Owen thinks he has found a way to increase his pension, but will it work?
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Q. Owen
Just a small question regarding income streams. Are there any ramifications if I cancel my income stream and transfer the money to my wife’s superannuation fund? My wife is 63, therefore the money won’t be an asset and my pension will increase. Do the gifting rules come into play?
A. Gifting between spouses is allowed without having any effect on the way your income or assets are assessed by Centrelink.
Transferring assets out of your own superannuation fund and into your wife’s account is an entirely legitimate strategy to reduce the impact of the assets test.
As your wife is under 65, she does not have to satisfy a work test to have funds contributed to superannuation. As she is under pension age, assets held in superannuation are not counted towards your combined assets test for Centrelink purposes until she is of Age Pension age or starts drawing money from the account. This thereby legitimately reduces the impact of the assets test for Age Pension purposes.
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