C10/2010 June 2010 Statutory Increase Processing - Production and Mailout of Advice Letters with Payment Summaries, Standalone Payment Summaries (Issued without a Covering Letter), and medicare Levy Exemption Certificates

External

Departmental Instruction

DATE OF ISSUE: 15 JUNE 2010

June 2010 Statutory Increase Processing – Production and Mailout of Advice Letters with Payment Summaries, Standalone Payment Summaries (Issued without a Covering Letter), and medicare Levy Exemption Certificates

Amends DI No.
Replaces DI No.

Purpose of Instruction

This Departmental Instruction is to provide information about the processing arrangements for the June 2010 Statutory Increase (SI) processing of advice letters with payment summaries, Standalone Payment Summaries (issued without a covering letter), and Medicare Levy Exemption Certificate production and mailout.

John Sadeik

National Manager

Income Support

15 June 2010

Overview

Introduction

In June each year the Department undertakes a bulk exercise to issue all pensioner households with advice letters to persons in receipt of service pension, age pension including those in payment of Defence Force Income Support Allowance (DFISA) only, 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.

The estimated number of mailpacks are given at Attachment A.

Significant Issues

The June 2010 mailout will incorporate the following events for payday 15 July 2010.

Production of advice letters to all service pensioners, income support supplement recipients and age pensioners including those being paid DFISA only;
Adjustment of pension rates in accordance with any adjustments to the Income Free Area, Assets Free Area and Deeming Thresholds;
A full Income and Assets Attachment will be provided for all less than maximum rate (LMAX) pensioners who are either assets tested or are income tested where the total of their assets is within (or equal to) $10,000 of their prescribed assets limit;
A tailored Income and Assets Attachment will be provided for those less than maximum rate pensioners who are income tested and where the total of their assets is more than $10,000 below their prescribed assets limit;
No Income and Assets Attachment will be provided to pensioners who are receiving the maximum rate (MAX) of pension.
Full obligations will be provided for all pensioners being paid at less than maximum rate of pension;
Maximum rate pensioners will not be given the full obligations. Instead a Financial Obligations paragraph that includes the prescribed rates will be present in the body of the advices;

The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) insert – 'Do you need to lodge a tax return?' will only be issued to clients being paid at less than the maximum rate of income support pension, and to those receiving a Standalone Payment Summary (without a covering letter) or a Medicare Levy Exemption Certificate;
Production of End of Financial Year Payment Summary;
Standalone Payment Summaries, ie. payment summaries sent without a covering letter, will be issued to those eligible DVA pensioners who do not receive an advice letter, including Centrelink DFISA clients;
Production of Medicare Levy Exemption Certificates (MLEC); and
Advice to pensioners of any gain or loss of treatment eligibility.

Exception Cases – in Bereavement Period during the March 2010 SI run

The June processing run may produce large pension reductions for clients who were in the bereavement period on 6/7 March 2010, weekend of the March SI and Global Refresh run.

If an assessment is in bereavement period, the March or September batch processing will only apply the SI increase in income support and disability pensions. Any deeming rate changes or share/managed investment refresh will not be applied. Similarly batch processing like $Fort, BRI or super runs will also bypass bereavement cases. These updates should be applied when a post-bereavement review is processed.

Any bypassed cases that has not had a review since 7 March 2010 will have the global refresh and increased deeming rates applied in the June processing run. It is estimated that there are approximately 200 affected cases.

Depending on individual circumstances, some cases may end up with large pension reductions following the June 2010 run because of:

deeming rate increase from 2% to 3% for amounts up to $42,000* ($70,000* for couples) and from 3% to 4.5% for amounts above
general market recovery since the global financial crisis

these deeming thresholds may vary from 1 July 2010

Vetaffairs

An article on new Income Free Areas, Assets Value Limits and Deeming Thresholds will appear in the June edition of Vetaffairs newsletter. Distribution will occur from 29 June 2010.

Production of Advice Letters

Processing Weekend –

18/06/2010 –

20/06/2010

Processing is scheduled to run from Friday evening, 18 June 2010 to Sunday, 20 June 2010.

