DATE OF ISSUE:  21 JUNE 2001

JUNE 2001 STATUTORY INCREASE ADVICE LETTER, PAYMENT SUMMARY AND MEDICARE LEVY EXEMPTION CERTIFICATE MAILOUT

Purpose of Instruction

This Departmental Instruction is to provide information about processing arrangements for the June 2001 Statutory Increase letter, Payment Summary (formerly named Group Certificate), and Medicare Levy Exemption Certificate mailout.

JEANETTE RICKETTS

BRANCH HEAD

INCOME SUPPORT

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 or income support supplement.  The majority of these letters will include PAYG (Pay As You Go) Payment Summaries for the end of the financial year.  (The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) have advised that as part of the new tax reforms, Group Certificates have been renamed 'PAYG Payment Summary - individual non business). Medicare Levy Exemption Certificates will also be issued at this time.

Significant issues

The June 2001 mailout will incorporate the following events for pay day 12 July 2001. Production of advice letters to all service pensioners, age pensioners and income support supplement recipients; Adjustment of pension rates, allowances and thresholds in accordance with adjustments to the Income Free Area or Assets Free Area and deeming thresholds; Full Income and Assets Attachment provided to all pensioners; The Full Obligations Attachment will be suppressed for all pensioners, however reference will be made to previous obligations issued; All pensioners, (excluding Blinded pensioners) will receive the Financial Obligations paragraph which will include their prescribed rates in the advice letter; The ATO have advised that as part of the new tax reforms, Group Certificates have been renamed 'PAYG Payment Summary - individual non business' and 'tax deductions' now referred to as PAYG withholdings; End of financial year Payment Summary production; Standalone Payment Summaries and Educational Allowance Payment Summaries issued to those eligible pensioners who do not receive an advice letter; Production and issue of Medicare Levy Exemption Certificates; Advice to pensioners of any gain or loss of treatment eligibility; Payment of Telephone Allowance to those eligible; and Deeming interest rate changes have been announced commencing 1 July 2001.

Processing Weekend - 21/06/01 - 25/06/01

Processing is scheduled to run from Thursday evening 21 June until Monday evening 25 June 2001 with any pension variations effective from 1 July 2001 for payday 12 July 2001.

Critical Dates
	Processing period within DVA - (includes 'advices' processing).	Thursday (pm) 21 June 2001 - Monday (pm) 25 June 2001
	Commence Dispatch of production data to SMS and 'sign-off' duties.	Tuesday, 26 June 2001 (pm)
	Commence printing advice letters (SMS)	Wednesday, 27 June 2001
	All production data delivered to SMS	Thursday, 28 June 2001 (pm)
	Progressive lodgement of all State's Advice Letters with Australia Post (SMS) to be completed.	Friday, 6 July 2001

Letter Production

Security Mailing Services, Kingsgrove, Sydney will print the advice letters, add inserts and envelope them.  Production of letters is expected to occur over period 27June – 6 July 2001.

Lodgement of Letters

Letters will be progressively lodged with Australia Post once a complete State's letters have been enveloped.  All letters are to be posted by Friday, 6 July 2001.

Number of Pensioner Households Affected

Estimated Numbers

The estimated number of households to receive a Payment Summary and/or Medicare Levy Exemption Certificate information is as follows:

*  Medicare Levy Exemption Certificate to these pensioners only

Letter Content

Letters

Prior to the issue of this Departmental Instruction, System Support Officers and Managers Income Support were provided with copies of the proposed paragraph sequencing and mock-ups of advice letters for this run. A number of recommendations were received and have been taken into consideration for the final version of paragraphs and sequencing.  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.

