Talking to the Taxman

I have a rather curly question but I hope you can answer it. My husband and I are five years from retiring and, combined, we have just over $620,000 in assets, including an investment property with a mortgage. My question is, does Centrelink take the mortgage from the investment property off the total of investment assets when assessing us for the Age Pension?

Beverley

Hi Beverley,

In a word, yes. Centrelink only counts the equity in the investment property (less the debt) for the Age Pension asset test. If, however, you have both a mortgage on your home and a mortgage on your investment property, I’d encourage you to focus on paying down your home over the next five years, because its value is totally exempt from the asset test.

Scott