Any pension variations resulting from this exercise will be effective from 1 July 2010 for payday 15 July 2010.

Critical Dates

Processing period within DVA – (includes 'advices' processing).	Friday (pm) 18 June 2010 – Sunday (pm) 20 June 2010
Commence printing advice letters with payment summaries, Standalone Payment Summaries and Medicare Levy Exemption Certificates (MLEC)	Tuesday, 22 June 2010
Progressive lodgment of all Advice Letters, Standalone Payment Summaries and MLECs with Australia Post	Commencing from Monday , 28 June 2010 and completed by COB Friday, 2 July 2010

Letter Production

SALMAT BusinessForce, located in Mulgrave, Victoria will print the advice letters, Standalone Payment Summaries and MLECs, insert the ATO flyers where applicable, envelope and lodge all mail with Australia Post. Production and processing of letters is expected to occur over the period 21 June 2010 to 2 July 2010.

Lodgment of Letters

Letters will be progressively lodged with Australia Post commencing Monday, 28 June 2010. All letters are to be posted by COB Friday, 2 July 2010.

A proposed lodgement plan has been included at Attachment B for reference. Regular updates on progress of the printing and lodgement will be provided to confirm if there are any variations to the lodgement dates.

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.

Copies of the expected advice letter content for this run are reproduced at Attachment D.

Single and Joint Advices

All service pensioners and income support supplement recipient couples will receive a joint advice, provided both members of a couple, including the illness separated, have the same IMS postal 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 the mainframe 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 & Full Income and Assets will NOT be issued to Maximum Rate Pensioners

Full Obligations or Full Income and Assets WILL NOT be issued to maximum rate SP/ISS/AP recipients.

This is in line with the Repatriation Commission policy that pensioners receiving the maximum rate of pension are provided with their full obligations at a minimum interval of once every five years. Full Obligations were last issued to this client group in June 2008 with the date of next issue expected to be in June 2013. Full Income and Assets will not be issued to this client group.

Financial Obligations

The Financial Obligations paragraph, which includes prescribed rates information, will be present in the advices for all maximum rate SP/ISS/AP pensioners.

Full Obligations – Less than Maximum Rate Pensioners

Full Obligations will be provided to all less than maximum rate SP/ISS/AP recipients.

This is in line with the Repatriation Commission policy that pensioners receiving less than the maximum rate of pension are provided with their full obligations at a minimum interval of once every two years. Full Obligations were last issued to this client group in June 2008.

Full Income and Assets Attachment

A full Income and Assets Attachment will be issued to those on less than maximum rate of service pension, income support supplement recipients and age pensioners (including those receiving DFISA) 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 (including those receiving DFISA) who are:

Income tested where the total of their assets is more 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.

Payment Information Attachment

SP/ISS/AP pensioners who remain on maximum rate following the processing will 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.

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, 64 years for females) will receive an advice letter without a payment summary.

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.

PAYG Payment Summary -individual Non Business

Service Pension,

Age Pension

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 before the General Information Sheet (GIS). Each page of the advice letter, including the payment summary(ies), has a page number printing in the footer information.

Payment Summaries – new design

The payment summary has been simplified to remove the duplicate design when separate copies for ATO and client's personal record are needed in the past. This is made possible with the ATO pre-filling service, because there is no longer the need to attach a payment summary to the tax return.

A sample of the new payment summary is provided as part of the advice letter in Attachment D, Example 1.

This change will also be applied to Standalone Payment Summary and Payment Summary reprinted via VIEW.

General Information Sheet (GIS)

Each advice letter, except those for overseas pensioners, will have a General Information Sheet (GIS). The GIS provides details of payment rates, Income and Asset thresholds, treatment thresholds, Rent Assistance rates and other payment information. There will be a separate GIS for clients assessed under the transitional rules and for those assessed under the 'new' rules because different rates and thresholds apply.

Because some components of the pension supplement (pension supplement non-taxable and pension supplement flexible) are not payable to overseas pensioners, the information provided on the GIS is not applicable to them. For this reason, overseas pensioners will not be issued with the GIS to avoid confusion.