PAYG (Pay As You Go) Payment Summary -individual Non-business Service Pension, or Age Pension, or Income Support Supplement

The information previously reported on a Group Certificate is now reported on a PAYG (Pay As You Go) Payment Summary - individual non-business.  Payment Summaries will be issued to all pensioners whose pensions are taxable.  Payment Summaries for those pensioners without PAYG (Pay As You Go) withholding's (tax deductions) will form part of the advice letter sent from the mailing house. Payment Summaries for those pensioners who have had PAYG withholding's (tax deductions) during the year, will be sent to the State Offices for checking prior to mailing. Payment Summaries for those pensioners who were in payment for part of the financial year but are no longer in payment will be sent to the State Offices for checking prior to mailing. Educational Allowance Payment Summaries will be sent to the State Offices for checking prior to mailing. Payment Summaries for those New South Wales (only) pensioners who died during the financial year will be sent to the NSW State Office  contact officer.

Page Numbering of Advice Letters

The Payment Summary when included in the advice will be sequenced to print after the Payment information Attachment (showing payboxes) at the end of the advice but before the General Information Sheet.  While the Payment Summaries form part of the advice they do not have page numbering printed on them. Please note that the page numbering of the advice letters resulted in some confusion for pensioners in last year's mailout as the Payment Summaries were not page numbered but were sequenced in the middle of the advice letter.  This will again be the case for this year's mailout.  It should be explained to pensioners who may query this that they aren't missing any pages.  We need to use the General Information Sheet for gatemarking purposes at the mailing house and that is the reason the GIS appears as the last page of the advice letter.

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 letter ie., gatemarking purposes.

Income and Assets Attachment

All pensioners (exluding Blinded) will receive a full listing of their income and assets in the Income and Assets Attachment which will print after the Payment Information Attachment but before the Payment Summary(s).

Obligations

Obligations are to be suppressed for all letters produced.  Reference will be made to previous obligations issued to clients. The Financial Obligations paragraph (including the Prescribed Rates) will be present in the advice for all clients (excluding Blinded pensioners).

Telephone Allowance

Letters will inform pensioners entitled to a telephone allowance payment about their quarterly payment.  This para will also advise that the TA payment is a separate payment and is not included in with your total fortnightly payment as referred to in the Payment Information Attachment showing the payment boxes.

Non Taxable Pensioners

Those pensioners whose pensions are not taxable (eg, service pension on the grounds of permanent incapacity and under 65 years of age for males, 62 years for females) will receive an advice letter only.  A Medicare Levy Exemption Certificate (MLEC) will be issued separately for these clients.  Their MLEC certificates will be sent from the mailing house direct to these clients.

Letter Content

Details of the proposed content of the letters, including sample letters and sequencing of paragraphs are included in Attachments A and B.

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 who are not in receipt of an income support payment; or Australian WWII veterans with Qualifying Service and over 70 years of age and who are not in receipt of an income support payment. The number of medicare levy exemption days, where applicable, will be stated on the Payment Summary for all other pensioners.

Insert

A 'pensioner flyer' produced by the Australian Taxation Office (ATO), in conjunction with Centrelink and DVA will be included with all advice letters issued in this exercise.  It is hoped that this flyer will significantly reduce the number of queries the State Office receives about taxation matters.  The brochure is titled “Do you Need to lodge a Tax Return?”.  This brochure will be included with all Payment Summaries and Medicare Levy Exemption Certificates. Each of the State offices will be supplied with a quantity of the flyers to insert with Special Register, Enclosures and Payment Summary PAYG withholding cases prior to the advices being sent.

Issues Requiring State Office Action

Special Register and Overseas

Overseas cases for Tasmania will be sent on a cartridge to Security Mailing Services for printing.  Other States overseas letters will be printed by IBM in Melbourne and forwarded to the State Offices in with other daily advice output ie, CCPS, DPS, for checking and mailing. All Special Register letters will be printed by IBM in Melbourne and forwarded to each of the State Offices with other daily output for checking and mailing.  States have been provided with the following insert to be included in letters to these pensioners: ATO brochure “Do you need to lodge a tax return?”

