C13/2006 JUNE 2006 STATUTORY INCREASE - ADVICE LETTER, PAYMENT SUMMARY AND MEDICARE LEVY EXEMPTION CERTIFICATE PRODUCTION AND MAILOUT

DATE OF ISSUE: 16 June 2006

JUNE 2006 STATUTORY INCREASE - ADVICE LETTER, PAYMENT SUMMARY AND MEDICARE LEVY EXEMPTION CERTIFICATE PRODUCTION AND MAILOUT

Purpose of Instruction

This Departmental Instruction is to provide information about the processing arrangements for the June 2006 Statutory Increase (SI) advice letters with payment summaries, Standalone Payment Summaries (issued without a covering letter), and Medicare Levy Exemption Certificate production and mailout.

BOB TURNER

DIRECTOR

BUSINESS OPERATIONS

INCOME SUPPORT BUSINESS GROUP

16 June 2006

Overview

Introduction

In June each year, the Department undertakes a bulk exercise to issue approximately 350,000 households with advice letters to persons in receipt of service pension, age pension including those in payment of Defence Force Income Support Allowance (DFISA) or income support supplement. The majority of these letters will include payment summaries for the end of the financial year.

Standalone Payment Summaries – issued without a covering letter and Medicare Levy Exemption Certificates will also be issued at this time.

Significant Issues

The June 2006 mailout will incorporate the following events for payday 6 July 2006.

Production of advice letters to all service pensioner, income support supplement and age pensioner recipients including those in payment of DFISA only;
Changes to pension rates, and allowances in line with adjustments to the Income Free Area and Assets Free Area thresholds;
Increase to the deeming thresholds – singles rate from $37,200 to $38,400 and couples rate from $62,000 to $63,800;
A Full Income and Assets Attachment will be provided for - all less than maximum rate pensioners who are either assets tested or income tested where the total of their assets is within (or equal) to $10,000 of their prescribed assets limit;

Significant Issues Continued

A Tailored Income and Assets Attachment will be provided for - all less than maximum rate pensioners who are income tested and where the total of their assets is greater than $10,000 below their prescribed assets limit;

Full Obligations will be provided for all less than maximum rate pensioners - this is in line with the Repatriation Commission policy that pensioners receiving reduced rate of pension are provided with their full obligations and full income and asset details at a minimum interval of once every two years;
Full obligations will be suppressed for all maximum rate pensioners, however reference will be made to previous obligations issued;
Maximum rate pensioners will receive the Financial Obligations paragraph (including their Prescribed Rates) in their advice letter;
End of financial year Payment Summary production;
Standalone Payment Summaries ie., payment summaries issued without a covering letter – to be issued to those eligible pensioners who do not receive an advice letter;

Production of Medicare Levy Exemption Certificates (MLEC);
Advice to pensioners of any gain or loss of treatment eligibility; and
Payment of Telephone Allowance to those eligible.

Production of Advice Letters

Processing Weekend -

17/06/2006 -

18/06/06

Processing is scheduled to run from Friday evening 16 June 2006 until Sunday, 18 June 2006 with any pension variations effective from 1 July 2006 for payday 6 July 2006.

Critical Dates

Processing period within DVA - (includes 'advices' processing).	Friday (pm) 16 June 2006 – Sunday (pm) 18 June 2006
Commence printing advice letters with payment summaries, Standalone Payment Summaries and Medicare Levy Exemption Certificates (MLEC)	Tuesday, 20 June 2006
Progressive lodgement of all Advice Letters, Standalone Payment Summaries and MLECs with Australia Post (SALMAT) to be completed by...	Friday, 30 June 2006

Letter Production

SALMAT – Document Management Solutions, located in Mulgrave, Victoria will print the advice letters, Standalone Payment Summaries and MLECs, insert the ATO flyers, envelope and lodge all mail with Australia Post. Production and processing of letters is expected to occur over the period 19 June – 30 June 2006.

Lodgement of Letters

Letters will be progressively lodged with Australia Post for posting commencing Friday, 23 June 2006. All letters are to be posted by Friday, 30 June 2006.

Letter Content

Letters

Prior to the issue of this Departmental Instruction, comments were sought from staff in each location who were provided with copies of the proposed paragraph sequencing and mock-ups of advice letters for this run.

All feedback received from staff was extremely positive with no requests for changes to the proposed advice letter content. Details of the Paragraph Sequencing and Target Audience can be found at Attachment A. Copies of the expected advice letter content for this run are reproduced at Attachment B to this DI.

Single and Joint Advices

All service pensioner and income support supplement recipient couples will receive a joint advice, provided both members of a couple, including illness separated, have the same IMS address recorded.

Age pensioners receive single advice letters.

Important to note: Staff are reminded that if a client in a joint assessment requests separate or single advices, staff need to update this information using PRODIMS – Client Correspondence Screen – CO.CO prior to the processing run to initiate the client request. Advice default requests in CO.CO will override the DOCGEN advice rules.

Full Obligations - for All Less than Maximum Rate Pensioners

Full Obligations are to be provided for all less than maximum rate SP/ISS/AP recipients. This is in line with the Repatriation Commission policy that pensioners receiving reduced rate of pension are provided with their full obligations and full income and asset details at a minimum interval of once every two years. Full Obligations were last issued to this group in June 2004.

Financial Obligations including Prescribed Rates for Maximum Rate Pensioners

The Financial Obligations paragraph (including the Prescribed Rates) will be present in the advice for all maximum rate SP/ISS/AP pensioners.

Full Income and Assets Attachment

A Full Income and Assets Attachment will be sent to those less than maximum rate service pensioners, income support supplement recipients and age pensioners who are either:

Assets tested; or
Income tested where the total of their assets is within (or equal to) $10,000 of their prescribed assets limit.

Tailored Income and Assets Attachment

A Tailored Income and Assets Attachment will be sent to those less than maximum rate service pensioners, income support supplement recipients and age pensioners who are:

Income tested where the total of their assets is greater than $10,000 below their prescribed assets limit.

The Tailored Income and Assets Attachment will list all of the client's income and assets but will exclude any miscellaneous assets in their assessment unless those miscellaneous assets earn income.

Assets to be excluded are:

Home contents;
Vehicles, boats, trailers, caravans, motor bikes;
Life insurance;
Collectibles; and
Other personal assets.

A paragraph is included in the Tailored Income and Assets Attachment advising pensioners that some of the miscellaneous assets recorded in their pension assessment that do not currently affect the rate of pension they are paid, are not listed in the attachment.

Telephone Allowance

Pensioners entitled to a telephone allowance payment will receive a paragraph advising them about their quarterly payment and the date of that payment – 6 July 2006. The TA paragraph will advise pensioners that ....'TA is a separate payment and is not included in your total fortnightly payment information referred to in the letter.'

The TA paragraph will advise those without a Payment Information Attachment ie., maximum rate pensioners........'Your quarterly telephone allowance will be paid on 6 July 2006, together with your pension payment.'

Maximum Rate Pensioners – Do not receive a Payment Information Attachment

SP/ISS/AP pensioners who remain on maximum rate following the processing do not have a Payment Information Attachment printed as part of their advice as they are considered to be continuation cases.

SP/ISS/AP pensioners who increase from less than maximum rate to maximum rate following the processing will receive a Payment Information Attachment, and Full Obligations and Full Income and Assets Attachments.

Tasmanian Office Clients with Overseas Postal Address

Advice letters for Tasmanian Office clients with an overseas postal address will have their advices printed and posted directly from the Mailing House.