ATO insert – Do you need to lodge a tax return?'

A 'pensioner flyer' produced by the ATO titled “Do you need to lodge a tax return?” will only be included in the advice letters produced for those in payment of less than the maximum rate of Income Support pension, those being issued a Medicare Levy Exemption Certificate (MLEC) or a Standalone Payment Summary.

The flyer will not be sent to those clients being paid at the maximum rate of income support pension.

Each location will be supplied with a quantity of the flyers to insert with their Enclosures (treatment changes) or Reduction to Nil advice letters which will print at each location for checking prior to dispatch.

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 tax 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 2009/2010 threshold amounts will be available in VIEW from 1 July 2010. Additional information about these thresholds is provided via the VIEW Online Help.

Standalone Payment Summaries (issued without a covering letter)

Standalone

PAYG

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.

Standalone

Payment Summaries – Posted Directly to Clients from the Mailing House

All Standalone Payment Summaries, with the exception for overseas addressees listed above, are to be printed and enveloped at the Mailing House, and lodged with Australia Post directly from the Mailing House.

In June 2009, DVA issued 19,397 Standalone Payment Summaries.

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 contact officer. This will list the clients who reside overseas who are to receive a Standalone Payment Summary. Staff should request a re-print for those overseas clients listed on the report and send their Standalone Payment Summary directly to them.

Standalone Payment Summaries - Unknown Addressees

Where a client has an 'unknown address' recorded, a Standalone Payment Summary will not be produced. A listing of clients with an 'unknown address' will be provided to each office.

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 2010.

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.

Return Address if not Delivered

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 July 2010, payment summaries for the 2009/2010 financial year may be re-generated using the 'Payment Summary Reprint' facility located under the Advices Tab in VIEW.

Improvement has been made to the new payment summary. When requesting reprint of previous year payment summaries, the corresponding financial year will now be shown in the heading. The 'Authorising Person' will reflect the respective location's Deputy Commissioner on the date the reprint is requested.

Payment Summary Template

The June SI Income Support contact officers will be provided with a 2010 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
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
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
pensioners whose pensions are not taxable (eg, those in payment of invalidity service pension who are under 65 years of age for males, 64 years for females).

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

A sample of the Medicare Levy Exemption Certificate to be issued in 2010 can be found at Attachment E.

Medicare levy exemption days – blinded 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 2900 clients.

Zip File of MLEC Reports

A report of all clients who receive a MLEC will be produced and emailed in a zip file to the nominated 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 manual 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 nominated Contact 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 (Treatment change) Advice Letters

Following the June SI processing, the Enclosure (treatment change) letters will be printed at the nominated printer at each location. These advices were previously printed at the IBM Printhub and couriered to each state location. However, for the quarterly processing runs all streamed advices will print at your state location printer.

It is requested that the streamed advice letters be checked for accuracy, and reconciled against the reports received in each location to ensure they reflect the correct treatment paragraphs.

If any advice with incorrect treatment information is found, please consult with the Income Support System Support Officers to ensure correct information is provided in the manual replacement advice.

Reduction to Nil Letters

Following the June SI processing, any Reduction to Nil advice letters will be printed at the nominated printer for each location. Staff are required to include a Commonwealth Seniors Health Card (CSHC) claim form, a CSHC fact sheet and a reply paid envelope.

'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 content of the advices is correct prior to posting to clients.

Handling of Daily Advices

Cases processed prior to the SI run for payday 15 July 2010 should have the daily advice dispatched prior to the June advice letter being sent.

Daily payment advices processed after the processing run on 19 - 20 June 2010 for payday 15 July 2010, 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 15 July 2010 will receive their daily advice after the quarterly advice.

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 15 July 2010.

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 after the SI run when the next 'Reprint' job is submitted. 'Unprinted' advice reprint requests will then print when the next 'Reprint' job is submitted.

DVA Income Support Contact Officers

DVA – Income Support Contact Officers

A contact person from each location acts as a liaison point for the Advices Team, and to assist with handling of streamed advices printed at each nominated location printers.