Enclosure Letters

As is the procedure for quarterly processing Enclosure (treatment) advice letters will be printed by IBM in Melbourne and sent via courier to each State Office.  We always request that these be checked for accuracy, and reconciled against the reports received by each State Office. There is a known problem with 'treatment entitlement' which will require you to check all enclosure advices.  You will need to check each client's treatment eligibility to ensure they have received the correct treatment paragraph in their advice appropriate to the client's change in treatment eligibility. The program in processing these cases, applies the period of grace provisions against all clients, and if there is a TSP change then the advice will be streamed as an enclosure advice.  The program does not look at any higher priority treatment eligibility such as TQX.  As a result, in some cases the advice may not have a treatment paragraph - which may be appropriate to the particular case as the client may have a higher priority treatment eligibility precluding him/her from any changes to treatment.

'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 in each respective State Office's nominated printer as part of the production run.  Please ensure your nominated printer is fully operational on Thursday evening, 21 June 2001 as the forced advices will print at that time.  All forced advices will need to be checked to ensure the information in them is correct prior to posting.

Handling of Daily Advices

Cases processed in advance for 12 July 2001 should have the daily advice dispatched prior to the June advice letter being sent. Daily payment advices processed after the processing run on 21-25 June 2001 for 12 July 2001, should be held by the State Offices 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 12 July 2001 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 whilst the June advices are processed, it is suggested that only manual cases (and essential processing) should be processed for payday 12 July 2001.

Tax Deduction Cases

The Payment Summaries for those pensioners who have had PAYG withholdings (tax deductions) will be sent to the State Office Contact Officer for this exercise for checking prior to mailing.

Reprints of selected letters

Any requests for reprints of individual advices from this mailout should be referred to System Support Officers to organise a reprint.

New Automatic Payment Summary (Group Certificate) Reprint Facility

Arrangements are being made for an automatic reprint facility of Payment Summaries to be developed.  We expect the reprint facility to be available from 14 July 2001. This reprint facility will be accessible via a new 'Reprint Facility' folder located under the Advices window in VIEW.  A new sub-folder titled 'Payment Summary' will be located under the 'Reprint Facility' folder. The Payment Summary reprint facility will enable the user to select the financial years for which the veteran requires a reprint, currently only 2 years of history are available in VIEW - therefore only 2 years will be presented for selection. The proposal also includes a courtesy letter to be produced on standard State Office letterhead advising of the enclosed document(s).  The letter and Reprinted Payment Summary(s) will be printed as part of the regular immediate daily batch advices print job. A separate Stateline will be provided closer to implementation of this facility providing full details on the Payment Summary Reprint Facility.  Questions regarding this facility should be directed to Renee Arkinstall on 02 6289 6428.

Reprints of Payment Summaries

System Support Officers and State Office contact officers have been provided with a Payment Summary template in Word format for reprint purposes.

Reprints of MLEC

System Support Officers and State Office contact officers have been provided with a Medicare Levy Exemption Certificate word document for any requests of reprints.

State Office Contacts

State Office Contact Officers

NSW  - Genia Sacharczuk  - 02 9213 7106 VIC - Peter Rogers - 03 9284 6379 QLD - Steve Jensen - 07 3223 8835 SA - Graham Bate - 08 8290 0425 WA - Kim Gooding - 08 9366 8549 TAS - Wendy Blackwell - 03 6221 6683

National Office Contacts

Feedback from State Offices

Any concerns regarding letters produced as part of this run should be directed to the June SI Business Co-ordinator in National Office - Pat Webb.  At the end of this process we will be collating all State feedback to analyse any issues raised 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.

