by NSW Fair Trading.
• Victoria — State Revenue Office. Bonds are held separately by the Residential Tenancies Bond Authority, which is a very productive search for anyone who has rented.
• Queensland — the Public Trustee and the Queensland Revenue Office hold separate registers. Bonds sit with the Residential Tenancies Authority.
• South Australia — Department of Treasury and Finance, plus the Public Trustee.
• Western Australia — Department of Treasury, plus the Public Trustee, with bonds held by the Bond Administrator.
• Tasmania, ACT, NT — each holds its own, through Treasury or the Public Trustee.

Search every state you have ever lived in. The money stays where it was held, not where you moved to.

4. Share registries

Before an amount reaches ASIC it sits with the share registry — Computershare, Link, Boardroom and others. Unclaimed dividends, demutualisation shares from the 1990s and unpresented cheques are common. Each registry has its own search and each is free.

5. Superannuation your employer never paid

Not strictly unclaimed money, but it is yours and it is missing. Compare your super fund statements against your payslips, quarter by quarter. Ask the employer in writing first — most shortfalls are administrative. If it is not resolved, lodge an unpaid super enquiry with the ATO, which will pursue it, including against employers you left years ago.

6. Unlodged tax returns

The least glamorous item on this list and often the largest. Most people with unlodged returns are owed money rather than owing it. Worse, an unlodged return withholds the Family Tax Benefit end of year supplements, freezes the Child Care Subsidy reconciliation, and if it stays unlodged past twelve months an entire year of Family Tax Benefit becomes a debt.

Most information is pre-filled for recent years, so a simple return takes twenty minutes. The ATO runs a free volunteer service called Tax Help for people with straightforward affairs and modest incomes.

On finders

There is an industry of businesses that search these free registers, find your money, and offer to recover it for a percentage — often a third. Everything they do, you can do yourself, free, in the time it takes to read this page. If one contacts you, thank them, write down the detail they gave you, and lodge the claim yourself.

Why there is any to find

Super follows the job, not the person. Every employer with a different default fund opens a new account. A name change on marriage, a move without a forwarding address, or a fund that simply loses touch, and an account becomes “lost”. Since the low-balance rules came in, inactive accounts under the threshold are swept to the ATO automatically.

How to search

1. Sign in to myGov and link the ATO if you have not already.
2. Go to Super, then Fund details. Every account the ATO knows about is listed, including ATO-held amounts.
3. Look at Transfer super to see what can be moved and to where.
4. If you have ever changed your name, ring 13 28 65 and ask them to search under previous names. This is the step that finds the accounts the online search misses.

Before you press consolidate

This is the part of this page that matters most. Super accounts often carry life, total and permanent disability, and income protection insurance, usually on group terms with no medical questions asked. Closing the account cancels the cover.

For somebody in good health that is a saving — duplicate premiums across four accounts are pure waste. For somebody with a diagnosed condition, a mental health history, a dangerous occupation or simply an age that makes new cover expensive, that group cover may be genuinely irreplaceable at any price.

So before consolidating: log into each fund, find what insurance it holds and for how much, and decide deliberately which account to keep as the destination. If any of it looks material, that is a good use of one paid hour with a financial adviser, or a free conversation with a financial counsellor on 1800 007 007.

What else to look at while you are in there

• Is your tax file number recorded with the fund? Without it the fund cannot accept a personal contribution and you will not receive the Low Income Superannuation Tax Offset — up to $500 a year, paid automatically, and silently skipped when the TFN is missing.
• Are the employer contributions actually arriving? Compare the fund statement against your payslips quarter by quarter. Billions go unpaid every year and the ATO will pursue it.
• Are you under the co-contribution threshold? If your income is under $49,293 and you put in $1,000 of your own money, the government adds $500. See the offsets guide.

Deceased estates

If you are administering an estate, search for the deceased person too — both ATO-held super and the ASIC register. Super is generally not part of the estate and is paid to dependants or to the estate at the trustee’s discretion, so there is a separate claim to make with each fund.

New South Wales

• Low Income Household Rebate — $285 a year, or $313.50 for embedded network customers. Pensioner Concession Card, Health Care Card, Low Income Health Care Card or DVA Gold Card. Ring your retailer with your CRN.
• Family Energy Rebate — $180 a year for Family Tax Benefit recipients, reduced to $20 if you also get the Low Income rebate. Annual application through Service NSW, and it requires your Family Tax Benefit to have been finalised, which means your tax return must be lodged first.
• Seniors Energy Rebate — $200 a year for Commonwealth Seniors Health Card holders. Applications for 2026-27 opened 10 August 2026. Cannot be held with the Low Income rebate.
• Medical Energy Rebate — $285 a year for an inability to self-regulate body temperature, certified by a doctor. Stacks with the Low Income rebate, so an eligible household gets $570.
• Life Support Rebate — varies by equipment, no means test at all.
• Gas Rebate — up to $110 a year, including bottled LPG. Separate application.
• EAPA vouchers — applied directly to an overdue bill during a crisis. No concession card needed.

Victoria

• Annual Electricity Concession — 17.5% off usage and supply for the whole year, excluding the first $171.60 of the annual bill. Roughly $174 on an average household, and worth more the larger the bill.
• Winter Gas Concession — 17.5% off gas from 1 May to 31 October. Separate application.
• Medical Cooling Concession — 17.5% off summer electricity, 1 November to 30 April, with a doctor’s certification. Stacks with the annual concession.
• Life Support Concession — a discounted quantity of electricity, no means test.
• Utility Relief Grant — up to $1,300 towards arrears, and it can be granted separately for electricity, gas and water. Applied for through the retailer.
• Water and sewerage concession — up to 50% of charges, to an annual cap.

Queensland

• Electricity Rebate — $386.34 a year. Pensioner Concession Card, Queensland Seniors Card or DVA Gold Card, which means self-funded retirees with a Seniors Card qualify.
• Reticulated Natural Gas Rebate — $92.12 a year. Mains gas only.
• Medical Cooling and Heating Concession — $522.09 a year, with air conditioning installed and a doctor’s certification. Paid in addition to the electricity rebate, so over $900 in total.
• Electricity Life Support Concession — up to $1,024.38 a year for home haemodialysis or continuous ventilation. No means test at all. The largest single household energy concession in the country.
• Home Energy Emergency Assistance — up to $720 once every two years, no card required.
• SEQ Pensioner Water Subsidy — for pensioner property owners in the South East Queensland councils.

