Hi,
Just turned 60 and want to ask a question about my pension. My partner of 8 years and I have decided to go our own ways and we will look to sell a little investment property we have in Forster. It is 50/50 and probably sell for about $380,000, no debt.

I own my own home, about $640,000 so if I get $190,000 less costs from the sale, how will it affect my pension, thank you

Hi Jessie

The ASSETS test will obvioulsy apply, however based on what you have said you will be under the asset test threshold of $258,500 for a single homeowner.

www.humanservices.gov.au/individuals/enablers/assets/30621

The INCOME test is the thing that might catch you:

for every dollar you earn over $172/fortnight, your pension gets reduced by 50 cents.

www.humanservices.gov.au/individuals/services/centrelink/age-pension/eligibility/income-test-pensions

I note that you are 60, so your pension is probably not the age pension.....however the income and assets tests are applied to a wide range of pensions.

Best advice I can give you is make an appointment with Centrelink and go through it with them.

You also have another issue: Capital Gains Tax. For that I strongly recommend you talk to a good accountant BEFORE you sell the property

good luck

BC