Contacts

Any queries regarding advice wording, data cartridges, mail house printing and letter lodgement should be referred to: Pat Webb (02) 6289 6444 (Phone) (02) 6289 6553 (Fax) OR David Hollaway (02) 6289 6347 (Phone) (02) 6289 6553 (Fax)

ATTACHMENT A

PARAGRAPH SEQUENCING AND TARGET AUDIENCE

PARAGRAPH	TO WHOM
State specific letterhead	All
Opening paragraph	All
Opening Reasons(Cost of living changes to the Income and Assets Test)	All
Effective Date	All
Payment Information	All
Payment Diversion	All
Medicare Levy Exemption Certificate sent separately	Non Taxable
Indexation of Deeming Threshold and Deeming Interest Rate Change	All
Payment Summaries (formerly known as Group Certificates)	Taxable
Payment Summaries issued separately	PAYG Withholding (Tax Deduction) cases
Medicare Levy Exemption	Taxable
Telephone Allowance	All eligible for TA payment
Financial Obligations	All (except Blinded)
General Obligations	All
Changes You Have Already Told Us About	All
Right of Review	All
State Specific Closing	All
Signature Block (State specific)	All
Payment Information Attachment	All
Income and Asset Attachment	All
Payment Summaries	Taxable
General Information Sheet	All

ATTACHMENT B

JUNE PARAGRAPH CONTENT

Example 1: LESS THAN MAXIMUM RATE, MARRIED ASSESSMENT, TA PAYMENT, TAXABLE, PAYMENT SUMMARIES ENCLOSED

T-ADVICE-RETURN-ADDRESS

DVA LOGO

Contact:

Telephone: STATE OFFICE

AMP Place

10 Eagle Street

Brisbane Qld 4000

Postal Address:

GPO Box 651 Brisbane Qld 4001

Telephone:

General inquiries: 133 254

Non-metropolitan callers: 1800 555 254

Dialling from interstate: 1300 13 1945

Facsimile: (07) 32238585

T-ADVICE-PRINT-DATE

YOUR FILE NUMBER IS T-FILE-NUMBER

T-ADVICE-SALUTATION,

I am writing to you about your T-PENSION-SP-ISS-AP payment from Veterans' Affairs

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 T-PENSION-SP-ISS-AP:

• Income Free Area - this is the amount of income you can have before your T-PENSION-SP-ISS-AP 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 T-PENSION-SP-ISS-AP is reduced below the maximum rate payable;

• Deemed Interest Rates - are used to work out the amount of income you receive from any money you have invested in financial assets.  Deeming assumes that any money you have invested in financial assets is earning a particular amount regardless of the actual amount earned; and

• Deeming Thresholds - these are the amounts of financial assets you can have before the higher deemed interest rates are applied to the assessment of T=PENSION-SP-ISS-AP.

This is to advise you that your T-PENSION-SP-ISS-AP has been T-INC-RED-NIL.  This change will take effect from T-CLNT-EFFECTIVE-DATE.

Payment Information

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

The following table shows where your pension payments are going.

Date	Name	Payment Destination	Amount Deposited
13/07/00	XXXXXX DDDDD	CBA 59404040	$XXX.XX
		TOTAL	$XXX.XX
13/07/00	XXXXXX DDDDD	CBA 59404040	$XXX.XX
		TOTAL	$XXX.XX

Payment Summaries (formerly known as Group Certificates)

The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has advised that as part of the new tax reforms, Group Certificates have been renamed 'Payment Summary'.

As it is the end of the 2000/01 financial year Payment Summaries are being issued.  You will need this information if you are required to lodge a tax return.

Payment Summary for T-CLIENT-NAME is enclosed with this letter.

Payment Summary for T-PTNR-NAME is enclosed with this letter.

You should contact the Australian Taxation Office on 13 2861 if you have any questions about taxation.

Medicare Levy Exemption

If you have been eligible for full treatment at departmental expense during the past financial year, you do not have to pay the Medicare Levy for that period.  The period for which you have been exempt from the levy appears on your Payment Summary.

Indexation of Deeming Threshold and Deeming Interest Rate Change

From pension payday T-CLNT-EFFECTIVE-DATE, both the deeming threshold amounts and the deeming interest rates will change.