South Australia

• Energy Bill Concession — up to $291.27 a year, indexed annually. Unusually broad card eligibility, including the Commonwealth Seniors Health Card, and tenants who pay for electricity without being the account holder can qualify in some circumstances.
• Medical Heating and Cooling Concession — another $291.27, in addition.
• Water and sewerage concession — around 30% of the bill, and tenants who pay water charges can qualify.
• Cost of Living Concession — an annual payment, higher for homeowners, and tenants receive it too, which is unusual for a rates-linked concession.

Western Australia

• Energy Assistance Payment — $326.33 a year.
• Dependent Child Rebate — $146.84 per child per year, on top. A family with three children receives more than $440 from this alone.
• Supply Charge Rebate — separate again.
• Cost of Living Rebate — $114.20 single, $171.30 a couple, paid annually to WA Seniors Card members. Usually automatic, so keeping your address and bank details current on the membership is the whole action.
• HUGS — the Hardship Utility Grant Scheme covers up to 85% of an outstanding energy or water bill. No concession card required.

Tasmania

• Annual Electricity Concession — about $513.70 a year, applied as a daily discount.
• Heating Allowance — $56 a year in two payments. Separate from the electricity concession.
• Water and sewerage concession — up to $242.56, split evenly between the water and the sewerage charge, so both components need to be on the account for the full amount.

Australian Capital Territory

• Electricity, Gas and Water Rebate — $800 for 2026-27, the largest flat household utilities rebate in the country. Applied as a daily rate that is much higher in winter than in summer, so a mid-year start affects the total.

Northern Territory

• NT Concession Scheme — one membership covering electricity, water, sewerage, council rates, garbage, vehicle registration, driver licence and spectacles every two years. One application for what other states run as eight. You must live in the Territory 183 days a year.

Federal: what is left

The Energy Bill Relief Fund, which credited household bills nationally from 2023, ended on 31 December 2025 with no universal replacement. Two federal things remain and both are worth knowing:

• Essential Medical Equipment Payment — $203 a year per item of equipment, and again for a condition requiring extra heating or cooling. It is paid on top of any state medical rebate, not instead of it, and it renews automatically once granted.
• Cheaper Home Batteries Program — roughly 30% off an installed home battery, delivered as an upfront discount by the installer rather than a rebate you claim. The value declines annually, and several states add their own on top.

What to actually say

Ring the number on your bill and say: “I hold a [name of card] and I would like to apply for the [name of rebate]. My customer reference number is [CRN].” Then, before you hang up, ask these three questions:

1. “Is there a separate gas rebate I should apply for?”
2. “Is there a medical energy rebate, and what form does my doctor need to complete?”
3. “Can you confirm the rebate is showing on my account before I go?”

And diarise one thing: if you ever change retailer, ring the new one the same week. The rebate does not follow you and nobody tells you it has stopped.

1. The medical heating and cooling rebate

For people whose condition affects the body’s ability to regulate temperature. Multiple sclerosis, spinal cord injuries, some autonomic disorders, post-polio syndrome, several skin conditions and some cancer treatments are among those that qualify — but the test is the function, not a list, so the question to put to your doctor is: “does my condition affect my body’s ability to regulate its own temperature?”

• NSW — $285 a year, on top of the Low Income Household Rebate.
• Victoria — Medical Cooling Concession, 17.5% off summer electricity from 1 November to 30 April, on top of the Annual Electricity Concession.
• Queensland — $522.09 a year, on top of the Electricity Rebate. Air conditioning must actually be installed.
• South Australia — $291.27 a year, on top of the Energy Bill Concession.

2. The life support rebate

Larger, and with no means test at all in any state — you do not need a concession card, because the rebate is about the equipment rather than your income.

Qualifying equipment generally includes home haemodialysis machines, ventilators, oxygen concentrators, continuous positive airway pressure devices, phototherapy equipment, external heart pumps, enteral feeding pumps and airbed vibrators. Queensland pays up to $1,024.38 a year; the others vary with the equipment.

Do the second thing as well. Registering the equipment with your electricity distributor — the network company, not your retailer — puts the address on the protected list for planned outages and requires them to notify you in advance. That is a different process from the rebate and it matters more than the money.

3. The federal Essential Medical Equipment Payment

$203 a year, from Services Australia, and the detail that gets missed is that it is paid for each piece of equipment. An oxygen concentrator and a ventilator are two payments, not one. A medical condition requiring extra heating or cooling is a further $203 on top of that.

You need a concession card or a DVA Gold or White Card, you must contribute to the energy account, and you must live in a residence rather than residential aged care or a hospital. Once granted it renews automatically each year, and it does not reduce your state rebate by a cent.

Getting the form signed

This is the whole barrier, and it is a small one once you know the sequence:

1. Download the form first. Every one of these has a page the doctor completes. Take it to the appointment rather than asking the practice to find it.
2. Ask the specific question. Not “can you sign this” but “does my condition affect my ability to regulate body temperature, and would you certify that?”
3. Do all of them in one appointment. If you also need a taxi subsidy form, a mobility parking permit, or the equipment payment certification, bring them together.
4. Lodge with the right body. In NSW and Victoria it goes to your energy retailer; in Queensland it goes to the state government; the federal payment goes to Services Australia.

What a household can hold at once

A Queensland household with a concession card, a certified temperature-regulation condition and a home dialysis machine can hold the Electricity Rebate ($386.34), the Medical Cooling and Heating Concession ($522.09), the Life Support Concession (up to $1,024.38) and the federal Essential Medical Equipment Payment ($203) — more than $2,100 a year, from four separate applications, none of which is offered.

Part A — per child

Paid for each eligible child in your care at least 35% of the time. At the maximum rate: $235.48 a fortnight for a child under 13, $306.46 for a child 13 to 19 in secondary study. Annualised, and including the end of year supplement, that is $6,139.30 and $7,989.85 respectively.

The rate is worked out under two income tests and whichever produces the higher rate applies. Income up to $69,131 has no effect. Between $69,131 and $123,078 the maximum rate reduces by 20 cents in the dollar. Above $123,078 it reduces by 30 cents. Separately, the base rate reduces by 30 cents above $123,078 — which is why families well into six figures still receive something, and why the cut-off depends on how many children you have and how old they are.

The end of year supplement is $970.90 per child, and it requires combined adjusted taxable income of $80,000 or less and a lodged tax return.

Multiple Birth Allowance

Triplets attract $5,310.75 a year and quadruplets or more $7,073.70, until the children turn 16 — or to the end of the year they turn 18 if at least three are studying full time. It is paid as part of Part A with no separate claim. Twins do not qualify.

Part B — per family

This is the one that gets missed. It is per family rather than per child, and it exists for single parents and single-income couples: $200.34 a fortnight where the youngest child is under 5, $139.86 where the youngest is 5 to 18.

