Elizabeth does some volunteer work and isn’t sure how Centrelink treats expense reimbursements.
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Q. Elizabeth
I am currently 64 and very active. My husband is 73 on the Age Pension. I no longer work or claim Newstart. However, I do volunteer in a consumer capacity at several health services, contributing to our country’s health services. I do not get paid, but I am reimbursed for expenses, for example, public transport costs, etc. My understanding is that this is not treated as income from a Centrelink perspective, but I thought I would put the question forward to check.
A. Where a volunteer worker receives reimbursement from an agency specifically for out-of-pocket expenses incurred, the payment is NOT assessed as income.
Where a volunteer receives more than the amount of the expenses actually incurred, the extra IS considered to be income.
Even if you were in paid employment, reimbursements for work-related expenses would still not be considered income by Centrelink.
On a slightly different topic, payments (including for out-of-pocket expenses) to people serving, or being summoned to serve, on a jury is also NOT considered to be income.
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