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 are added together, and the deemed interest rates are applied to calculate the income.

The new deeming threshold for a single person will be T-SINGLE-THRSH-DEEMED-AMT and for a couple it will be T-MARRIED-THRSH-DEEMED-AMT.  This is the amount of financial assets you can have before the higher deemed interest rates are applied to the assessment of T-PENSION-SP-ISS-AP.

The new deemed income rate of T-INC-DEEMING-INT-RATE% will be applied for amounts up to T-SINGLE-THRSH-DEEMED-AMT (T-MARRIED-THRSH-DEEMED-AMT per couple) and T-INC-DEEMING-HIGH-RATE% for amounts over T-SINGLE-THRSH-DEEMED-AMT (T-MARRIED-THRSH-DEEMED-AMT per couple), and used to work out the amount of income recorded for your financial assets.

If your investments are earning more that the T-INC-DEEMING-INT-RATE% or T-INC-DEEMING-HIGH-RATE% deeming rates, this additional income will not affect the rate of your service pension.

Telephone Allowance

Your quarterly telephone allowance will be paid on T-DATE-Of-PAYMENT, 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 - $17.20

Couples Rate (each) - $8.60

World War I Veterans - $46.75

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.

Your Obligations

We have explained your obligations to you in previous letters and these obligations still apply.

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.

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 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 enquiries please contact the Department at the address or telephone number shown at the top of this letter.

Yours sincerely,

.si sigql3 depth 5 absolute

Gary Collins

Deputy Commissioner

PAYMENT INFORMATION ATTACHMENT

The Department now calculates T-PENSION-SP-ISS-AP payments on a daily basis.  This means that your fortnightly pension payment is now 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.

PAYMENTS TO XXXXX  XXXXXXX and XXXXX XXXXXXX for

Pension Payday 12 JULY 2001

PAYMENTS TO XXXXX  XXXXXXX and XXXXX XXXXXXX for

Pension Payday 26 JULY 2001

INCOME AND ASSETS USED TO ASSESS YOUR PAYMENT

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

You are receiving T-PENSION-SP-ISS-AP 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 as assets test.  The test that pays the lower rate of pension is the one that applies.

You are currently paid under the T-INCOME-ASSET-TEST 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.

Savings and Cheque Accounts

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

IMPORTANT: We understand that the balances in these types of accounts may fluctuate regularly.

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 are added together, and deemed interest rates are applied to calculate the income.

At present, deemed income is calculated as follows, regardless of the actual interest rates, 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

2001 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: 01/07/2000		Payment to: 30/06/2001

Client's Name		Gross payments:
1 — st Line of Client's Address		$0.00
2 — nd Line of Client's Address
3 — rd Line of Client's Address		Medicare Levy
		Exemption Days: 0
		Remote Area
		Allowance: $0.00

	Thousands	Hundreds	Tens	Units
Total tax withheld - whole dollars only in words	NIL	NIL	NIL	NIL
Total tax withheld (whole dollars)	$0.00

Authorised Person:02/07/01

Serial No: 0 000 000 000

✂.......................................................................................................................................................................................

2001 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: 01/07/2000		Payment to: 30/06/2001

Client's Name		Gross payments:
1 — st Line of Client's Address		$0.00
2 — nd Line of Client's Address
3 — rd Line of Client's Address		Medicare Levy
		Exemption Days: 0
		Remote Area
		Allowance: $0.00

	Thousands	Hundreds	Tens	Units
Total tax withheld - whole dollars only in words	NIL	NIL	NIL	NIL
Total tax withheld (whole dollars)	$0.00

Authorised Person:02/07/01

Serial No: 0 000 000 000

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

See Notes On Reverse →

1. Total tax withheld

This is an example only of the General Information Sheet (GIS) for Service Pensioners that will be used in the June mailout.  There is a separate GIS for both income support supplement recipients and age pensioners. PLEASE NOTE: All changes to the rates and thresholds have been updated and are reflected in this document.