Non Taxable Pensioners

Those pensioners whose pensions are not taxable (eg., those in payment of invalidity service pension and who are under 65 years of age for males, 63 years for females) will receive an advice letter only, without a payment summary included.

A Medicare Levy Exemption Certificate (MLEC) will be issued separately to these eligible clients advising them of the number of Medicare Levy exemption days.

A paragraph will advise the client by name, that they will be receiving their MLEC separately.

2006 PAYG Payment Summary -individual Non Business

Service Pension, or

Age Pension or
DFISA or
Income Support Supplement

Payment summaries will be issued to all pensioners whose pensions are taxable.

Payment summaries can form part of the advice letter or may be sent without a covering letter. Where a payment summary is sent without a covering letter, it is referred to as a 'Standalone Payment Summary'.

Payment summaries are sequenced to print after the Payment Information Attachment but before the General Information Sheet (GIS). Each page of the advice letter, including the payment summary(s), has a page number printing in the footer information.

General Information Sheet (GIS)

Each letter will have a General Information Sheet (GIS). The GIS will be sequenced to print after the payment summary - the GIS must be used as the consistent last page to enable the enveloping machines at the mailing house to identify the last page of each persons letter ie., gatemarking purposes.

ATO insert - 'Do you need to lodge a Tax Return?'

A 'pensioner flyer' produced by the Australian Taxation Office (ATO), will be included with all advice letters, Medicare Levy Exemption Certificates and Standalone Payment Summaries issued in this exercise. This flyer has been re-designed to help reduce the number of calls from clients regarding taxation matters. The brochure is titled “Do you Need to lodge a Tax Return?”.

ATO will issue the insert in 2006, under the ATO logo only. In previous years this insert was issued in conjunction with Centrelink and DVA. Both Centrelink and DVA logos will be removed from the insert produced for the 2006 issue as a means of directing pensioners with any enquiries directly to ATO.

Each location will be supplied with a quantity of the flyers to insert with their Enclosure (treatment changes) and any reduction to nil letters which are to be returned to them for sending out to clients.

Pensioners to Contact ATO with Taxation Questions

It is important for DVA staff to note that pensioners have been advised in their letters to contact the Australian Taxation Office on 13 28 61 if they should have any questions about taxation. Should pensioners ring DVA offices with questions relating to taxation matters – Staff should refer them to the Australian Taxation Office on 13 28 61.

IMPORTANT NOTE: DVA staff must not offer advice about taxation liability or the need to lodge a taxation return.

Information on Tax Thresholds in VIEW

The 'Senior Australians Tax Offset' and 'Pensioner Tax Offset' amounts are displayed in the 'Tax Thresholds Amounts' folder in the 'Fin year Certificate' tab in VIEW. The 2005/2006 threshold amounts will be available from 16 June 2006. Additional information about these thresholds is provided via the VIEW Online Help.

Standalone Payment Summaries (issued without a covering letter)

Standalone

Payment Summaries – sent without a covering letter

Standalone Payment Summaries - will be produced for the following categories:

Those persons issued with an Education Allowance Payment Summary;
Working Rule B Widows,

Those pensioners who are no longer in payment and do not receive an advice but a payment summary for that part of the year for which they were in payment;
Overseas addressees (for clients who were in payment for part of the year but are no longer in payment); and
Centrelink clients in payment of DFISA.

The Standalone Payment Summaries for those listed above, apart from those payment summaries with an Overseas Address, are to be printed at the mailing house and lodged with Australia Post directly from the mailing house. They will not be returned to each location for distribution as they have done in previous years. This change to procedures was introduced in the June 2005 processing run.

Standalone Payment Summaries - Unknown Addressees

Standalone Payment Summaries will not be produced for clients with an 'unknown address' recorded.

Standalone Payment Summaries - Overseas Addressees

Standalone Payment Summaries for clients who reside overseas and who are no longer in payment will not be printed at the mailing house. A zip file of each Standalone Payment Summary category will be emailed to each location – this will list the clients who reside overseas who are to receive a Standalone Payment Summary – a re-print may be requested and then sent to these clients. Following the June 2005 SI processing, there were 5 overseas clients nationally

Standalone Payment Summaries - For Deceased Clients

Standalone Payment Summaries for clients who have died during the financial year will not be printed at the mailing house. Staff will be able to request a re-print of a deceased client's payment summary when required from 1 July 2006.

Reports of Standalone Payment Summaries

A Standalone Payment Summary report is generated for each of the following categories:

MRCA Education Allowance;

Education Allowance;

Other;

Group Destination;

Overseas;

Unknown Address; and

Deceased.

A report file for each category will be emailed in a zip file to the contact officer in each location.

Envelope Return Address if not Delivered - GPO Box 9998 in your Capital City

All Standalone Payment Summaries sent from the Mailing House will be enveloped in a single window-faced envelope with a return address of ...'GPO Box 9998 in your Capital City'.

Payment Summary Reprint Facility - VIEW Advices Tab

From 1 — st July 2006, payment summaries for the 2005/2006 financial year may be re-generated using the 'Payment Summary Reprint' facility located under the Advices Tab in VIEW.

Please note: the 'year of issue' will not print in the payment summary heading for reprinted payment summaries requested from VIEW. The 'Payment From' and 'Payment To' date range will accurately reflect the correct year/dates payment range. The 'Authorising Person' will reflect the respective location's Deputy Commissioner, based on the date the reprint is requested.

Payment Summary Template

The June SI Income Support Business Group contact officers will be provided with a 2006 Payment Summary Template.

Medicare Levy Exemption Certificates

(MLEC)

A Medicare Levy Exemption Certificate will be issued to those Gold Card beneficiaries who are not in receipt of a taxable income support pension and who do not receive an advice letter, ie,

War widows who do not receive income support supplement; or
Those veterans who are eligible for a gold card due to their disability entitlement, and are not in receipt of an income support payment or Centrelink DFISA; or
Those clients who are eligible for a gold card due to their entitlement under the Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2004 (MRCA); or
Australian veterans with Qualifying Service and over 70 years of age, who are not in receipt of an income support payment; or
Those pensioners whose pensions are not taxable (eg, those in payment of invalidity service pension who are under 65 years of age for males, 63 years for females).

The number of medicare levy exemption days, where applicable, will be stated on the payment summary for all other pensioners.

The Medicare Levy Exemption Certificate has been re-designed for the 2006 issue - a sample of the certificate to be issued in 2006 can be found at Attachment C.

Medicare levy exemption days - blinded Income Support pensioners

Blind veterans and partners in receipt of an Income Support payment are eligible for full or half Medicare Levy exemption. The number of eligible exemption days will be printed on their Payment Summaries.

This affects approximately 660 clients.

Zip File of Reports Listing all MLEC Recipients and Clients with an Unknown Address Recorded

A report of all clients who receive a MLEC will be produced and emailed in a zip file to each contact officer.

A MLEC will not be produced where a client has an 'unknown address' recorded. However, a report will be produced and emailed in a zip file to all contact officers, listing those clients who are eligible to receive a MLEC but have an unknown address recorded.

MLEC Template

The June SI location contact officers will be provided with a Medicare Levy Exemption Certificate (MLEC) word template for the re-issuing of MLECs if required.

Issues Requiring Staff Action

ZIP Files of Advice Schedule Reports

A Zip File listing details of all clients who receive an advice will be emailed to the System Support Officer in each location during the week following the processing run. The Zip File replaces the Advices Schedule Report, which is too large to print on printers.