The Income Support (IS) Contacts for the June 2010 quarterly processing exercise are as follows:

NSW: Genia Sacharczuk

VIC: Arthur Morihovitis

QLD: Steve Jensen

SA: Maria Nasilowski

WA: Michelle Pauly

TAS: Bryon Kelly

Cards & Advices Team Contacts

Feedback from Staff

Any concerns regarding letters produced as part of this run should be directed to the June SI Project Officer located in Sydney – Anissa Lam on 02 9213 7169. Please ensure that any problems are reported without delay.

Contact Details

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

Anissa Lam

(02) 9213 7169 or Speed Dial 27169

Email: anissa.lam@dva.gov.au

ATTACHMENT A

HOUSEHOLDS TO RECEIVE PAYMENT SUMMARIES AND/OR MEDICARE LEVY EXEMPTION CERTIFICATES

JUNE 2010 – APPROXIMATE VOLUMES BASED ON 2009 STATISTICS

STATE	JOB 1 - Less than Maximum Rate	JOB 2 – Maximum rate	JOB 3 – Overseas	Total no of advice letters (Job 1, 2 & 3)	JOB 4 – Standalone Payment Summary	JOB 5 - MLEC
NSW	15944	53950	-	69894	6321	22157
VIC	11463	36437	-	47900	4557	14215
QLD	11840	32381	-	44221	4954	15678
SA	6992	18980	-	25972	1470	5217
WA	6141	13370	-	19511	1630	6039
TAS	1943	5646	709	8298	465	1894
TOTAL	54323	160764	709	215796	19397	65200

ATTACHMENT B

2010 June SI

Proposed lodgement plan for mailpacks produced by the mailing house

Items produced include

Advice letter, including payment summary, for less than maximum rate (LMAX) pensioners
Advice letter, including payment summary, for maximum rate (MAX) pensioners
Standalone payment summary for clients who are no longer in payment but have received a taxable pension during the financial year
Medicare levy exemption certificate for clients who are entitled to Medicare levy exemption but do not receive a payment summary

The volume of mailpacks shown below are indicative numbers only, base on 2009 mailout statistics

	LMAX advice		MAX advice		Other	Approx no
	State	Approx no	State	Approx no
Mon 28 June	WA QLD	6141 11840	WA SA	13370 18980
	Total	17981	Total	32350
Tue 29 June	NSW TAS OS	15944 709	QLD	32381	Standalone Payment Summary	19397
	Total	16653	Total	32381	Total	19397
Wed 30 June	SA TAS VIC	6992 1943 11463			Medicare Levy Exemption Certificate	65200
	Total	20398			Total	65200
Thu 1 July			NSW	53950
			Total	53950
Fri 2 July			VIC TAS	36437 5646
			Total	42083

ATTACHMENT C

JUNE 2010 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:

Full Income and Assets Attachment will be sent to those:

Less than Maximum Rate 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.

Tailored Income and Asset Attachment will be sent to those:

Less than Maximum Rate 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 D

JUNE 2010 SI PARAGRAPH CONTENT

Example 1:

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

JOINT ASSESSMENT

TAXABLE
FULL INCOME AND ASSETS ATTACHMENT
FULL OBLIGATIONS
PAYMENT SUMMARIES ENCLOSED
GENERAL INFORMATION SHEET (GIS) ENCLOSED

GPO Box 9998, Brisbane QLD 4001

Contact:

Telephone:Brisbane Office

Bank of Queensland Centre

259 Queen Street

Brisbane QLD 4000

123 456 789 044 — Postal Address:

JOHN SMITH — GPO Box 9998 Brisbane QLD 4001

MARY SMITH — Telephone:

29 MARGARGET STREET — Capital city callers: 133 254

IPSWICH QLD 4010 — Non-capital city callers: 1800 555 254

Facsimile: (07) 3223 8479

20 June 2010

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 2010.

Payment Information

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

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.

Issue of 2009/2010 Financial Year Payment Summaries

As it is the end of the 2009/2010 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.