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$402.00 (per fortnight)

Couples Rate (each)$335.50 (per fortnight)

PENSION INCOME LIMIT (per fortnight)

Before Service Pension ReducesCut Off*

Singles Rate$112.00$1,131.50

Couples Rate (combined)$200.00$1,892.00

These limits may increase for each dependent child or student up to the age of T-CHILD-AGE, or if rent assistance is payable.

PENSION ASSETS LIMIT

Before Service Pension ReducesCut Off*

Home Owner

Singles Rate$141,000$277,000

Couples Rate (combined)$200,500$426,500

Non Home Owner

Singles Rate$242,000$378,000

Couples Rate (combined)$301,500$527,500

These limits may increase for each dependent child or student up to the age of T-CHILD-AGE, or if rent assistance is payable.

NOTE: *Income and assets cut off limits applies to all service pensioners except blinded service pensioners.

GOLD CARD INFORMATION

GOLD CARD INCOME CUT OFF LIMIT

Singles Rate$311.50 (per fortnight)

Couples Rate (combined)$543.00 (per fortnight)

Add $67.10 per fortnight for each dependent child or student to the age of T-CHILD-AGE.

GOLD CARD ASSETS CUT OFF LIMIT

Home Owner

Singles Rate$168,500

Couples Rate (combined)$248,000

Non Home Owner

Singles Rate$269,500

Couples Rate (combined)$349,000

Add approximately $5,750 for each dependent child or student up to the age of T-CHILD-AGE.

NOTE 1: These income and asset limits apply to the Gold Card only.  Different income and asset limits apply to the pension.  These limits can be found at the top of the page.

NOTE 2: If you are a World War 2 veteran or mariner aged 70 years or over, who served in Australia's Defence Forces or Australia's Merchant Navy between 3 September 1939 and 29 October 1945, and have qualifying service from that conflict, the above Gold Card income and asset cut off limits do not apply to you as your Gold Card is not affected by your income and assets.

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 $33,400

High Rate:- 4.5% interest for the remaining balance

Couples

Low Rate:- 3% interest up to the threshold of $55,800

High Rate:- 4.5% 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.  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 to a service pension recipient, any disability pension received by that person or their partner, is counted as income and may reduce the rate of rent assistance payable.

Maximum Amount of Rent Assistance Payable (per fortnight)

No children1-2 children3 or more

children

Singles Rate$88.00$102.80$116.60

Couples Rate

(combined)$82.80$102.80$116.60

Rent Limits (per fortnight)

No children1-2 children3 or more

children

Singles Rate$78.00$102.60$102.60

Couples Rate

(combined)$127.00$151.80$151.80

EXAMPLE 2: MAXIMUM RATE CONTINUATION, SINGLE ASSESSMENT, PAYG Withholding (tax deductions made) therefore NIL PAYMENT SUMMARY ENCLOSED WITH ADVICE - PAYMENT SUMMARY TO BE SENT SEPARATELY, TA PAYMENT

T-ADVICE-RETURN-ADDRESS

DVA LOGO

Contact:

Telephone: STATE OFFICE

AMP Place

10 Eagle Street

Brisbane Qld 4000

Postal Address:

GPO Box 651 Brisbane Qld 4001

Telephone:

General inquiries: 133 254

Non-metropolitan callers: 1800 555 254

Dialling from interstate: 1300 13 1945

Facsimile: (07) 32238585

T-ADVICE-PRINT-DATE

YOUR FILE NUMBER IS T-FILE-NUMBER

T-ADVICE-SALUTATION,

I am writing to you about your T-PENSION-SP-ISS-AP payment from Veterans' Affairs

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 T-PENSION-SP-ISS-AP:

• Income Free Area - this is the amount of income you can have before your T-PENSION-SP-ISS-AP 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 T-PEBNSION-SP-ISS-AP is reduced below the maximum rate payable;

• Deemed Interest Rates - are used to work out the amount of income you receive from any money you have invested in financial assets.  Deeming assumes that any money you have invested in financial assets is earning a particular amount regardless of the actual amount earned; and

• Deeming Thresholds - these are the amounts of financial assets you can have before the higher deemed interest rates are applied to the assessment of T-PENSION-SP-ISS-AP.