Enclosure Letters

As is the procedure for quarterly processing Enclosure (treatment) advice letters will be printed at the IBM Printhub and sent via courier to each location. It is suggested that these letters be checked for accuracy, and reconciled against the reports received in each location to ensure they reflect the correct treatment paragraphs.

Reduction to Nil Letters

As is the procedure for quarterly processing any Reduction to Nil advice letters will be printed at the IBM Printhub and sent via courier to each Location. Staff are required to include a Commonwealth Seniors Health Card (CSHC) claim form, a CSHC fact sheet and an envelope for clients to return the completed form in.

'HELD' Advices to be Forced

As part of the Batch processing run all advices in 'Held' status will be forced to print. Forced 'held' advices will now print at the nominated printer in each respective location as part of the production run. Please ensure your nominated printer is fully operational over the processing weekend as the forced advices will print during that time. All forced advices will need to be checked to ensure the information in them is correct prior to posting to clients.

Handling of Daily Advices

Cases processed prior to the SI run for payday 6 July 2006 should have the daily advice dispatched prior to the June advice letter being sent.

Daily payment advices processed after the processing run on 17 –18 June 2006 for payday 6 July 2006, should be held by staff in each location until confirmation is received from the June SI Business Co-ordinator to release such advices. This will ensure that pensioners who have pension variations processed for payday 6 July 2006 will receive their daily advice after the quarterly advice rather than in advance of it.

To minimise the number of daily advices to be held while the June advices are processed, it is suggested that only manual cases (and essential processing) should be processed for payday 6 July 2006.

Reprints of June SI Advices via VIEW Advices Tab

Reprints of individual advice letters produced from the quarterly processing can be requested via VIEW - Advices Tab reprint facility. Quarterly advice reprints are available and can be requested from day one of the next quarter ie., March quarterly advices from 01/04/yyyy, June quarterly advices from 01/07/yyyy and September quarterly advices from 01/10/yyyy.

Staff Requests for Reprints of Daily Advices - Pre-SI Processing

The 'Reprint' Scheduled jobs which produce the requested reprints of daily advices by staff are postponed as part of the SI processing. Any requests for an advice reprint on the day of the commencement of the SI processing will not be actioned until following the SI when the next 'Reprint' job is submitted. 'Unprinted' advice reprint requests will then print when the next 'Reprint' job is submitted.

Manual Advices Required – for PA only back onto payment of Service Pension

Following the June SI processing there may be some instances where clients have gone from payment of Pharmaceutical Allowance (PA) (MOA 99 cases) only, onto payment of Service Pension.

Following PIPS processing of these cases a 'new grant' advice with fringe benefits paragraphs and other related new grant information is produced. A new grant advice does not convey the appropriate wording for this situation, and as such the PIPs advice should be suppressed and a manual advice produced.

DVA Income Support Business Group (ISBG) Contacts

DVA Income Support Business Group (ISBG) Contact Officers

NSW - Genia Sacharczuk - 02 9213 7106

VIC - David Price - 03 9284 6379

QLD - Steve Jensen/Roger Vickerstaff - 07 3223 8835

SA - Wanda Melnyczek - 08 8290 0425

WA - John Gliddon - 08 9366 8417

TAS - Bryon Kelly - 03 6221 6684

ACT – Paul Segrott - 02 6289 6493

ACT Location Contacts

Feedback from Staff

Any concerns regarding letters produced as part of this run should be directed to the June SI Business Co-ordinator located in New South Wales - Pat Webb. At the end of this process we will be collating all Staff feedback to analyse any issues identified and develop solutions to address any concerns raised. Any problems noted should be reported to the Business Co-ordinator, together with any background information detailing the issue. Please ensure that any problems are reported as early as possible.

Contact Details

Any queries regarding advice wording, mail house printing and letter lodgement should be referred to:

Pat Webb

(02) 9213 7288 (Phone) Speed dial: 27288

(02) 9213 7889 (Fax)

pat.webb@dva.gov.au (email)

ATTACHMENT A

JUNE 2006 SI - PARAGRAPH SEQUENCING AND TARGET AUDIENCE

An advice will be produced for all Service Pensioners, Income Support Supplement recipients and Age Pensioners, including those in payment of Defence Force Income Support Allowance (DFISA).

***LESS THAN MAXIMUM RATE SP/ISS/AP pensioners will receive the following paragraphs:

The Full Income and Assets Attachment. This will be sent to those:

Less than Maximum Rate of SP/ISS/AP pensioners who are either:

Assets tested; or
Income tested where the total of their assets is within (or equal to) $10,000 of their prescribed asset limit.

A Tailored Income and Asset Attachment will be sent to those:

Less than Maximum Rate of SP/ISS/AP pensioners who are:

Income tested and where the total of their assets is greater than $10,000 below their prescribed asset limit.

The Tailored Income and Assets Attachment will list all of the client's income and assets but will exclude their miscellaneous assets unless those miscellaneous assets earn income.

Full Obligations will be sent to:

All Less than Maximum Rate SP/ISS/AP pensioners

***MAXIMUM RATE SP/ISS/AP will receive the following paragraphs:

Financial Obligations paragraph which includes their prescribed rates in the body of the advice.

WILL NOT receive

Full Income and Assets Attachment
Full Obligations

ATTACHMENT B

JUNE 2006 SI PARAGRAPH CONTENT

Example 1:

SERVICE PENSION
LESS THAN MAXIMUM RATE - VARIATION (INCREASE)
ASSETS TESTED

JOINT ASSESSMENT

TA IN PAYMENT
TAXABLE
FULL INCOME AND ASSETS ATTACHMENT
FULL OBLIGATIONS
PAYMENT SUMMARIES ENCLOSED
GIS

Contact:

Telephone:Queensland Office

Macarthur Tower

259 Queen Street

Brisbane Qld 4000

Postal Address:

JOHN SMITH — GPO Box 651 Brisbane Qld 4001

MARY SMITH — Telephone:

29 MARGARGET STREET — General inquiries: 133 254

IPSWICH QLD 4010 — Non-metropolitan callers: 1800 555 254

Dialling from interstate: 1800 13 1945

Facsimile: (07) 32238585

18 June 2006

YOUR FILE NUMBER IS QX123456

Dear Mr and Mrs SMITH,

This is to advise you that your service pension has been increased. This change will take effect from 1 July 2006.

Cost of living changes to the Income and Assets Test

Recent increases in the cost of living have been applied to the following income and assets limits for service pension:

Income Free Area - this is the amount of income you can have before your service pension is reduced below the maximum rate payable;

Assets Value Limit - this is the amount of assets you can have (other than your family home) before your service pension is reduced below the maximum rate payable;

Deeming Thresholds – these are the amounts of financial assets you can have before the higher deemed interest rates are applied to the assessment of service pension.

For details on these changes please refer to the General Information Sheet which is attached to this letter.

Payment Information

Details of your payments are provided in the Payment Information Attachment.

Payment Summaries

As it is the end of the 2005/2006 financial year Payment Summaries are being issued. You will need this information if you are required to lodge a tax return.

Payment Summary for JOHN SMITH is enclosed with this letter.

Payment Summary for MARY SMITH is enclosed with this letter.

Medicare Levy Exemption

If you have been eligible for full treatment at departmental expense during the past financial year, you are eligible for a full or half exemption from payment of the Medicare levy for that period. The number of days you are eligible for a full or half Medicare levy exemption is shown on your Payment Summary.