If you are unsure as to whether you are required to lodge a tax return or if you have any questions about taxation matters you should contact the Australian Taxation Office on

13 28 61.

Department of Veterans' Affairs' staff are unable to assist with taxation enquiries.

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.

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 regarding Income Support issues you should contact us on 1300 550 452 (Capital city callers) or 1800 550 452 (Non-Capital city callers). For any other enquiries please contact the Department at the address or telephone number shown at the top of this letter.

Yours sincerely,

ALISON STANLEY

Deputy Commissioner

as Delegate of the Secretary and Repatriation Commission

PAYMENT INFORMATION ATTACHMENT

The Department calculates 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.

Payment for 15 JULY 2010VeteranPartner

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 29 JULY 2010VeteranPartner

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 ATTACHMENT

(Information currently used to assess your pension)

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 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.

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 $X,XXX.XX. The total of all your assets (excluding any deductible assets) is $XXX,XXX.XX. Details of how your pension has been assessed are shown below.

FINANCIAL ASSETS

Savings and Cheque Accounts

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

Total Financial Assets

FINANCIAL ASSETS VALUE	DEEMED INTEREST RATE	DEEMED INCOME PER FORTNIGHT
$XX,XXX.XX	X.X%	$XX.XX
$ XX.XX	X.X%	$XX.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, on the total of all your financial assets:

$0 to $XX,XXX - at X.X%

$XX,XXX + - at Y.Y%

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

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.

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 - $XX.XX per fortnight

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 service pension 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.

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 service pension 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 or receive remote area allowance) if you gain or dispose of any assets. You must also notify this Department if your combined gross income from all sources increases above $X,XXX.XX per fortnight. This will ensure that your service pension continues to be paid at the correct rate.

If your combined 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.

Superannuation

If you are eligible for Commonwealth Superannuation or Defence Forces Retirement Benefits, you must tell us full details within 14 days (28 days if you are living overseas or receive remote area allowance) of when these payments are granted, or if you receive any lump sum or special payments. You do not need to tell us of indexation changes to your regular fortnightly payments because your pension will be adjusted automatically.

Obligations – Domestic Situation

You must tell us if:

You live apart because of age, ill health or any other reasons
You get divorced
Your partner 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 Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs,
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, war widow's 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 or a special disability 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.

GPO Box 9998 in your Capital City

JOHN SMITH

10 RAMSAY CRESCENT

IPSWITCH QLD 4010

PAYG PAYMENT SUMMARY

INDIVIDUAL NON BUSINESS

Service Pension

Payment Summary for the year ending 30 June 2010

Payee details

JOHN SMITH

10 RAMSAY CRESCENT

IPSWITCH QLD 4010

DVA reference number: QX123456

Period of payment: 01/07/09 to 30/06/10

Payee's tax file number: 444 444 444

TOTAL TAX WITHHELD: $0.00

Gross payments: $3,245.00

Medicare levy

full or half exemption days: 365

Remote area allowance: $0.00

Payer details

Payer's ABN or withholding number: 2396 4290 824

Payer's name: Department of Veterans' Affairs

Signature of authorised person: ALISON STANLEY

Date: 20/06/10

See notes on reverse.

Notes:

Total tax withheld: If this payment summary shows an amount in

the total tax withheld field you must lodge a tax return. This ensures

that you receive any refunds of tax you may be entitled to. If no tax

was withheld you may still have to lodge a tax return.

Gross payments: This is the amount you should show as income in

your tax return. The gross payments shown on this payment summary

does not include non taxable payments such as disability pension.

Remote area allowance: 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.

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 payment

summary. If you need to lodge a tax return the number of days shown

will need to be stated at the relevant Medicare levy question.

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, or Short

tax return instructions for the relevant financial year, or call the

Australian Taxation Office on 13 28 61 between 8.00 am and 6.00 pm

Monday to Friday or visit www.ato.gov.au. Pension enquiries

should be directed to the Department of Veterans' Affairs.

The Australian Tax Office checks information shown in tax returns

against information provided by the Department of Veterans' Affairs.

Example of the General Information Sheet (GIS) for Service Pensioners (non-transitional).