For a single parent it is paid at the maximum rate on income up to $124,327. For a couple, the higher earner must be under $124,327, and the lower earner can earn $7,154 before the rate reduces at 20 cents in the dollar — cutting out at $35,661 where the youngest is under 5.

Grandparents and great-grandparents raising a child qualify up to 18 rather than 13. And if your circumstances change from a couple to a single parent, tell Centrelink immediately: single parents receive the maximum rate.

The deadline that turns money into a debt

You and your partner must lodge a tax return, or tell Centrelink you are not required to lodge, within twelve months of the end of the financial year. Miss it and the Family Tax Benefit paid during that year becomes repayable — not reduced, repayable.

The same lodgement releases the end of year supplements for both parts, and reconciles the Child Care Subsidy. If you genuinely were not required to lodge, the non-lodgement advice takes ten minutes and does the same job.

Getting the estimate right

Families receiving fortnightly instalments give an income estimate for the year. Estimate slightly high rather than low. An over-estimate is refunded at balancing; an under-estimate becomes a debt. If you would rather have no chance of a debt at all, take the whole thing as an annual lump sum after the end of the financial year instead.

The reductions that catch people

• Immunisation. The rate is reduced $36.54 a fortnight per child who is not up to date, on a catch-up schedule, or exempt.
• Health checks. The same reduction applies where a family on income support has a child who turned four and has not had a health check by the time they turn five.
• Child support. Not taking reasonable action to obtain child support drops you to the base rate of Part A. If applying is unsafe or the parentage is unknown, ring the Families line — there are exemptions.

What comes with it

• A Health Care Card, automatically, on maximum rate Part A. Many families never notice they have one.
• The Child Dental Benefits Schedule — $1,158 of bulk billed dental per child over two calendar years.
• Rent Assistance, at the higher family rates, if you rent privately.
• State activity vouchers — the NSW Active and Creative Kids voucher is now tied to Family Tax Benefit specifically.
• A Family Tax Benefit advance — up to $1,430.46 of your own entitlement early, interest free, repaid from your fortnightly rate.

If you never claimed at all

A lump sum claim for a past financial year can be lodged within twelve months of the end of that year. That is a genuine second chance and it is worth thousands. After twelve months it cannot be paid at all.

How the percentage works

Families earning $88,520 or less receive 90% of the actual fee, capped at 90% of the hourly rate cap. Above that the percentage falls by one point for every $5,000 of family income, reaching zero at $538,520.

The hourly rate caps from 6 July 2026 are $15.19 for centre based day care and outside school hours care for a child below school age, $13.30 for a school aged child, $14.08 for family day care, and $41.31 per family for in home care. Where a provider charges less than the cap you receive your percentage of the actual fee; where they charge more, you receive your percentage of the cap and pay the difference.

The higher rate for younger siblings

This is the element most often not applied, and it is worth thousands. A family with more than one child aged five or under in care, and income below $370,727, receives a higher rate for the second and any younger children — 95% up to $146,437 of income, tapering through bands to 50% just below the cut-off.

The eldest eligible child aged five or under is the “standard rate” child and gets the ordinary percentage. If your children’s ages are not correctly recorded, the higher rate is simply not applied and nobody tells you.

Hours

Every family gets at least 72 subsidised hours a fortnight per child. More than 48 hours of recognised activity a fortnight lifts it to 100 hours. Recognised activity includes paid work and paid leave, study and training, unpaid work in a family business, looking for work, volunteering and self-employment — and you may include reasonable travel time to and from the activity.

For couples, the person with the lower activity is the one that counts. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children receive 100 hours regardless of activity.

The three steps people miss

1. Claim before the child starts. Backdating is capped at 28 days.
2. Confirm the enrolment. Your provider submits it; you confirm it in myGov. Until you do, no subsidy is paid. This is the single most common reason a family sees a full-price invoice.
3. Lodge your tax return. Income must be confirmed within twelve months or ongoing subsidy stops. After twenty-four months the whole year is repayable and eligibility is cancelled.

Withholding, and why the balance arrives later

5% of each week’s entitlement is withheld through the year to reduce the chance of a debt at balancing. If your actual income comes in at or below your estimate, the withheld amount is paid to you after the reconciliation. You can vary the withholding percentage up or down if the default does not suit your circumstances.

Additional Child Care Subsidy

Four separate streams, each paying far more than the ordinary subsidy, and each barely known:

• Grandparent — for grandparents or great-grandparents on an income support payment with at least 65% of ongoing daily care. Up to 120% of the hourly cap and 100 hours a fortnight, which effectively removes the cost.
• Temporary financial hardship — up to 120% of the cap for 13 weeks after a job loss, serious illness, disaster or family violence within the last six months.
• Transition to work — 95% of the fee for parents moving from income support into work, study or training, with family income under $88,520.
• Child wellbeing — arranged through the provider for children at risk.

Only one can be received at a time, and if more than one applies you get the most beneficial.

How much and for how long

For births and adoptions in the 2026-27 financial year, a partnered couple can access a combined maximum of 26 weeks — 130 days. Generally the most one member of a couple can take is 22 weeks (110 days), with 4 weeks (20 days) reserved for the other parent. A single claimant can access the full 26 weeks. Up to 20 days can be taken at the same time as the other parent.

The rate is $200.94 a day before tax, which is $1,004.70 a week. It is taxable and it counts as income for family payment income tests.

The reserved weeks, which is the most commonly forfeited money in the scheme

The 4 weeks reserved for the second parent are not transferable. If that parent does not lodge their own claim, those days are not added to the first parent’s allocation — they are simply not paid. That is over $4,000 gone, and it happens constantly, usually because the household assumed one claim covered the family.

Both parents lodge separately. The birth parent gives permission; the second parent makes their own claim.

The work test

The birth parent (or adoptive parent) must have worked at least 10 of the 13 months before the birth, and at least 330 hours in that 10 months — just over one day a week — with no gap longer than 12 weeks between two working days. A working day is any day with at least one hour of paid work or paid leave.

It is available to full-time, part-time, casual, seasonal, contract and self-employed workers. There are exceptions for pregnancy complications, dangerous jobs, premature births, severe medical conditions, natural disasters and family and domestic violence. And a period of Parental Leave Pay for a previous child can count as work towards a claim for a subsequent one.

The income test — you only need to pass one

Individual income limit $186,487, or family income limit $386,525, assessed on the financial year before the birth or the claim, whichever is earlier. Passing either one qualifies you, regardless of whether you are single or partnered. A high-earning household with one modest earner frequently qualifies on the individual test and never checks.

Timing

• Claim up to 97 days before the due date. Do this — an early claim is processed before the chaos starts.
• The initial claim must be within 52 weeks of the birth or adoption. This deadline is absolute.
• Days can be claimed up to 100 days in the past, so a late start does not lose everything.
• All days must be used within 2 years of the birth, and need not be taken in a block.