You should contact the Australian Taxation Office on 13 28 61 if you have any questions about taxation.

Telephone Allowance

Your quarterly telephone allowance will be paid on 6 July 2006, together with your pension payment. Your telephone allowance is a separate payment and is not included in your total fortnightly payment information referred to in the letter. The current telephone allowance rates are:

Singles Rate - $XX.XX

Couples Rate (each) - $XX.XX

World War I Veterans - $XX.XX

Your Income and Assets

Your service pension is assessed under the assets test using your income and assets as shown in the attached list. It is important that you check that this list is a full and accurate statement of your income and assets.

Events You Must Tell Us About

Details of your obligations to notify us of changes to your circumstances are included in the attachment 'Statement of Obligations - Important Information You Should Retain'. These apply to both you and your partner and it is important that you both read them.

Changes You Have Already Told Us About

If you have told us recently about a change to your income and assets or your domestic situation, it may not have been processed before this letter was sent. If this is the case, we will send you another letter providing details of your new pension assessment when that change has been finalised. This normally takes no more than 4 weeks.

Your Right of Review

If you do not agree with this variation to your pension, you may apply to have it reviewed by a Review Officer at this office. If you do decide to apply, you must do so within three months of being advised of this decision. Such a request for review must be in writing, and must set out your reasons for seeking this review.

If you have any questions about matters concerning Income Support issues you should contact our Income Support Staff on 1300 550 452. For any other inquiries please contact the Department at the address or telephone number shown at the top of this letter.

Yours sincerely,

DAVID MACKRELL

Deputy Commissioner

As Delegate of the Secretary and Repatriation Commission

PAYMENT INFORMATION ATTACHMENT

The Department now calculates service pension payments on a daily basis. This means that your fortnightly pension payment is made up of 14 days of entitlement of pension. Therefore, when there is a change to your circumstances on any particular day in the fortnight - your pension will be adjusted from that day. For that reason your pension payment may be different for one or two paydays after a reassessment.

Listed below are the payment tables showing the different amounts of pension you will receive on the paydays that are affected, with the final payment table showing your ongoing payment.

Payment for 6 JULY 2006VeteranPartner

TOTAL FORTNIGHTLY PAYMENT — xxx.xx — xxx.xx

This is made up of:

- xxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxx — xxx.xx — xxx.xx

- xxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxx x.xx x.xx

Payment for 20 JULY 2006VeteranPartner

TOTAL FORTNIGHTLY PAYMENT — xxx.xx — xxx.xx

This is made up of:

- xxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxx — xxx.xx — xxx.xx

- xxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxx x.xx x.xx

Please Note: If you have an overpayment or lump sum advance which is currently being recovered (by deductions from your fortnightly pension), the amount paid into your account may be less than the total fortnightly payment shown above.

INCOME AND ASSETS USED TO ASSESS YOUR PAYMENT

(Information current as at T-ADVICE-PRINT-DATE)

The following is a complete list of your Income and Assets as recorded by the Department. If any details are incorrect or have been omitted you should notify the Department within 14 days (28 days if you are living overseas or receive remote area allowance). Please note that failure to fulfil this obligation may lead to your service pension being overpaid. Such overpayments are recoverable.

You are receiving service pension at less than the maximum rate payable.

The amount that you are paid depends on your combined income and assets but does not include the home in which you live. The pension is calculated under two separate tests: an income test and an assets test. The test that pays the lower rate of pension is the one that applies.

You are currently paid under the assets test. The total of your assessed fortnightly income is T-TOTAL-FORT-INCOME. The total of all your assets (excluding any deductible assets) is T-TOTAL-ASSETS. Details of how your pension has been assessed are shown below.

FINANCIAL ASSETS

Savings and Cheque Accounts

Description	Account Number	Asset Amount
XXXXXXXX	XXXXXXXXXXX	$ XX.XX
XXXXXXXX	XXXXXXXX	$XXX.XX

Listed Securities and Unlisted Public Securities

Description	No. of Shares	Asset Amount
XXXXXX	X,XXX	$XX,XXX.XX
QQQQQQQQQQQQQ	XXX	$ X,XXX.XX

Managed Investments

Description	Units	Asset Amount
VVVVVVVVVV	XX	$XX.XX
CCCCCCCCCCCCC	XXX	$XX.XX

Note: Income from financial assets is deemed.

IMPORTANT: You only need to notify the department if there are any changes to the value of your financial assets, as shown above. You do not need to advise of any changes to the interest rates of these investments.

Total Financial Assets

FINANCIAL ASSETS VALUE	DEEMED INTEREST RATE	DEEMED INCOME PER FORTNIGHT
$XX,XXX.XX	3.5%	$X.XX
$ XX.XX	5.5%	$X.XX
$XX,XXX.XX		$XX.XX

What is Deemed Income?

For pension purposes, income from financial assets such as accounts with banks, building societies and credit unions, loans, bonds, debentures, gifts, shares, managed investments and bullion is deemed. The value of all your financial assets is added together, and deemed interest rates are applied to calculate the income.

At present, deemed income is calculated as follows, on the total of all your financial assets:

$0 to T-MARRIED-THRSH-DEEMED-AMT – at T-INC-DEMING-INT-RATE%

T-MARRIED-THRSH-DEEMED-AMT + at T-INC-DEEMING-HIGH-RATE%

If your investments are earning more than the T-INC-DEEMING-INT-RATE% or T-INC-DEEMING-HIGH-RATE% deeming rates, this additional income will not affect the rate of your T-PENSION-SP-ISS-AP.

OTHER INCOME AND ASSETS

The following assets are those, which do not have deeming, applied to them but are still used to determine your rate of pension.

Home Assets

The asset and/or income values shown below are the amounts used for pension purposes.

Market value of household contents - $XX,XXX.XX

Miscellaneous Assets

T-MISC-ASSET-DESCRIPTION with a net market value of $X,XXX.XX

Direct Income

T-DESCRIPT-MISC-EARNINGS - $XXX.XX per fortnight

Total of Income and Assets

The total of your fortnightly income in your assessment is $299.06. The total of all your assets in your assessment is $184,037.00.

STATEMENT OF OBLIGATIONS

IMPORTANT INFORMATION YOU SHOULD RETAIN

(Information current as at T-ADVICE-PRINT-DATE)

Events You Must Tell Us About

You must tell us within 14 days (28 days if you are living overseas or receive remote area allowance) if any of the events listed below occur. These events may affect the amount of T-PENSION-SP-ISS-AP you receive. If you do not tell us of any of these changes you may be overpaid. We are entitled under section 205 of the Veterans' Entitlements Act 1986 to recover this overpayment and an administrative charge may also be applied.

You will also need to tell us the date any changes to your circumstances occur.

When you are telling us of changes to your circumstances you should do this by telephoning or visiting any Department of Veterans' Affairs Office, or by writing to the Deputy Commissioner.

Obligations - Financial

You currently receive T-PENSION-SP-ISS-AP at less than the maximum rate because your assets are above the current threshold.

You are obliged by law to tell us within 14 days (28 days if you are living overseas T-SP-ISS-AP-OBS ) if you gain or dispose of any assets. You must also notify this Department if T-AYOURTOTAL-YOURCOMB gross income from all sources increases above T-PRESCR-INC-AMT per fortnight. This will ensure that your T-PENSION-SP-ISS-AP continues to be paid at the correct rate.