There is a separate GIS for income support supplement and age pensioner recipients.

GENERAL INFORMATION ON SERVICE PENSION RATES AND LIMITS

(Information current as at 1 July 2010 )

MAXIMUM RATES OF SERVICE PENSION (including pension supplement)

Singles Rate$XXX.XX (per fortnight)

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

PENSION INCOME LIMIT (per fortnight)

Income Free AreaCut Off

Singles Limit$XXX.XX$X,XXX.XX

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

INCOME TEST: Pension rate is reduced by 50 cents for each dollar of income above the income free area.

PENSION ASSETS LIMIT

Assets Free AreaCut Off

Home Owner

Singles Limit$XXX,XXX$XXX,XXX

Couples Limit (combined)$XXX,XXX$XXX,XXX

Non Home Owner

Singles Limit$XXX,XXX$XXX,XXX

Couples Limit (combined)$XXX,XXX$XXX,XXX

ASSETS TEST: Pension rate is reduced by 37.5 cents for every $250 of assets above the assets free area.

NOTE:

Income and assets limits do not apply to blinded service pensioners.
Higher income and assets cut off limits may apply if rent assistance is payable.
Both income and assets tests are applied to work out a pension rate. The rate of pension paid is the lower of the two.

GOLD CARD INFORMATION

The Gold Card income and assets limits shown below, 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 limits shown below do not apply if:

your disability pension is above 50% of the general rate and you also receive an amount of service pension (including pension supplement). 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 Limit $XXX.XX (per fortnight)

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

ASSETS

Home OwnerNon Home Owner

Singles Limit$XXX,XXX$XXX,XXX

Couples Limit (combined)$XXX,XXX$XXX,XXX

ILLNESS SEPARATED COUPLES

Couples separated due to ill health are paid 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 received 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.

Maximum Amount of Rent Assistance Payable (per fortnight)

No children1-2 children3 or more children

Singles Rate$XXX.XX$XXX.XX$XXX.XX

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

Rent Limit (per fortnight)

No children1-2 children3 or more children

Singles Limit$XXX.XX$XXX.XX$XXX.XX

Couples Limit (combined)$XXX.XX$XXX.XX$XXX.XX

GIFTING

A gift is an asset which is given away or disposed of without receiving the market value of that gift in return. A gift may be either a cash amount or non cash assets such as a car or other property.

You must notify us if you give away a total of $10,000 or more in a tax year or $30,000 over a rolling five-year period.

The amount above either limit will continue to be counted as if it were still your asset for a period of 5 years and may therefore continue to affect your pension. We will also deem income on the value of any gift above either limit for 5 years.

Example of the General Information Sheet (GIS) for transitional rate Service Pensioners.

There is a separate GIS for income support supplement and age pensioner recipients.

GENERAL INFORMATION ON SERVICE PENSION RATES AND LIMITS

(Information current as at 1 July 2010)

MAXIMUM RATES OF SERVICE PENSION (transition rate)

Singles Rate$XXX.XX (per fortnight)

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

PENSION INCOME LIMIT (per fortnight)

Income Free AreaCut Off

Singles Limit$XXX.XX$X,XXX.XX

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

INCOME TEST: Pension rate is reduced by 40 cents for each dollar of income above the income free area.

PENSION ASSETS LIMIT

Assets Free AreaCut Off

Home Owner

Singles Limit$XXX,XXX$XXX,XXX

Couples Limit (combined)$XXX,XXX$XXX,XXX

Non Home Owner

Singles Limit$XXX,XXX$XXX,XXX

Couples Limit (combined)$XXX,XXX$XXX,XXX

ASSETS TEST: Pension rate is reduced by 37.5 cents for every $250 of assets above the assets free area.

NOTE:

Income and assets limits do not apply to blinded service pensioners.
Income limits may increase for each dependent child or student up to the age of 22, or if rent assistance is payable.
Both income and assets tests are applied to work out a pension rate. The rate of pension paid is the lower of the two.