What it interacts with

• Newborn Supplement and Newborn Upfront Payment cannot be received for the same child. For twins you can take Parental Leave Pay for one and the newborn payments for the other.
• Family Tax Benefit Part B is not payable for days you receive Parental Leave Pay — for those days only, not for the year.
• Superannuation is paid by the ATO on Parental Leave Pay for children born or adopted from 1 July 2025, after the end of the financial year.

If you do not meet the work test

Claim Family Tax Benefit Part A, and the Newborn Upfront Payment and Newborn Supplement are assessed automatically from it — up to $2,833.76 for a first child. It is far less than Parental Leave Pay, which is why it is worth checking the work test carefully before assuming you fail it.

State by state

New South Wales

Active and Creative Kids voucher — two $50 vouchers a year per child, one in each half of the year, for sport, creative or cultural activities. The child must be 4.5 to 18 and enrolled in and attending school, and the parent or carer must receive Family Tax Benefit. Each voucher is a separate application and each has its own expiry.

Victoria

Get Active Kids Voucher — up to $200 per child, for a concession card family, released in limited rounds that close when the allocation is exhausted. Unusually, it covers uniforms and equipment as well as membership and registration fees, and reimbursement is available for costs already paid inside the round period, so keep receipts.

Queensland

FairPlay voucher — up to $200 per child aged 5 to 17 for a concession card family, towards club membership and registration. Released in rounds; check the club is registered before paying anything.

South Australia

Sports Vouchers — up to $200 per child a year for sport, dance or learn-to-swim, and the allocation can usually be split across two activities rather than going to one club. A higher Sports Vouchers Plus amount applies for concession card families.

School Card — pays the materials and services charge for children at South Australian government schools where family income is under the threshold. It must be applied for every school year and the income limits rise with family size, so check the threshold for your number of children before assuming you earn too much. A mid-year drop in income can qualify you.

Western Australia

KidSport — up to $300 per child per financial year, one of the larger schemes in the country, paid directly to a registered club. Applied for through the KidSport portal or your local council.

Tasmania

Ticket to Play — two $100 vouchers per child per financial year, for children 5 to 18 listed on a Health Care Card or Pensioner Concession Card. Children in out-of-home care qualify without a card. Both vouchers are separate applications.

Northern Territory

Sport Voucher Scheme — $100 twice a year, in July and January, for every child from Transition to Year 12 enrolled in an NT school or registered for home schooling. There is no income test at all, which makes it unique among the state schemes.

Back to School Payment — applied per student through the school at the start of the year. Because it is administered by the school, a mid-year school change can disrupt it, so confirm with the office.

Australian Capital Territory

The Future of Education Equity Fund assists with school costs for concession card families. Applications go through the school.

Federal: the ones worth far more

Assistance for Isolated Children

For families who cannot get a child to an appropriate school daily — because of distance, a disability, a special health need, or because no local school offers the year level. The important detail is that the basic Boarding Allowance of $10,555 a year is not income tested at all; only the additional $3,027 is. There is also a Distance Education Allowance of $5,278 a year and a Second Home Allowance of $307.46 a fortnight per student.

Family Tax Benefit cannot be paid for a student receiving some of these, so compare the two. And Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families should check ABSTUDY, which may pay more.

ABSTUDY School Fees Allowance

For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander secondary students who board: up to $13,582 a year, of which $10,555 is not income tested. There is also School Term Allowance of $540.80 a year and Incidentals Allowance of up to $2,080. None of this exists in the mainstream payments.

Child Dental Benefits Schedule

$1,158 of bulk billed dental per child over two consecutive calendar years, for families on Family Tax Benefit Part A. Roughly a third of eligible children never use it and the balance expires. Any dentist can check the balance in seconds, and many bulk bill the schedule — ask before treatment.

The two habits that get the most out of these

1. Diarise the round openings. Most of these close when the allocation runs out rather than on a date, so applying on day one is worth more than applying carefully on day ten.
2. Redeem immediately. Vouchers expire. Give the code to the club at registration and confirm they have processed it.

The state grants

• NSW — $10,000, new homes only, purchase price under $600,000 (or $750,000 for land plus a building contract).
• Victoria — $10,000, new homes, value up to $750,000. Twelve month residence requirement.
• Queensland — $30,000, new homes, value cap $750,000. The largest mainland grant.
• South Australia — $15,000, new homes, and the property value cap was removed.
• Western Australia — $10,000, new homes, with value caps that differ by region.
• Tasmania — the amount has changed several times; confirm the current figure with the State Revenue Office.
• Northern Territory — up to $50,000 under the HomeGrown Territory grant, the largest in the country. Terms have changed between rounds, so check before committing.
• ACT — no grant. The ACT replaced it with a full duty exemption, which for most buyers is worth more.

The duty concessions, which are usually the bigger number

• NSW — full exemption to $800,000, tapering concession to $1,000,000. Saves around $31,000 at the top of the exemption. Applies to established homes.
• Victoria — full exemption to $600,000, sliding concession to $750,000. Applies to established homes. A separate pensioner duty concession exists for concession card holders at any age, whether or not they are first home buyers.
• Queensland — a first home transfer duty concession, separate from the grant.
• South Australia — stamp duty abolished entirely for eligible first home buyers of new homes.
• Western Australia — the First Home Owner Rate of Duty, a full exemption below the threshold, applying to established homes.
• Tasmania — a duty exemption on established homes up to $750,000, which for most Tasmanian buyers is the main benefit.
• ACT — the Home Buyer Concession Scheme, a full exemption. Unusually it is income tested rather than property-value tested, the threshold rises with each dependent child, and previous owners qualify again after five years.

The federal layer

First Home Guarantee

The government guarantees the part of the loan a lender would otherwise insure, so you buy with a 5% deposit and pay no lenders mortgage insurance — a saving that runs into the tens of thousands. Since October 2025 there are no income caps and no cap on the number of places. Price caps apply by region.

It is arranged by the lender, not by you, and not every lender participates. Say the words “First Home Guarantee” at the first conversation, before anybody quotes you a mortgage insurance premium.

Family Home Guarantee

For single parents and single legal guardians: a 2% deposit, no mortgage insurance, and crucially you do not have to be a first home buyer. Previous ownership is allowed provided you do not currently own a home. For a separated parent trying to re-enter the market this is usually the most valuable thing available to them, and almost nobody knows the previous-ownership rule.