If T-AYOURTOTAL-YOURCOMB assets are reduced, any increase in pension can only be made the day your new details are received by us.

The following information may assist you to decide what you need to tell us about:

Some examples of what you need to tell us about

Increases to the total value of your financial investments.

Money acquired through inheritance, lotteries, gambling, etc.
Increases to income from other sources eg. wages, superannuation.
If you give away $10,000 or more worth of assets in a tax year or $30,000 or more in a five-year rolling period that commences on, or any time after 1 July 2002. Assets may be cash or non-cash assets such as a car or other property.

Some examples of what you do not need to tell us about

(This information is obtained from the finance industry)

Changes to the interest rates paid on your savings and investments.
Changes to the unit value or rates of return for investments in publicly listed companies.
Restructures of publicly listed companies in which you have money invested.

Obligations – Domestic Situation

You must tell us if:

You live apart because of age, ill health or any other reasons
You get divorced
Your spouse passes away.

Obligations – Homeowner

As a homeowner, you must tell us full details if:

You sell your home
Either of you leave your home because of age or ill health
You rent or sublet your home
Either of you leave your home for any period in excess of twelve months

Obligations – General

Either of you change your postal and/or residential address,
Either of you leave Australia,
Either of you are granted any pension or benefit from the Department of Family and Community Services,
Either of you are granted any pension or benefit from an overseas authority,
Either of you make a claim or receive workers compensation, sickness or accident insurance other than a payment of disability or war widower's pension from this department,
Either of you are imprisoned after conviction for an offence,
Either of you are the beneficiary, trustee or controller of a private trust, including a testamentary trust.

Conclusion

The above are your full obligations to the Department. If you have any queries about any of the above matters please contact this office at the address or telephone number shown at the top of this letter.

2006 PAYG Payment Summary – Individual Non Business

Service Pension

Original

DVA File No: QX999999

Payer's ABN:

2396 4290 824

Tax File Number: 111 111 111

Payment From: 01/07/2005

Payment to:30/06/2006

DOB: 26/02/1971

Client's Name

1st Line of Client's Address

2nd Line of Client's Address

3rd Line of Client's Address

Gross payments:

$0.00

Medicare Levy

Full or Half

Exemption Days: 0

Remote Area

Allowance: $0.00

ThousandsHundredsTensUnits

Total tax withheld -

whole dollars only in wordsNIL NIL NIL NIL

Total tax withheld (whole dollars)$0.00

Authorised Person:04/07/06

THIS BOX DOES NOT PRINT IN PRODUCTION VERSION

2006 PAYG Payment Summary – Individual Non Business

Service Pension

CLIENT COPY

DVA File No: QX999999

Payer's ABN: 2396 4290 824

Tax File Number: 111 111 111

Payment From: 01/07/2005

Payment to: 30/06/2006

DOB: 26/02/1971

Client's Name

1st Line of Client's Address

2nd Line of Client's Address

3rd Line of Client's Address

Gross payments:

$0.00

Medicare Levy

Exemption Days: 0

Remote Area

Allowance: $0.00

ThousandsHundredsTensUnits

Total tax withheld - NIL NIL NIL NIL

whole dollars only in words

Total tax withheld (whole dollars)$0.00

Authorised Person:04/07/06

THIS BOX DOES NOT PRINT IN PRODUCTION VERSION

If you need to lodge a tax return, detach the ORIGINAL by cutting along the dotted line, and attach it to your tax return and keep the CLIENT COPY for your records.

See Notes On Reverse →

Notes

Total Tax Withheld

If you have an amount in this box you need to lodge a tax return. This ensures that you receive any refunds of tax you may be entitled to.

2. Gross payments

The 'Gross payments' shown on this statement does not include non-taxable payments such as pharmaceutical allowance, telephone allowance or disability pension. This is the amount you should show as income in your tax return.

3. Remote Area Allowance (RAA)

This amount is not taxable but if you need to lodge a tax return it will reduce any tax offset you may be entitled to.

4. Medicare Levy Exemption

The holders of Veterans' Affairs Gold treatment cards are eligible for a full or half exemption from the payment of the Medicare levy. Where applicable, the number of Medicare levy full or half exemption days is shown on this form. If you need to lodge a tax return the number of days shown will need to be stated at the relevant Medicare levy question.

5. Further assistance

If you have any taxation enquiries, particularly in relation to whether you qualify for a full or half Medicare levy exemption, read the Medicare levy section in TaxPack 2006; Retirees TaxPack 2006 or Short tax return instructions 2006, or contact the Australian Taxation Office on 13 28 61. Pension enquiries should be directed to the Department of Veterans' Affairs.

The Australian Taxation Office checks information shown in tax returns against information provided by Veterans' Affairs.

Notes

1. Total tax withheld

If you have an amount in this box you need to lodge a tax return. This ensures that you receive any refunds of tax you may be entitled to.

2. Gross payments

3. Remote Area Allowance (RAA)

This amount is not taxable but if you need to lodge a tax return it will reduce any tax offset you may be entitled to.

4. Medicare Levy Exemption

5. Further assistance

If you have any taxation enquiries, particularly in relation to whether you are qualify for a full or half Medicare levy exemption, read the Medicare levy section in TaxPack 2006; Retirees TaxPack 2006, or Short tax return instructions 2006 call the Australian Taxation Office on 13 28 61. Pension enquiries should be directed to the Department of Veterans' Affairs.

The Australian Taxation Office checks information shown in tax returns against information provided by Veterans' Affairs.

This is an example of the General Information Sheet (GIS) for Service Pensioners that will be used in the June 2006 mailout. There is a separate GIS for income support supplement and age pensioner recipients. Production printing of the GIS is restricted to one page – two images.

GENERAL INFORMATION ON SERVICE PENSION RATES AND LIMITS

(Information current as at T-ADVICE-PRINT-DATE )

MAXIMUM RATES OF SERVICE PENSION (excludes pharmaceutical allowance)

Singles Rate$XXX.XX (per fortnight)

Couples Rate (each)$XXX.XX (per fortnight)

PENSION INCOME LIMIT (per fortnight)

Before Service Pension Reduces — Cut Off*

Singles Rate$XXX.XX$X,XXX.XX

Couples Rate (combined)$XXX.XX$X,XXX.XX

PENSION ASSETS LIMIT

Before Service Pension Reduces — Cut Off*

Home Owner

Singles Rate$XXX,XXX$XXX,XXX

Couples Rate (combined)$XXX,XXX$XXX,XXX

Non Home Owner

Singles Rate$XXX,XXX$XXX,XXX

Couples Rate (combined)$XXX,XXX$XXX,XXX

These pension income and assets limits may increase for each dependent child or student up to the age of 22, or if rent assistance is payable.

NOTE: *Income and assets limits do not apply to blinded service pensioners.

GOLD CARD INFORMATION

The Gold Card income and assets limits apply if you receive a disability pension below 50% of the general rate and you also receive an amount of service pension. Should your assessed income or assets exceed these limits you will no longer be eligible for the Gold Card.

The Gold Card income and assets limit do not apply if:

your disability pension is above 50% of the general rate and you also receive an amount of service pension. Should your service pension cease due to excess income and assets, you will no longer be eligible for a Gold Card;
you receive a disability pension at 100% of the general rate, Intermediate rate, EDA or TPI; or
you are aged 70 years or over and you are a veteran who served in Australia's Defence Force and have qualifying service from any conflict or you are an Australian Mariner with qualifying service from World War II.