GOLD CARD INFORMATION

The Gold Card income and assets limit shown below 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 Limit $XXX.XX (per fortnight)

Couples Limit (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 Limit$XXX,XXX$XXX,XXX

Couples Limit (combined)$XXX,XXX$XXX,XXX

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

Maximum Amount of Rent Assistance Payable (per fortnight)

No children1-2 children3 or more children

Singles Rate$XXX.XX$XXX.XX$XXX.XX

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

Rent Limit (per fortnight)

No children1-2 children3 or more children

Singles Limit$XXX.XX$XXX.XX$XXX.XX

Couples Limit (combined)$XXX.XX$XXX.XX$XXX.XX

GIFTING

A gift is an asset which is given away or disposed of without receiving the market value of that gift in return. A gift may be either a cash amount or non cash assets such as a car or other property.

You must notify us if you give away a total of $10,000 or more in a tax year or $30,000 over a rolling five-year period.

Example 2:

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

JOINT ASSESSMENT

TAXABLE
TAILORED INCOME AND ASSETS ATTACHMENT
FULL OBLIGATIONS
PAYMENT SUMMARIES ENCLOSED
GIS

GPO Box 9998, Brisbane QLD 4001

Contact:

Telephone:Brisbane Office

Bank of Queensland Centre

259 Queen Street

Brisbane QLD 4000

123 456 789 044 — Postal Address:

MR THOMAS JONES — GPO Box 9998 Brisbane QLD 4001

MRS SYLVIA JONES — Telephone:

55 SMITH STREET — Capital city callers: 133 254

IPSWICH QLD 4010 — Non-Capital city callers: 1800 555 254

Facsimile: (07) 3223 8479

20 June 2010

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 2010

Payment Information

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

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.

Issue of 2009/2010 Financial Year Payment Summaries

As it is the end of the 2009/10 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.

If you are unsure as to whether you are required to lodge a tax return or if you have any questions about taxation matters you should contact the Australian Taxation Office on

13 28 61.

Department of Veterans' Affairs' staff are unable to assist with taxation enquiries.

Medicare Levy Exemption

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 listed is incorrect.

Events You Must Tell Us About

Changes You Have Already Told Us About

Your Right of Review

Yours sincerely,

ALISON STANLEY

Deputy Commissioner

as Delegate of the Secretary and Repatriation Commission

ATTACHMENTS

Payment Information Attachment

Tailored Income and Assets Attachment (see sample)
Full Obligations
Payment Summaries

General Information Sheet

SAMPLE - TAILORED INCOME AND ASSETS ATTACHMENT- SAMPLE

INCOME AND ASSETS ATTACHMENT

(Information currently used to assess your pension)

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 currently paid under the income test. The total of your assessed fortnightly income is $XXX.XX. The total of all your assets (excluding any deductible assets) is $XXX,XXX.XX. 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

Managed Investments

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

Total Financial Assets

FINANCIAL ASSETS VALUE	DEEMED INTEREST RATE	DEEMED INCOME PER FORTNIGHT
$XX,XXX.XX	X.X%	$X.XX
$ XX.XX	Y.Y%	$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 $XX,XXX - at X.X%

$XX,XXX + - at Y.Y%

If your investments are earning more than the X.X% or Y.Y% deeming rates, this additional income will not affect the rate of your service pension.

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	$XX,XXX.XX	$XXX.XX	$XXX.XX	$XX.XX

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 X Ocean Rd, NORTH HEAD, with a net market value of $XX,XXX.XX.

Direct Income

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

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.

Example 3:

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

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

GPO Box 9998, Brisbane QLD 4001

Contact:

Telephone:Brisbane Office

Bank of Queensland Centre

259 Queen Street

Brisbane QLD 4000

123 456 789 044 — Postal Address:

MR PHILLIP ADAMS — GPO Box 9998 Brisbane QLD 4001

MRS PATRICIA ADAMS — Telephone:

6 BOURKE STREET — Capital city callers: 133 254

IPSWICH QLD 4010 — Non- Capital city callers: 1800 555 254

Facsimile: (07) 3223 8479

20 June 2010

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 2010.

Payment Information

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

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.