You currently receive the maximum rate of T-PENSION-SP-ISS-AP and this amount remains unchanged.

Payment Information

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

The following table shows where your pension payments are going.

Date	Name	Payment Destination	Amount Deposited
13/07/00	XXXXXX DDDDD	CBA 59404040	$XXX.XX
		TOTAL	$XXX.XX

Payment Summaries (formerly called Group Certificates)

The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has advised that as part of the new tax reforms, Group Certificates have been renamed 'Payment Summary'.

As it is the end of the 1999/00 financial year Payment Summaries are being issued.  You will need this information if you are required to lodge a tax return.

Payment Summary for T-CLIENT-NAME will be mailed separately.

You should contact the Australian Taxation Office on 13 2861 if you have any questions about taxation.

Medicare Levy Exemption

If you have been eligible for full treatment at departmental expense during the past financial year, you do not have to pay the Medicare Levy for that period.  The period for which you have been exempt for the levy appears on your Payment Summary.

Indexation of Deeming Threshold and Deeming Interest Rate Change

From pension payday T-CLNT-EFFECTIVE-DATE, both the deeming threshold amounts and the deeming interest rates will change.

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 are added together, and the deemed interest rates are applied to calculate the income.

The new deeming threshold for a single person will be T-SINGLE-THRSH-DEEMED-AMT and for a couple it will be T-MARRIED-THRSH-DEEMED-AMT.  This is the amount of financial assets you can have before the higher deemed interest rates are applied to the assessment of T-PENSION-SP-ISS-AP.

The new deemed income rate of T-INC-DEEMING-INT-RATE% will be applied for amounts up to T-SINGLE-THRSH-DEEMED-AMT (T-MARRIED-THRSH-DEEMED-AMT per couple) and T-INC-DEEMING-HIGH-RATE% for amounts over T-SINGLE-THRSH-DEEMED-AMT (T-MARRIED-THRSH-DEEMED-AMT per couple), and used to work out the amount of income recorded for your financial assets.

If your investments are earning more that the T-INC-DEEMING-INT-RATE% or T-INC-DEEMING-HIGH-RATE% deeming rates, this additional income will not affect the rate of your service pension.

Telephone Allowance

Your quarterly telephone allowance will be paid on T-DATE-Of-PAYMENT, 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 this letter.  The current telephone allowance rates are:

Singles Rate - $17.20

Couples Rate (each) - $8.60

World War I Veterans - $46.75

Financial Obligations

You need to tell us within 14 days (28 days if you are living overseas or receive Remote Area Allowance) if your income increases above T-PRESCR-INC-AMT per fortnight or your assets, apart from your home, exceed T-PRESCR-ASSET-AMT.  Income includes deemed income from your financial assets and income from other sources.

Your Obligations

We have explained your obligations to you in previous letters and these obligations still apply.

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.

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 enquiries please contact the Department at the address or telephone number shown at the top of this letter.

Yours sincerely,

.si sigql3 depth 5 absolute

Gary Collins

Deputy Commissioner

PAYMENT INFORMATION ATTACHMENT

The Department now calculates T-PENSION-SP-ISS-AP payments on a daily basis.  This means that your fortnightly pension payment is now 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.

PAYMENTS TO XXXXX  XXXXXXX for

Pension Payday 12 JULY 2001

PAYMENTS TO XXXXX  XXXXXXX for

Pension Payday 26 JULY 2001

Followed by Full Income and Assets Attachment, Payment Summary and General Information Sheet

Example 3: LESS THAN MAXIMUM RATE, NON-TAXABLE therefore NO ENCLOSED PAYMENT SUMMARY, A MEDICARE LEVY EXEMPTION CERTIFICATE TO BE SENT SEPARATELY, NO TA PAYMENT.