GOLD CARD INCOME AND ASSETS CUT OFF LIMITS

The treatment benefits income and assets limits apply to you if you are an Australian veteran or mariner whose eligibility for the Gold Card is dependent solely on your service pension payment.

INCOME

Singles Rate $XXX.XX (per fortnight)

Couples Rate (combined) $XXX.XX (per fortnight)

Add $XX.XX per fortnight for each dependent child or student to the age of 22.

ASSETS

Home OwnerNon Home Owner

Singles Rate$XXX,XXX$XXX,XXX

Couples Rate (combined)$XXX,XXX$XXX,XXX

Add approximately $X,XXX for each dependent child or student up to the age of 22.

DEEMING

Deeming assumes that any money you have invested in financial assets is earning a particular amount of income regardless of the actual amount earned. The deeming rates are:

Singles

Low Rate:- 3% interest up to the threshold of $XX,XXX

High Rate:- 5% interest for the remaining balance

Couples

Low Rate:- 3% interest up to the threshold of $XX,XXX

High Rate:- 5% interest for the remaining balance

ILLNESS SEPARATED COUPLES

Couples separated due to ill health are paid at the single rate of service pension, but have their income and assets assessed as a couple.

RENT ASSISTANCE

You may be eligible for rent assistance if you pay rent to a non-government body or landlord. Rent assistance is not payable if you reside in a government funded (approved) nursing home, or in government funded housing.

The amount of rent assistance you receive depends on the amount of rent you pay and your family circumstances. Rent assistance is paid at the rate of 75 cents in the dollar for every dollar you pay over the set rent limits.

When calculating the amount of rent assistance payable, any disability pension received is counted as income and may reduce the rate of rent assistance payable to you or your partner.

Maximum Amount of Rent Assistance Payable (per fortnight)

Singles Rate (no children)$XX.XX

Couples Rate (combined, no children)$XX.XX

Rent Thresholds (per fortnight)

Singles Rate (no children)$XX.XX

Couples Rate (combined, no children) $XXX.XX

Example 2:

LESS THAN MAXIMUM RATE - VARIATION (INCREASE)
INCOME TESTED WITH ASSETS < $10,000 OF THEIR PRESCRIBED ASSETS LIMIT

SINGLE ASSESSMENT

NIL TA IN PAYMENT
TAXABLE
FULL INCOME AND ASSETS ATTACHMENT
FULL OBLIGATIONS
PAYMENT SUMMARIES ENCLOSED
GIS

Contact:

Telephone:Queensland Office

Macarthur Tower

259 Queen Street

Brisbane Qld 4000

Postal Address:

MR FRED JOHNSTON — GPO Box 651 Brisbane Qld 4001

17 EDWIN STREET — Telephone:

IPSWICH QLD 4010 — General inquiries: 133 254

Non-metropolitan callers: 1800 555 254

Dialling from interstate: 1800 13 1945

Facsimile: (07) 32238585

18 June 2006

YOUR FILE NUMBER IS QX123456

Dear Mr JOHNSTON,

This is to advise you that your service pension has been increased. This change will take effect from 1 July 2006.

Cost of living changes to the Income and Assets Test

Recent increases in the cost of living have been applied to the following income and assets limits for service pension:

Income Free Area - this is the amount of income you can have before your service pension is reduced below the maximum rate payable;

Assets Value Limit - this is the amount of assets you can have (other than your family home) before your service pension is reduced below the maximum rate payable;

Deeming Thresholds – these are the amounts of financial assets you can have before the higher deemed interest rates are applied to the assessment of service pension.

For details on these changes please refer to the General Information Sheet which is attached to this letter.

Payment Information

Please refer to the enclosed Payment Information Attachment to see a breakdown of your payments.

Payment Summaries

As it is the end of the 2005/06 financial year Payment Summaries are being issued. You will need this information if you are required to lodge a tax return.

Payment Summary for MR FRED JOHNSTON is enclosed with this letter.

Medicare Levy Exemption

You should contact the Australian Taxation Office on 13 28 61 if you have any questions about taxation.

Your Income and Assets

Your service pension is assessed under the income test using your income and assets as shown in the attached list. It is important that you check that this list is a full and accurate statement of your income and assets.

Events You Must Tell Us About

Changes You Have Already Told Us About

Your Right of Review

Yours sincerely,

DAVID MACKRELL

Deputy Commissioner

As Delegate of the Secretary and Repatriation Commission

ATTACHMENTS – in the Sequential Order of printing

Payment Information Attachment - YES

Full Income and Assets Attachment - YES
Tailored Income and Assets Attachment - NO
Full Obligations - YES
Payment Summary/s - YES

General Information Sheet - YES

Example 3:

LESS THAN MAXIMUM RATE - VARIATION (INCREASE)
INCOME TESTED WITH ASSETS > $10,000 BELOW THEIR PRESCRIBED ASSETS LIMIT

JOINT ASSESSMENT

TA IN PAYMENT
TAXABLE
TAILORED INCOME AND ASSETS ATTACHMENT ie., excluding all miscellaneous assets apart from those which earn income
FULL OBLIGATIONS
PAYMENT SUMMARIES ENCLOSED
GIS

Contact:

Telephone:Queensland Office

Macarthur Tower

259 Queen Street

Brisbane Qld 4000

Postal Address:

MR THOMAS JONES — GPO Box 651 Brisbane Qld 4001

MRS SYLVIA JONES — Telephone:

55 SMITH STREET — General inquiries: 133 254

IPSWICH QLD 4010 — Non-metropolitan callers: 1800 555 254

Dialling from interstate: 1800 13 1945

Facsimile: (07) 32238585

18 June 2006

YOUR FILE NUMBER IS QX123456

Dear Mr and Mrs JONES,

This is to advise you that your service pension has been increased. This change will take effect from 1 July 2006

Cost of living changes to the Income and Assets Test

Recent increases in the cost of living have been applied to the following income and assets limits for service pension:

Income Free Area - this is the amount of income you can have before your service pension is reduced below the maximum rate payable;

Assets Value Limit - this is the amount of assets you can have (other than your family home) before your service pension is reduced below the maximum rate payable;

Deeming Thresholds – these are the amounts of financial assets you can have before the higher deemed interest rates are applied to the assessment of service pension.

For details on these changes please refer to the General Information Sheet which is attached to this letter.

Payment Information

Please refer to the enclosed Payment Information Attachment to see a breakdown of your payments.

Payment Summaries

As it is the end of the 2005/06 financial year Payment Summaries are being issued. You will need this information if you are required to lodge a tax return.

Payment Summary for MR THOMAS JONES is enclosed with this letter.

Payment Summary for MRS SYLVIA JONES is enclosed with this letter.

Medicare Levy Exemption

You should contact the Australian Taxation Office on 13 28 61 if you have any questions about taxation.

Telephone Allowance

Singles Rate - $XX.XX

Couples Rate (each) - $X.XX

World War I Veterans - $XX.XX

Your Income and Assets

As your service pension is assessed under the income test, some assets not affecting your rate of service pension have not been included in the attached list of income and assets. You should advise the Department within 14 days (28 days if your are living overseas or receive Remote Area Allowance) if the information is incorrect.