Help to Buy

The government takes an equity share — up to 40% of a new home or 30% of an existing one — so you borrow far less, with a 2% deposit. Income caps are $100,000 individual and $160,000 joint. It cannot be combined with the First Home Guarantee, so the two have to be compared: less debt now against a share of the capital growth later. The government takes its percentage of the eventual sale price, not of the original amount.

First Home Super Saver Scheme

Salary sacrifice into super at 15% instead of your marginal rate, then withdraw up to $50,000 of voluntary contributions plus earnings for the deposit. For somebody on the 32% marginal rate the tax difference is thousands on the same take-home sacrifice.

The trap is absolute and it catches people constantly: you must apply to the ATO for a determination BEFORE you sign a contract. Applying afterwards disqualifies the entire withdrawal. Once you have the determination, request the release — it takes 15 to 20 business days — and sign within 12 months.

The order to do it in

1. Months before: start the First Home Super Saver contributions, if the tax difference is worth it.
2. Before house hunting: check the price cap for your area, and ask a participating lender about the First Home Guarantee. Get the mortgage insurance question settled before it is quoted.
3. Before signing anything: request the First Home Super Saver determination. This is the deadline that cannot be recovered.
4. At contract: tell your conveyancer you are a first home buyer, so the duty exemption is applied at settlement rather than missed.
5. At or after settlement: lodge the state grant, usually through your lender, within 12 months of completion.

If it was missed

Duty paid in error can generally be refunded — in NSW within five years of the transfer, and other states have their own windows. If you bought as a first home buyer and were not given the exemption, write to your state revenue office. The grant is stricter: twelve months from completion, and after that it cannot be paid.

How much

Rent Assistance pays 75 cents for every dollar of rent above a threshold, up to a maximum:

• Single — threshold $154.80 a fortnight, maximum $219.40. You reach the maximum at $447.34 of rent.
• Single sharer — threshold $154.80, maximum $146.27. Materially less, and declaring the wrong one creates a debt.
• Couple — threshold $250.80 combined, maximum $206.80.
• With Family Tax Benefit Part A — higher again: maximum $257.88 with one or two children, $291.48 with three or more.

At the single maximum that is $5,704 a year, which for most people on a payment is the largest single unclaimed item available to them.

Why it gets missed

Because there is no claim form for it. It is a field on your accommodation details, and it is only populated if you update them. Three situations lose it:

1. You never told them. People who started on a payment while living with family and later moved into a rental frequently never update the record.
2. You moved. The rent details attach to the address. Moving without updating stops the payment.
3. The rent went up. The amount is calculated from the figure on file, so a rent increase you have not reported is money you are not receiving.

The fix is the same in all three cases: sign in to myGov, go to Centrelink, and update your accommodation details. Upload the lease, or have the landlord or agent sign a Rent Certificate.

What counts as rent

More than people assume. Private rent, community housing rent, board and lodging (two thirds of the board amount is treated as rent), site fees for a caravan or a manufactured home, mooring fees for a vessel you live on, and retirement village contributions.

What does not count: rent paid to a state or territory housing authority, and any period in an Australian Government funded aged care place.

Paying board to a family member counts. If you pay a parent or a sibling for accommodation, that is rent for this purpose, and it is one of the most commonly unreported arrangements there is.

Who can receive it

Anyone receiving an income support payment, and anyone receiving Family Tax Benefit Part A above the base rate — which means a working family with no Centrelink payment at all can still receive the Family Tax Benefit version of Rent Assistance.

Shared care between 14% and 34% does not attract Family Tax Benefit itself, but it can still attract Rent Assistance, a Health Care Card and Child Care Subsidy. That is a genuinely obscure provision and it matters to a great many separated parents.

Getting the sharer question right

The single sharer rate is $73 a fortnight lower than the single rate — nearly $1,900 a year. Whether you are a sharer depends on whether you have a right to exclusive occupancy of a major area of the accommodation, not simply on whether somebody else lives there. If your circumstances are borderline, describe them accurately and let Centrelink assess it rather than guessing, because guessing wrong in either direction is expensive.

The mandatory state concessions

• NSW — half of ordinary rates plus the domestic waste charge, capped at $250, and a further $87.50 each off water and sewerage where the council supplies them. Requires a Pensioner Concession Card or a qualifying DVA Gold Card.
• Victoria — 50% of the current year rates capped at $272.70, plus a separate $50 rebate on the fire services property levy. A Health Care Card alone does not qualify here, unlike the energy concessions.
• Queensland — 20% of gross rates and charges capped at $200. Plus, in South East Queensland, a separate pensioner water subsidy.
• South Australia — delivered through the Cost of Living Concession, which is paid directly rather than applied to the notice, and which tenants also receive at a lower rate.
• Western Australia — up to 50% of rates capped at $750, the most generous in the country, plus a 50% rebate on the Emergency Services Levy. Eligibility is tested on 1 July, so a mid-year move affects that year.
• Tasmania — up to 30% of general rates, capped, tested at 1 July.
• ACT — a capped percentage rebate, plus a separate deferral scheme.
• Northern Territory — included in the single NT Concession Scheme membership along with everything else.

The voluntary council remission

This is the part almost nobody asks about. Beyond what the state requires, councils may fund their own remission from their own revenue. Whether one exists, who qualifies and how much it is worth are all decided by the individual council, written into its rating policy or revenue statement — a public document — and mentioned on the website rarely and on the rates notice never.

Ring the rates department and ask this exact question:

“Beyond the mandatory state pensioner concession, does the council offer any voluntary rates remission, and am I eligible? And could you send me the rating policy?”

The other lines on the notice

A rates concession usually applies to general rates. Waste collection, recycling, stormwater levies and special rates are separate charges governed by separate policies, and some are remitted where general rates are not. Read the notice, list every charge on it, and ask about each one.

And if anyone in the household generates medical waste — incontinence products, home dialysis, ostomy supplies — ask for an additional bin service on medical grounds. It is free in most councils, it usually requires nothing more than a note from a doctor, and it is almost never advertised.

Deferral, which is the option nobody is offered

Every council in Australia is required to have a hardship policy, and most can postpone rates against the property rather than pursue them. The debt accrues at a concessional rate and is recovered when the property is sold or from the estate.

For an older owner on a pension in a house that has appreciated for thirty years, deferral is frequently worth far more than any rebate — it converts an unaffordable annual bill into a charge against an asset they are not using. It is almost never offered, because the rates department’s first response to arrears is a payment plan.

Ask for the hardship officer, not the payments line, and use the word postponement or deferral rather than “payment plan”. Ask for interest and penalties to be waived while an arrangement is in place. And a free financial counsellor — National Debt Helpline, 1800 007 007 — will negotiate it for you at no cost, which usually produces a better outcome than doing it alone.

