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Income from Gifts, Legacies and Royalties

Document
Last amended 
24 August 2015
Gifts
VEA →

 

The following table shows how different gift situations are assessed as income for DVA purposes.

If the gift is ...

then it is...

received as a one-off payment    

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not treated as income.    

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received regularly from a parent, child, brother or sister of the person (the definition of a parent is further defined in section 10A of the VEA)

not treated as income

received regularly from any other source

treated as income.

Legacies

All payments of a legacy are considered to be one-time, lump sum payments and not payments of a recurring nature. Money received by way of a legacy or inheritance is not treated as income whether received as a lump sum or by instalments.    

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Royalties

The following table shows how different royalty payment situations are assessed as income for DVA purposes.

If the royalty payment is...

then it is treated as income...

made directly to a self-employed pensioner

and assessed by adding income from royalties to the fees and other income earned from the self-employment and then deducting expenses to calculate a net profit.

a lump sum amount paid to a pensioner who is not self-employed

for 12 months from the date the person is entitled to receive that amount.

Royalties paid to indigenous people

The following table shows how different royalty payment situations, paid to indigenous people, are assessed as income for DVA purposes.

If the royalty payment is...

then...

paid to a self employed member of an indigenous community

it is treated as income..

  • paid directly to an indigenous community (usually into a non-discretionary trust administered by community leaders), and
  • used by the community

it not treated as income of the individual pensioner.

  • paid directly to an indigenous community, and
  • the indigenous people's council subsequently made payments to a pensioner from the royalty payments invested by the community

those payments are considered income.

Scholarships

Some scholarships, or similar payments, that are provided to students purport to be 'gifts'. In such cases a delegate needs to investigate the nature of the scholarship to determine whether the payment is a 'gift', and therefore exempt, or not a 'gift' and therefore income.     

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The Department of Veterans' Affairs.