Events You Must Tell Us About

Changes You Have Already Told Us About

Your Right of Review

Yours sincerely,

DAVID MACKRELL

Deputy Commissioner

As Delegate of the Secretary and Repatriation Commission

ATTACHMENTS

Payment Information Attachment - YES

Tailored Income and Assets Attachment – YES – SEE SAMPLE
Full Income and Assets Attachment - NO
Full Obligations - YES
Payment Summary/s - YES

General Information Sheet - YES

SAMPLE - TAILORED INCOME AND ASSETS ATTACHMENT- SAMPLE

INCOME AND ASSETS USED TO ASSESS YOUR PAYMENT

(Information current as at T-ADVICE-PRINT-DATE)

The following is a list of Income and Assets as recorded by the Department, some assets not affecting your rate of service pension have not been included. If any of the listed details are incorrect you should notify the Department within 14 days (28 days if you are living overseas or receive remote area allowance). Please note that failure to fulfill this obligation may lead to your service pension being overpaid. Such overpayments are recoverable. You are receiving service pension at less than the maximum rate payable.

You are receiving service pension at less than the maximum rate payable.

You are currently paid under the income test. The total of your assessed fortnightly income is T-TOTAL-FORT-INCOME. The total of all your assets (excluding any deductible assets) is T-TOTAL-ASSETS. Details of how your pension has been assessed are shown below.

FINANCIAL ASSETS

Savings and Cheque Accounts

Description	Account Number	Asset Amount
XXXXXXXX	XXXXXXXXXXX	$ XX.XX
@@@@@@@@@@	XXXXXXXX	$XXX.XX

Listed Securities and Unlisted Public Securities

Description	No. of Shares	Asset Amount
XXXXXX	X,XXX	$XX,XXX.XX
QQQQQQQQQQQQQ	XXX	$ X,XXX.XX

Managed Investments

Description	Units	Asset Amount
VVVVVVVVVV	XX	$XX.XX
CCCCCCCCCCCCC	XXX	$XX.XX

Note: Income from financial assets is deemed.

Total Financial Assets

FINANCIAL ASSETS VALUE	DEEMED INTEREST RATE	DEEMED INCOME PER FORTNIGHT
$XX,XXX.XX	3.5%	$X.XX
$ XX.XX	5.5%	$X.XX
$XX,XXX.XX		$XX.XX

What is Deemed Income?

At present, deemed income is calculated as follows, on the total of all your financial assets:

$0 to T-MARRIED-THRSH-DEEMED-AMT – at T-INC-DEMING-INT-RATE%

T-MARRIED-THRSH-DEEMED-AMT + at T-INC-DEEMING-HIGH-RATE%

If your investments are earning more than the T-INC-DEEMING-INT-RATE% or T-INC-DEEMING-HIGH-RATE% deeming rates, this additional income will not affect the rate of your T-PENSION-SP-ISS-AP.

OTHER INCOME AND ASSETS

The following assets are those, which do not have deeming, applied to them but are still used to determine your rate of pension.

Income Streams - Long Term

Description	Asset Amount	Gross Income	Deductible Amount	Assessed Income
Summit Master Trust	$128,513.36	$314.92	$248.63	$66.19

Property

In working out the net market value shown below we have taken into account the value of any mortgages and secured loans.

Property at Lot 22 Ocean View Rd, NORTH HEAD, with a net market value of $160,000.00.

Direct Income

T-DESCRIPT-MISC-EARNINGS - $XXX.XX per fortnight

***** This paragraph is highlighted for advice 'mock-up' purposes only - the information will not be presented like this in the actual production advice but print as a regular paragraph. Please note: Where a Miscellaneous Asset in the assessment is earning any income – that asset will be listed in the attachment.

Miscellaneous Assets Note

As you are paid under the income test, some of the miscellaneous assets recorded in your pension assessment do not currently affect the rate of pension you are paid and have not been listed above. Miscellaneous assets may include the value of home contents, life assurance policies, vehicles, boats or trailers.

Total of Income and Assets

The total of your fortnightly income in your assessment is $293.41. The total of all your assets in your assessment is $12,478.00.

Example 4:

LESS THAN MAXIMUM RATE – Invalidity Service Pension- VARIATION (INCREASE)
INCOME TESTED WITH ASSETS < $10,000 OF THEIR PRESCRIBED ASSETS LIMIT

JOINT ASSESSMENT

TA IN PAYMENT
NON TAXABLE
FULL INCOME AND ASSETS ATTACHMENT
FULL OBLIGATIONS
PAYMENT SUMMARIES NOT ISSUED
MLEC ISSUED AND SENT SEPARATELY
GIS

Contact:

Telephone:Queensland Office

Macarthur Tower

259 Queen Street

Brisbane Qld 4000

Postal Address:

MR PHILLIP ADAMS — GPO Box 651 Brisbane Qld 4001

MRS PATRICIA ADAMS — Telephone:

6 BOURKE STREET — General inquiries: 133 254

IPSWICH QLD 4010 — Non-metropolitan callers: 1800 555 254

Dialling from interstate: 1800 13 1945

Facsimile: (07) 32238585

18 June 2006

YOUR FILE NUMBER IS QX123456

Dear Mr and Mrs ADAMS,

This is to advise you that your service pension has been increased. This change will take effect from 1 July 2006.

Cost of living changes to the Income and Assets Test

Recent increases in the cost of living have been applied to the following income and assets limits for service pension:

Income Free Area - this is the amount of income you can have before your service pension is reduced below the maximum rate payable;

Assets Value Limit - this is the amount of assets you can have (other than your family home) before your service pension is reduced below the maximum rate payable;

Deeming Thresholds – these are the amounts of financial assets you can have before the higher deemed interest rates are applied to the assessment of service pension.

For details on these changes please refer to the General Information Sheet which is attached to this letter.

Payment Information

Please refer to the enclosed Payment Information Attachment to see a breakdown of your payments.

Medicare Levy Exemption Certificate

A Medicare Levy Exemption Certificate showing the number of days PHILLIP ADAMS is eligible for a full or half Medicare levy exemption will be issued separately.

Telephone Allowance

Singles Rate - $XX.XX

Couples Rate (each) - $X.XX

World War I Veterans - $XX.XX

Your Income and Assets

Events You Must Tell Us About

Changes You Have Already Told Us About

Your Right of Review

Yours sincerely,

DAVID MACKRELL

Deputy Commissioner

as Delegate of Secretary and Repatriation Commission

ATTACHMENTS

Payment Information Attachment - YES

Full Income and Assets Attachment – YES
Tailored Income and Assets Attachment - NO
Full Obligations - YES
Payment Summary/s - NO
Medicare Levy Exemption Certificate sent separately - YES

General Information Sheet - YES

Example 5:

AGE PENSION PLUS DFISA
LESS THAN MAXIMUM RATE INCREASED TO MAXIMUM RATE
INCOME TESTED WITH ASSETS > $10,000 BELOW THEIR PRESCRIBED ASSETS LIMIT
JOINT ASSESSMENT

TA IN PAYMENT
TAXABLE
PAYMENT SUMMARIES ENCLOSED
GIS

Contact:

Telephone:Queensland Office

Macarthur Tower

259 Queen Street

Brisbane Qld 4000

Postal Address:

MR ROBERT MURDOCH — GPO Box 651 Brisbane Qld 4001

12 JERRERSON STREET — Telephone:

IPSWICH QLD 4010 — General inquiries: 133 254

Non-metropolitan callers: 1800 555 254

Dialling from interstate: 1800 13 1945

Facsimile: (07) 32238585

18 June 2006

YOUR FILE NUMBER IS QX123456

Dear Mr MURDOCH,

This is to advise you that your:

.age pension has been increased

.Defence Force Income Support Allowance (DFISA) has reduced to nil.