When you move

The concession attaches to the property, not to you. Moving means reapplying, and in Western Australia and Tasmania the eligibility test is taken on 1 July, so the timing of a move affects that whole year.

The rate

$1,200.90 a fortnight for a single person, $905.20 each for a couple — $1,810.40 combined. That includes the basic rate, the Pension Supplement and the Energy Supplement, which are three separate components that arrive as one payment.

The assets test

From 1 July 2026, the full pension is payable up to these assets, excluding the family home:

• Single homeowner — full pension to $333,000, cutting out at $733,500.
• Single non-homeowner — full pension to $600,000, cutting out at $1,000,500.
• Couple homeowner — full pension to $499,000, cutting out at $1,102,500.
• Couple non-homeowner — full pension to $766,000, cutting out at $1,369,500.

The family home is never counted. Superannuation is exempt until you reach Age Pension age and then counted in full, which is why a couple where one partner is younger sometimes benefits from holding assets in the younger partner’s super.

The income test

Income up to $226 a fortnight for a single person, or $396 combined for a couple, has no effect. Above that the pension reduces by 50 cents in the dollar. It cuts out at $2,627.80 a fortnight single, or $4,016.80 for a couple.

Financial assets are deemed rather than counted at their actual return: 1.25% on the first $66,800 for a single person or $110,600 for a couple, and 3.25% above that. Deeming means a low interest savings account is assessed as though it earned more than it does, and a high-returning investment is assessed as though it earned less.

The Work Bonus

A pensioner can earn $300 a fortnight from work before the income test touches the rate, and unused amounts accumulate in a bank up to $11,800. Somebody who has not worked all year can therefore take several weeks of seasonal or casual work and lose nothing at all. It is legislated, it is automatic, and it is one of the most underused provisions in the system.

Why to apply anyway

Whichever test produces the lower rate is the one that applies, and a great many people run the numbers, conclude they will get nothing, and stop. Two reasons that is usually a mistake:

First, a part pension carries the same card as a full one. The Pensioner Concession Card is worth well over a thousand dollars a year on its own — concessional medicines, the lower Medicare Safety Net threshold, energy rebates, council rates, registration, transport. A pension of five dollars a fortnight brings the entire card with it.

Second, if you are genuinely over the limit, there is a different card. The Commonwealth Seniors Health Card has no assets test at all. Being refused the pension on assets is not a refusal of that card — they are different tests, and the refusal letter is the moment to apply.

Timing

The claim opens thirteen weeks before your 67th birthday, and payment runs from the date you lodge rather than the date you became eligible. A claim lodged three months late is three months of pension gone and it is generally not recoverable — backdating is granted only in narrow circumstances such as serious illness, a bereavement, or incorrect advice from Services Australia, and you have to ask for it.

What comes with it

• The Pensioner Concession Card, automatically.
• Rent Assistance, up to $219.40 a fortnight, if you rent — but only once you tell them your rent.
• The Home Equity Access Scheme — a government reverse mortgage at 3.95%, with a no negative equity guarantee, available to pensioners and to non-pensioners of Age Pension age.
• Advance payments — your own pension early, interest free.
• The state seniors card, which is separate and has its own benefits.

If you are refused

Ask for the decision in writing and read the reason. If it is assets, apply for the Commonwealth Seniors Health Card the same week. If it is residence, check whether an International Social Security Agreement with a country you lived in counts towards the ten year requirement. And if you disagree with the assessment itself, you can request a formal review — the first level costs nothing and is decided by a different officer.

Who it is for

Australians who have reached Age Pension age — 67 — and who receive no income support payment from Centrelink or DVA. In other words, self-funded retirees: precisely the group that assumes government help is not for them.

The test, in full

There is one test and it is an income test. Adjusted taxable income plus deemed income from account-based pensions must be under:

• $101,105 a year for a single person
• $161,768 a year for a couple, combined
• $202,210 a year for a couple separated by illness or respite care, combined
• plus $639.60 for each dependent child

There is no assets test. None. The home, the investment property, the share portfolio and the superannuation balance are all irrelevant to this card. What matters is the income those assets produce, and for superannuation that is a deemed figure rather than an actual one.

The deeming exemption almost nobody knows about

Income from an account-based pension is normally deemed — assessed at 1.25% on the first $66,800 single or $110,600 for a couple, and 3.25% above that.

But an account-based pension that commenced before 1 January 2015 and has been held continuously by somebody who has held a concession card continuously since then is grandfathered and not deemed at all. For a household close to the limit, that single provision is frequently what brings them under it. If you have a pre-2015 pension, do not assume you are over the threshold until somebody has checked whether it is grandfathered.

What the card is worth

• Concessional PBS medicines — $7.70 a script instead of up to $31.60. For somebody on several regular medicines that alone is over $1,000 a year.
• The lower Extended Medicare Safety Net threshold — $861.20 instead of $2,699.10, a difference of more than $1,800 in gap costs.
• State energy rebates. The NSW Seniors Energy Rebate ($200) exists specifically for this card. In Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia and Tasmania the card qualifies for the main state energy concession.
• Council rates and water concessions in several states.
• The quarterly Energy Supplement, if you have held the card continuously since before 20 September 2016.
• Bulk billing. Many practices bulk bill concession card holders who they would otherwise charge.

How to claim

1. Claim through myGov → Centrelink → Make a claim → Concession cards. If you have no Centrelink record at all, there is a paper form and it is straightforward.
2. You will need your latest tax return or an income statement, and statements for any account-based pension.
3. If you were refused the Age Pension on assets, claim this in the same week. The refusal letter has no bearing on it.
4. Once granted, apply for your state seniors energy rebate — it is a separate application and the card is what makes you eligible.
5. Reassessment happens automatically each year from your tax return. Keep lodging.

The one way to lose something permanently

If you have held the card continuously since before 20 September 2016 you receive the Energy Supplement quarterly. Let the card lapse — by not lodging a return, by going overseas too long, by a year over the income limit — and the supplement cannot be regained even when the card is reissued. It is a small amount, but it is permanent, so it is worth knowing before you let anything slide.

If you are just over the limit

The income test uses adjusted taxable income, which includes reportable superannuation contributions and reportable fringe benefits, so somebody salary sacrificing in a part-time role may be over the line for a reason they can change. And the limits are indexed on 20 September each year, so being over by a little in one year does not mean being over the next. Reapply.

What they are, and what they are not

A state seniors card is issued by your state or territory government, free, to residents over 60 who work below a set number of hours. It is not the Commonwealth Seniors Health Card, which is federal, income tested and gives you cheaper medicines. They are separate cards with separate applications and most people over 60 should hold both.

