Your payment is reduced by 50 cents for each dollar your gross income is over $437, up to $524 per fortnight.
Once gross income exceeds $524 per fortnight your payment reduces at 60 cents for every dollar.
eg. if gross income is $624 per fortnight, your payment reduces by $43.50 for the income between $437 and $524, plus a further $60 for the amount between $524 and $624. The total reduction would therefore be $103.50 that fortnight.
If you receive Youth Allowance or Austudy you need to report your income to Centrelink fortnightly. Make sure you report the correct gross (before tax) earnings amount. Keep payslips and record any receipt numbers Centrelink give you.
Do scholarships count as ‘income’?
This means scholarships are included in the Income Test and may reduce your payment.
If the scholarship is a lump sum payment Centrelink will normally divide it by 26 (fortnights) and add this amount to your fortnightly income for the year.
NOTE: Although scholarships are income for income test purposes they DO NOT count as work income to gain ‘independence’ – unless they are payment for work.
The Student Income Bank (SIB) is like an imaginary bank account of income test credit. Centrelink understands many students work more during holidays and the SIB is designed to average out the impact of your earnings.
Each fortnight your SIB goes up by the amount your income is below $437.
eg. if you have no income, your SIB increases by $437 if you earn $300 your SIB increases by $137. The maximum your SIB can accumulate to is $10,900.
Your SIB is not reset each semester or year – it rolls over so you can keep your credit as you study. However, if you cease being a full-time student you lose any credit and start from $0 again when you return to full time study.
If you earn more than $437 in a fortnight, Centrelink will look at your SIB before reducing your payment. Your payment is reduced only if your SIB is $0. If you have credit left in your SIB, then your SIB will be reduced by the amount your income is over $437 that fortnight.
eg. if you earn $600 your SIB credit goes down by $163 without your payment being reduced. Your SIB cannot go below zero.
Once your SIB hits zero the amount of income left over that fortnight is subject to the Personal Income Test and the Partnered Income Test, and your payment will be reduced (If you have a partner see overleaf).
Note: You must always report income changes to Centrelink even if you earn under $437 per fortnight, because it will change your SIB balance. Not doing so may result in a penalty or overpayment.
1. Your gross income is less than $437 in the fortnight.
Your SIB balance will increase by the amount your income is under $437.Eg. Xiang earns $380 in a fortnight. His payment will not be reduced and his SIB balance will be increased $57.
2. Your SIB balance is greater than the amount left over when you take $437 away from your income.
While your payment will not be affected, your SIB balance will be reduced by the amount your income is greater than $437.
eg. Chris earns $500 in a fortnight, and her SIB balance is $1,000. Chris’s income minus $437 is $500 – $437 =$63. Centrelink will not reduce her payment, but will reduce her SIB balance by $63, meaning her new SIB balance is $937.
Your payment will be reduced if your income is over $437 and you do not have enough SIB balance to offset this.
eg: Anna earns $660 in a fortnight and has a $200 SIB balance. Her income minus her SIB balance is $460. This is $13 more than $437 (the personal income test threshold). Centrelink will apply a reduction rate of 50 cents in the dollar to this $13.
eg. Rakesh earns $1,000 in a fortnight & has an SIB balance of $300. His income minus SIB balance is $700, which is over the personal income test threshold of $437 & over the $524 threshold where the higher rate of reduction applies (60c in the dollar, as opposed to 50c). A 60c in the dollar reduction rate is applied to the amount over $524, on top of the 50c in the dollar reduction rate applied to the $87 between $437 & $524 ($43.50).
Also, if the amount of your payment reduction exceeds your maximum payable amount of Youth Allowance or Austudy you will get no payment that fortnight.
If you have a partner (either married or de facto) you will be subjected to the Partner Income Test each fortnight, regardless of whether you share money or not.
$1 192 – if they are getting Austudy or Youth Allowance as a full-time student.
$901 – if they are under 22 years old.
These numbers are the points at which they would not be payable for the relevant Centrelink payment as a job seeker [Youth Allowance (Jobseeker) and Newstart Allowance (Partnered)], whether they get those payments or not. Your partner might be working, or a student and not on a payment, but Centrelink still use those numbers.
Different rules apply if your partner is receiving a social security or service pension (e.g. Age Pension).
Do they have to look at your partner’s income?
Whether you are in a defacto or marriage like relationship is an open question, particularly if you have lived with your partner for under 12 months and/or do not consider this to be a permanent arrangement.
See the SRC leaflet Relationships & Centrelink for more information about how your relationship may affect your payment.
If you are on Austudy or YA independent (eg. because you are over 22), you do not need to worry about your Parental Income.
If you are on ‘dependent’ Youth Allowance, Centrelink looks at your Parental Income annually. Your payment will not vary each fortnight because of your parent/s income.
See the SRC leaflet How Parental Income Affects Youth Allowance for more information.