This change will take affect from 1 July 2006.

Cost of living changes to the Income and Assets Test

Recent increases in the cost of living have been applied to the following income and assets limits for service pension:

Income Free Area - this is the amount of income you can have before your service pension is reduced below the maximum rate payable;

Assets Value Limit - this is the amount of assets you can have (other than your family home) before your service pension is reduced below the maximum rate payable;

Deeming Thresholds – these are the amounts of financial assets you can have before the higher deemed interest rates are applied to the assessment of service pension.

For details on these changes please refer to the General Information Sheet which is attached to this letter.

Payment Information

Details of your payments are provided in the Payment Information Attachment.

Defence Force Income Support Allowance (DFISA)

DFISA is a payment made under the Veterans' Entitlements Act 1986 by Veterans' Affairs. DFISA is payable when your age pension is reduced or not payable because of adjusted disability pension paid by Veterans' Affairs.

DFISA is the difference between the amount your age pension is, and what it would be if adjusted disability pension was not included in your income assessment, but was included in the calculation of any rent assistance you may be entitled to.

The calculation of the rate of DFISA is based on your age pension assessment. If you wish to request a review of your age pension assessment please see the paragraph below titled 'Your Right of Review'.

Payment Summaries

As it is the end of the 2005/06 financial year Payment Summaries are being issued. You will need this information if you are required to lodge a tax return.

Payment Summary for MR ROBERT MURDOCH is enclosed with this letter.

Medicare Levy Exemption

You should contact the Australian Taxation Office on 13 28 61 if you have any questions about taxation.

Telephone Allowance

Your quarterly telephone allowance will be paid on 6 July 2006, together with your pension payment. The current telephone allowance rates are:

Singles Rate - $XX.XX

Couples Rate (each) - $X.XX

World War I Veterans - $XX.XX

Your Income and Assets

Events You Must Tell Us About

Details of your obligations to notify us of changes to your circumstances are included in the attachment 'Statement of Obligations - Important Information You Should Retain'.

Changes You Have Already Told Us About

Your Right of Review

If you do not agree with this decision, you can contact your nearest Veterans' Affairs office and discuss the reasons for the decision. If you remain dissatisfied, you may apply to have the decision reviewed by an Authorised Review Officer, with no prior involvement in the case. If you decide to apply for a review more than 13 weeks from the day this notice is given to you, you can only be paid an adjustment from the date we receive your application. Requests for review may be made in person, by telephone or in writing.

The rate of DFISA paid to you is derived from your age pension assessment. You may seek to have your age pension assessment reviewed if you are dissatisfied with your DFISA rate.

Yours sincerely,

DAVID MACKRELL

Deputy Commissioner as Delegate of the Secretary

ATTACHMENTS

Financial Obligations with Prescribed Rates - NO

Payment Information Attachment - YES

Tailored Income and Assets Attachment - YES
Full Income and Assets Attachment - NO
Full Obligations - YES
Payment Summary/s - YES

General Information Sheet - YES

Example 6:

MAXIMUM RATE CONTINUATION ON MAXIMUM RATE
INCOME TESTED
MARRIED ASSESSMENT

DP PAYABLE - not varied
TA IN PAYMENT
TAXABLE
PAYMENT SUMMARIES ENCLOSED
GIS

Contact:

Telephone:Queensland Office

Macarthur Tower

259 Queen Street

Brisbane Qld 4000

Postal Address:

MR BILL BROWN — GPO Box 651 Brisbane Qld 4001

MRS BERYL BROWN — Telephone:

16 PHILLIPS STREET — General inquiries: 133 254

IPSWICH QLD 4010 — Non-metropolitan callers: 1800 555 254

Dialling from interstate: 1800 13 1945

Facsimile: (07) 32238585

18 June 2006

YOUR FILE NUMBER IS QX123456

Dear Mr and Mrs BROWN,

I am writing to you about your service pension payment from Veterans' Affairs. You currently receive the maximum rate of service pension and this amount remains unchanged.

Cost of living changes to the Income and Assets Test

Recent increases in the cost of living have been applied to the following income and assets limits for service pension:

Income Free Area - this is the amount of income you can have before your service pension is reduced below the maximum rate payable;

Assets Value Limit - this is the amount of assets you can have (other than your family home) before your service pension is reduced below the maximum rate payable;

Deeming Thresholds – these are the amounts of financial assets you can have before the higher deemed interest rates are applied to the assessment of service pension.

For details on these changes please refer to the General Information Sheet which is attached to this letter.

Payment Summaries

As it is the end of the 2005/2006 financial year Payment Summaries are being issued. You will need this information if you are required to lodge a tax return.

Payment Summary for MR BILL BROWN is enclosed with this letter.

Payment Summary for MRS BERYL BROWN is enclosed with this letter.

Medicare Levy Exemption

You should contact the Australian Taxation Office on 13 28 61 if you have any questions about taxation.

Telephone Allowance

Your quarterly telephone allowance will be paid on 6 July 2006, together with your pension payment. The current telephone allowance rates are:

Singles Rate - $XX.XX

Couples Rate (each) - $X.XX

World War I Veterans - $XX.XX

Financial Obligations

You need to tell us within 14 days (28 days if you are living overseas or receive remote area allowance) if your combined income from all sources increases above T-TOTAL-INCOME-PLUS-4 per fortnight or your combined assets, apart from your home, exceed T-PRESCR-ASSET-AMT. Income includes deemed income from your financial assets and income from other sources.

Other Obligations

We have explained your obligations to you in previous letters and the booklet 'You and Your Pension'. These obligations still apply.

Changes You Have Already Told Us About

Yours sincerely,

DAVID MACKRELL

Deputy Commissioner

As Delegate of the Secretary and Repatriation Commission

ATTACHMENTS

Financial Obligations with Prescribed Rates - YES

Payment Information Attachment - NO

Tailored Income and Assets Attachment - NO
Full Income and Assets Attachment - NO
Full Obligations - NO
Payment Summary/s - YES

General Information Sheet - YES

MLEC - FORMAT FOR 2006 ISSUE ATTACHMENT C

Return Address

Client name

Client address

Medicare Levy Exemption Certificate

Dear Beneficiary

This is your Medicare Levy Exemption Certificate showing the number of days you were eligible for full or half exemption from payment of the Medicare Levy. This exemption applies, as you were eligible for full treatment at the expense of the Department of Veterans' Affairs.

Your File Number is:

The number of days you are eligible for a full or half Medicare Levy Exemption during 2005/2006 is:

Please note: If you lodge an income tax return YOU DO NOT NEED TO ATTACH this Certificate to your tax return. However, you should retain this Certificate for your records. If you need to lodge a tax return, the number of days you were eligible for full or half exemption will need to be stated against the relevant question on your tax return.

If you have any enquiries about the number of days, please contact your nearest DVA office.

If you have any enquiries about whether you are fully or half exempt from the payment of Medicare levy, read TaxPack 2006; Retirees TaxPack 2006 or Short tax return instructions 2006 or contact the Australian Taxation Office on 13 28 61.

Yours faithfully

Deputy Commissioner

Source URL: https://clik.dva.gov.au/compensation-and-support-reference-library/departmental-instructions/2006/c132006-june-2006-statutory-increase-advice-letter-payment-summary-and-medicare-levy-exemption-certificate-production-and-mailout