State by state

New South Wales

Age 60, no more than 20 paid hours a week averaged over a year. The Gold Opal card caps a full day of travel anywhere on the Opal network at $2.50 — including intercity trains, which makes it remarkable value for anyone who travels even occasionally. Thousands of participating business discounts. If you work more than 20 hours, the Senior Savers Card gives the discounts without the transport concession.

Victoria

Age 60, up to 35 hours a week averaged over 12 months — the most generous work limit in the country. From 2026, Seniors myki holders travel free on all public transport statewide every weekend, including regional trains. Two free travel vouchers a year for a return trip anywhere in Victoria, which are posted to you and which expire if unused. Free entry to Parks Victoria national parks, and discounts on driver licence renewals and vehicle registration.

Queensland

Age 60, no more than 35 hours a week. This is the most valuable seniors card in the country for one specific reason: it qualifies you for the Queensland Electricity Rebate of $386.34 a year on its own, with no Centrelink payment required. It also gives free off-peak Translink travel, a vehicle registration discount of around half, and a free recreational fishing licence. If you work more than 35 hours, the Seniors Business Discount Card gives the discounts.

South Australia

Age 60, no more than 20 hours a week. Free off-peak travel on Adelaide Metro, plus business discounts. The state energy concession is separate and card-based.

Western Australia

Age 60, no more than 25 hours a week averaged over 12 months. The card carries the annual Cost of Living Rebate — $114.20 single, $171.30 a couple — usually paid automatically, which makes keeping your address and bank details current on the membership the whole action. Free off-peak public transport, plus access to rates and water concessions.

Tasmania, ACT and the Northern Territory

Each runs its own card with transport concessions and business discounts. In the Northern Territory the concessions are bundled into the single NT Concession Scheme membership rather than sitting on a separate card.

The two things to do the week it arrives

1. Order the transport card. The seniors card itself does not cap your fares — the Gold Opal in NSW and the Seniors myki in Victoria do, and both are separate orders.
2. Ring your electricity retailer. In Queensland and Western Australia the seniors card is itself a qualifying card for the state energy concession, and it will not be applied unless you ask.

And the one that gets forgotten

Victoria’s two free travel vouchers a year are posted out and they expire. They cover a return trip anywhere in the state. A great many are never used, which is a genuine shame given what a return fare to Mildura costs.

Carer Allowance — the one people wrongly rule themselves out of

$162.60 a fortnight for each person you provide daily care and attention to. It is paid for each eligible child, and for up to two eligible adults, so a person caring for two people receives it twice.

The tests are the reason this matters: combined family income must be under $250,000, and there is no assets test whatsoever. A working couple on a good income caring for a parent, or for a child with a disability, very often qualifies — and very often has never applied, because everything they know about Centrelink says their income disqualifies them.

Note that it is adjusted taxable income, which counts salary sacrifice and reportable fringe benefits. But $250,000 is a high ceiling.

Carer Payment — the one people do not know exists

A full income support payment at the pension rate: $1,200.90 a fortnight single, $905.20 partnered, with a Pensioner Concession Card. It is for people providing constant care — broadly a full-time commitment.

Two means tests apply. The carer passes the ordinary pension income and assets test. And the person being cared for must have assets under $886,750 and income under $143,752 a year, though if their assets exceed that the carer may still qualify by passing the income and liquid assets tests.

You do not have to live with the person, but the care must be provided in their private home. Up to 63 days of respite a calendar year are allowed without losing payment.

The assessment, and how to approach it

Both payments turn on an assessment — the Adult Disability Assessment Tool for someone 16 or over, or the Disability Care Load Assessment for a child. Part of it is completed by the treating doctor and part by you.

Three things make a material difference:

1. Book a long appointment. These forms take time and a rushed one scores badly.
2. Answer about the worst days. The questions ask what level of care is required, not what you have learned to cope with. Carers routinely under-report because they have normalised the load.
3. Claim both at once. The claim asks whether Carer Payment applies as well as Carer Allowance, and it is easy to answer no by reflex.

What follows automatically once Carer Allowance is in place

• Carer Supplement — $600 a year, paid each July to anyone on Carer Allowance or Carer Payment on 1 July. Carer Payment recipients receive an additional instalment, so some carers get two or more.
• Child Disability Assistance Payment — $1,000 a year for each child under 16 you receive Carer Allowance for. No claim, no means test.
• A Health Care Card in the child’s name — separate money again through the PBS and through state concessions.

All three follow from the Carer Allowance claim. None of them exists without it — which is the single best argument for lodging that claim even where the allowance itself feels small.

Carer Adjustment Payment

An ex-gratia lump sum of up to $10,000 where a child under 7 is diagnosed with a severe disability or medical condition, needs full-time care for at least two months afterwards, and the family is not eligible for an income support payment. It must be claimed within two years of the diagnosis, it is assessed case by case on demonstrated financial need, and it is not an online claim — ring the Disability and carers line and ask for it by name.

Backdating

Carer Allowance can be backdated up to twelve weeks before the claim date where the care was already being provided. It is not offered. Raise it explicitly when you lodge.

If you are also studying

Carer Payment recipients who study qualify for the Pensioner Education Supplement — $62.40 a fortnight on top — and the Education Entry Payment of $208 a year. Neither is offered and both are separate claims.

Disability Support Pension

$1,200.90 a fortnight single, $905.20 partnered, tax free below Age Pension age, with a Pensioner Concession Card. Youth rates apply under 21 with no children.

The conditions are demanding. You must be at least 15 years and 9 months and under Age Pension age at claim. The condition must be diagnosed, treated and stabilised, and likely to persist more than two years. You must score 20 points or more on the Impairment Tables, and be unable to work or be retrained for work of at least 15 hours a week within two years. If your 20 points come from more than one table rather than a single one, you must also have completed a Program of Support.

Why claims fail, and what to do about it

The most common reason a DSP claim is refused is not that the person is not unwell enough. It is that the medical evidence does not address what the assessor has to decide. Three practical things:

1. Get the Treating Health Professional report completed before you lodge. A claim without it is usually refused.
2. Gather every specialist report you can find, including old ones. Evidence that the condition is stabilised — that reasonable treatment has been tried — is what the assessment turns on, and that is a history rather than a snapshot.
3. If refused, request a formal review within 13 weeks. A large share of reviews succeed, usually on evidence that was simply not in front of the original decision maker.

Manifest eligibility skips all of this. Permanent blindness, a terminal illness, an intellectual disability with an IQ under 70, or a Category 4 nursing home level of care each qualify without the Impairment Tables or a Program of Support.

And while you prepare a claim, claim JobSeeker with a medical exemption so money keeps arriving. Once DSP is granted, the higher rate applies from the DSP claim date.