DVA LOGO

Contact:

Telephone: STATE OFFICE

AMP Place

10 Eagle Street

Brisbane Qld 4000

Postal Address:

GPO Box 651 Brisbane Qld 4001

Telephone:

General inquiries: 133 254

Non-metropolitan callers: 1800 555 254

Dialling from interstate: 1300 13 1945

Facsimile: (07) 32238585

T-ADVICE-PRINT-DATE

YOUR FILE NUMBER IS T-FILE-NUMBER

T-ADVICE-SALUTATION,

I am writing to you about your T-PENSION-SP-ISS-AP payment from Veterans' Affairs

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 T-PENSION-SP-ISS-AP:

• Income Free Area - this is the amount of income you can have before your T-PENSION-SP-ISS-AP 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 T-PEBNSION-SP-ISS-AP is reduced below the maximum rate payable;

• Deemed Interest Rates - are used to work out the amount of income you receive from any money you have invested in financial assets.  Deeming assumes that any money you have invested in financial assets is earning a particular amount regardless of the actual amount earned; and

• Deeming Thresholds - these are the amounts of financial assets you can have before the higher deemed interest rates are applied to the assessment of T=PENSION-SP-ISS-AP.

This is to advise you that your T-PENSION-SP-ISS-AP has been T-INC-RED-NIL.  This change will take effect from T-CLNT-EFFECTIVE-DATE.

Payment Information

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

The following table shows where your pension payments are going.

Date	Name	Payment Destination	Amount Deposited
13/07/00	XXXXXX DDDDD	CBA 59404040	$XXX.XX
		TOTAL	$XXX.XX

Medicare Levy Exemption Certificate

A Medicare Levy Exemption Certificate will be issued to you separately.

Indexation of Deeming Threshold and Deeming Interest Rate Change

From pension payday T-CLNT-EFFECTIVE-DATE, both the deeming threshold amounts and the deeming interest rates will change.

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 are added together, and the deemed interest rates are applied to calculate the income.

The new deeming threshold for a single person will be T-SINGLE-THRSH-DEEMED-AMT and for a couple it will be T-MARRIED-THRSH-DEEMED-AMT.  This is the amount of financial assets you can have before the higher deemed interest rates are applied to the assessment of T-PENSION-SP-ISS-AP.

The new deemed income rate of T-INC-DEEMING-INT-RATE% will be applied for amounts up to T-SINGLE-THRSH-DEEMED-AMT (T-MARRIED-THRSH-DEEMED-AMT per couple) and T-INC-DEEMING-HIGH-RATE% for amounts over T-SINGLE-THRSH-DEEMED-AMT (T-MARRIED-THRSH-DEEMED-AMT per couple), and used to work out the amount of income recorded for your financial assets.

If your investments are earning more that the T-INC-DEEMING-INT-RATE% or T-INC-DEEMING-HIGH-RATE% deeming rates, this additional income will not affect the rate of your service pension.

Your Obligations

We have explained your obligations to you in previous letters and these obligations still apply.

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.

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 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 enquiries please contact the Department at the address or telephone number shown at the top of this letter.

Yours sincerely,

.si sigql3 depth 5 absolute

Gary Collins

Deputy Commissioner

PAYMENT INFORMATION ATTACHMENT

The Department now calculates T-PENSION-SP-ISS-AP payments on a daily basis.  This means that your fortnightly pension payment is now 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.

PAYMENTS TO XXXXX  XXXXXXX for

Pension Payday 12 JULY 2001

PAYMENTS TO XXXXX  XXXXXXX for

Pension Payday 26 JULY 2001

Followed by the Full Income and Assets Attachment, General Information Sheet