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.

Your Income and Assets

Events You Must Tell Us About

Changes You Have Already Told Us About

Your Right of Review

Yours sincerely,

ALISON STANLEY

Deputy Commissioner

as Delegate of Secretary and Repatriation Commission

ATTACHMENTS

Payment Information Attachment

Tailored Income and Assets Attachment
Full Obligations
Medicare Levy Exemption Certificate sent separately

General Information Sheet

Example 4:

AGE PENSION PLUS DFISA
LESS THAN MAXIMUM RATE – VARIATION (INCREASE)
JOINT ASSESSMENT

TAXABLE
PAYMENT SUMMARIES ENCLOSED
GIS

GPO Box 9998, Brisbane QLD 4001

Contact:

Telephone:Brisbane Office

Bank of Queensland Centre

259 Queen Street

Brisbane QLD 4000

123 456 789 044 — Postal Address:

MR ROBERT MURDOCH — GPO Box 9998 Brisbane QLD 4001

12 JERRERSON STREET — Telephone:

IPSWICH QLD 4010 — Capital city callers: 133 254

Non-Capital city callers: 1800 555 254

Facsimile: (07) 3223 8479

20 June 2010

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 2010.

Payment Information

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

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 age pension:

Income Free Area - this is the amount of income you can have before your age 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 age 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 age pension.

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

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'.

Issue of 2009/2010 Financial Year Payment Summaries

As it is the end of the 2009/2010 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.

If you are unsure as to whether you are required to lodge a tax return or if you have any questions about taxation matters you should contact the Australian Taxation Office on

13 28 61.

Department of Veterans' Affairs' staff are unable to assist with taxation enquiries.

Medicare Levy Exemption

If you were previously being paid by Centrelink, they will issue a Payment Summary to you separately.

Your Income and Assets

As your age pension is assessed under the income test, some assets not affecting your rate of age 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) if the information is incorrect.

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,

ALISON STANLEY

Deputy Commissioner as Delegate of the Secretary

ATTACHMENTS

Payment Information Attachment

Tailored Income and Assets Attachment
Full Obligations
Payment Summary/s

General Information Sheet

Example 5:

MAXIMUM RATE CONTINUATION ON MAXIMUM RATE
FULL OBLIGATIONS / INCOME AND ASSETS DETAILS NOT INCLUDED

FINANCIAL OBLIGATIONS PARAGRAPH IN BODY OF THE ADVICE
PAYMENT SUMMARIES ENCLOSED
GIS

GPO Box 9998, Brisbane QLD 4001

Contact:

Telephone:Brisbane Office

Bank of Queensland Centre

259 Queen Street

Brisbane QLD 4000

123 456 789 044 — Postal Address:

MR BILL BROWN — GPO Box 9998 Brisbane QLD 4001

16 PHILLIPS STREET — Telephone:

IPSWICH QLD 4010 — Capital city callers: 133 254

Non-Capital city callers: 1800 555 254

Facsimile: (07) 3223 8479

20 June 2010

YOUR FILE NUMBER IS QX123456

Dear Mr 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.

Issue of 2009/2010 Financial Year Payment Summaries

As it is the end of the 2009/2010 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.

If you are unsure as to whether you are required to lodge a tax return or if you have any questions about taxation matters you should contact the Australian Taxation Office on

13 28 61.

Department of Veterans' Affairs' staff are unable to assist with taxation enquiries.

Medicare Levy Exemption

Financial Obligations

You need to tell us within 14 days (28 days if you are living overseas or receive remote area allowance) if your total income from all sources is more than $XXX.XX per fortnight or the value of your total assets is more than $XXX,XXX.XX.

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,

ALISON STANLEY

Deputy Commissioner

as Delegate of the Secretary and Repatriation Commission

ATTACHMENTS

Payment Summary/s

General Information Sheet

ATTACHMENT E

SAMPLE OF MEDICAE LEVY EXEMPTION CERTIFICATE

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 2009/2010 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 2010 or Short tax return instructions 2010 or contact the Australian Taxation Office on 13 28 61.

Yours faithfully