The NDIS

The largest single source of disability funding in Australia, and it is not means tested at all — income and assets are irrelevant, and access is decided on the disability itself.

You must be under 65 when you first apply. That rule is absolute, and it means a diagnosis at 63 should be acted on immediately rather than after things settle down, because after 65 the aged care system applies instead and it funds far less.

The application turns on functional impact, not diagnosis. Ask your treating professionals to write about mobility, communication, social interaction, learning, self-care and self-management — what the person can and cannot do — rather than about the condition. A Local Area Coordinator will help you prepare the request at no cost. If access is refused, request an internal review within three months, then the Administrative Review Tribunal.

Mobility Allowance

$122.80 a fortnight at the standard rate, $171.70 at the higher rate, for people 16 or over with a disability that prevents them using public transport without substantial assistance, who travel from home for work, volunteer work, study, training or job seeking.

No income test and no assets test. A lump sum advance equal to six months of the allowance can be paid once a year. It is not payable alongside NDIS transport funding or a DVA Vehicle Assistance Scheme car, so if you have an NDIS plan compare the two.

Essential Medical Equipment Payment

$203 a year for each piece of qualifying equipment used at home, and again for a medical condition requiring extra heating or cooling. Qualifying equipment includes home dialysis machines, ventilators, oxygen concentrators, enteral feeding pumps, heart pumps, positive airway pressure devices and powered wheelchairs.

It requires a concession card or a DVA Gold or White Card, and it stacks on top of your state medical energy rebate rather than replacing it. Once granted it renews automatically each year.

The rest

• Youth Disability Supplement — $162.60 a fortnight for recipients of youth rates of DSP, and for Youth Allowance or ABSTUDY recipients under 22 with a partial capacity to work.
• Continence Aids Payment Scheme — $717.10 a year paid directly to you, not a supply of products. Certified by a doctor or continence nurse; the National Continence Helpline on 1800 33 00 66 will help with the form.
• Hearing Services Program — free assessments and fully subsidised hearing aids, plus a maintenance agreement covering batteries and repairs. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people qualify from 50 without a concession card.
• State taxi subsidy schemes — roughly half the fare up to a per-trip cap, in every state. A health professional signs the form.
• Mobility parking permits — separate application, same kind of certification, usually done in the same appointment.
• State medical energy and life support rebates — see the guide.
• Patient travel schemes — every state pays fuel, fares and accommodation for specialist treatment beyond a set distance, and covers an escort. Ask the specialist’s rooms for the form at the first appointment.

One appointment, several forms

Almost everything on this page requires a health professional’s signature, and the practical answer is to download all of them, book one long appointment, and take the lot. Doing them one at a time across six months is how people end up claiming two of the seven things they qualified for.

The super co-contribution — the best value on this page

If your total income is under $49,293 and you make a personal after-tax contribution to super, the government contributes 50 cents for every dollar, up to $500. Put in $1,000 and $500 appears. It phases out at $64,293.

Three conditions catch people. You must be under 71 at the end of the year. At least 10% of your income must come from employment or business. And you must not claim a tax deduction for that contribution — a deducted contribution is concessional and does not qualify.

The contribution must be made before 30 June, and your fund must hold your tax file number or it cannot accept it. After that it is automatic: the ATO works it out from your return and pays the fund.

LISTO — automatic, unless it silently is not

If your adjusted taxable income is $37,000 or less, the 15% contributions tax on your employer super is refunded into your account, up to $500 a year. There is no application.

Except that it does not happen if your fund does not have your tax file number. That is the entire failure mode, it is common, and nobody tells you. Log into your fund and check. If it is missing, provide it and ask whether prior-year amounts can still be paid.

SAPTO — and the part tax agents catch and self-lodgers do not

The Seniors and Pensioners Tax Offset is worth up to $2,230 for a single person and $1,602 each for a couple ($2,040 each where separated by illness). Combined with the Low Income Tax Offset it means a single senior can earn well over $30,000 before paying any tax at all.

The part that gets missed: unused SAPTO can be transferred between spouses. If one partner has more offset than tax to apply it against, the balance can go to the other. It is a question in the return and it is easy to scroll past.

Spouse super contribution offset

Contribute $3,000 to a spouse earning under $37,000 and you receive $540 back as a tax offset — an 18% immediate return on moving household money into the lower earner’s super. The contribution must be recorded by the fund as a spouse contribution, not as a personal contribution by them, and it is claimed in your own return.

Franking credits, refunded in cash

If your marginal rate is below 30%, the company tax already paid on your Australian dividends is refunded to you in cash. Retirees on a pension with a modest share portfolio are the classic case.

There is a standalone application for people who do not need to lodge a return at all — a short form that can be completed by phone. And franking credits from managed funds and ETFs count too, which is the part most commonly overlooked. The 45 day holding period rule applies only above $5,000 of credits.

Zone tax offset

For residents of specified remote zones who lived there 183 days or more in the year. The base amounts are modest but the dependant loading can lift it materially for a family, and it is a question myTax does not prompt you towards. Check the ATO zone list for your town — the boundaries are specific and not intuitive. Note that Remote Area Allowance from Centrelink reduces it dollar for dollar.

Invalid and invalid carer tax offset

Up to $3,352 for maintaining a spouse, parent or relative who receives a disability support pension, or the carer of such a person. Your own adjusted taxable income must be $100,000 or less, and the offset reduces as the maintained person’s income rises. Substantial, largely forgotten, and a question a self-lodger almost never reaches.

Private health insurance rebate

The government pays roughly a quarter to a third of your premium, income tested, and the percentage steps up at 65 and again at 70. Tell your insurer when you cross either — it is not always applied automatically. And check you are claiming at the right income tier, because claiming at too generous a tier means repaying the difference at tax time.

Downsizer contributions

Not an offset, but a rule worth a great deal. From 55, up to $300,000 each from the sale of a home owned for ten years can go into super outside every contribution cap and with no work test. The deadline is 90 days from settlement and the form must reach the fund at or before the contribution — a late form invalidates it.

One warning: money moved from an exempt family home into assessable superannuation can reduce or end an Age Pension. Model that before doing it.

And the one that is not an offset at all

Lodge your outstanding returns. Most people with unlodged returns are owed money rather than owing it, and an unlodged return also withholds the Family Tax Benefit supplements, freezes the Child Care Subsidy balance, and after twelve months turns a year of family payments into a debt. Most information is pre-filled, and the ATO runs a free volunteer service called Tax Help for simple returns on modest incomes.

The two year rule

Almost everything on this page can be claimed retrospectively by amending a return, generally within two years of the notice of assessment. If you have never claimed SAPTO, the zone offset or the invalid carer offset and you were eligible, amend the last two years.