An Australian trying to retire in Thailand

[4MyEgo]

25 minutes ago, yaagjon said:

I don't want to sound pedantic, but the reason you qualify for the 50% discount is because you owned the asset for over 12 months. If it was empty it would have made no difference.

 

Not sounding pedantic at all yaagjon, I bounce things on this forum and also correct people, as they do me, its not a right or wrong or I know better, you see, today I have someone (you) with a different point of view, e.g. if the property was vacant as an investment property for over 12 months, I would still qualify, suffice to say I am glad it wasn't vacant, but your point has relevance and I learn something everyday.

 

Thanks for you input 555

[simple1]

14 hours ago, shadmo63 said:

I have a question on the 2 year rule for pension portability. If I work in Australia for the final 2 years before hitting retirement/pension age (67 for me), do I qualify for portability straight away? 

 

Look up the eligibility criteria and then have a read of the content at the URL below.

 

http://guides.dss.gov.au/guide-social-security-law/7/1/2/20

 

[zyxwv]

may I make a short complaint and thanks.?

When I came to Australia 30 years ago, I was told by the powers that be, that I would be entitled to a pension after 25 years. Now they  have change the wording to "eligible'.

one year before retirement age, they changed the rules and said I had to work here for 35 years (starting Jan 2015)

Now I get a partial pension based on my assets and time worked here. I get 82% of the pension that I would get if I had been here 35years. (working age years) that 82% is not 82% of the full pension by a long shot.

Just thought I would throw that in while reading this thread / topic. Some good info here, and it has helped me in understanding how things are (now anyway) should I leave for more than 6 weeks. thanks

 

Edited October 18, 2016 by zyxwv

[Bikeman93]

Tell them you have ebola or the like and wish to return to Australia for the sole purpose of filling in the forms to obtain the pension. That should sort them out.

[totally thaied up]

On 27/08/2016 at 7:18 AM, Bob9 said:

Great advice. AND I would recommend that you never tell them you are married to a Thai. If you are married, they will reduce your pension by about 25% and if your wife is of pension age they will reduce her pension by about 25%.  The fact that your wife is Thai and is not entitled to a pension (ever) does not compute to CLink - they will still reduce your pension.  

I think that is NOT a good idea. The best thing to do is not get married and keep all your transactions in cash. I would not even wire or transfer funds to the girlfriend.

 

I am married to a Thai. Have been so for one year. On the day of my marriage, I told Centrelink I was married. I got a 15% reduction.

 

Last week, I got a letter from Centrelink saying they had data matched me and found I had been married for a year. I then got a phone call from them saying they had notification from the Thai authorities that I was married. 

 

So yes, they are tracking you. They told me outright during this phone call if I had not notified them, they would have now not paid my pension to me until the recorded amount was paid back. They wanted to know if we were still together.

 

So do not think you can get away with it. 

 

If you have under $5,000 in your bank account, you can apply for a section 25 and will be exempt from the reduction.

 

[simple1]

10 hours ago, totally thaied up said:

If you have under $5,000 in your bank account, you can apply for a section 25 and will be exempt from the reduction.

 

Do you know anyone who has successfully claimed in Thailand, seems unlikely when looking at the criteria.

 

Special need for financial assistance

A person can be considered to be in special need if they have difficulty in maintaining a basic standard of living. This would generally mean that the person:

• has an income below 25% of the average weekly earnings in the country where they live, AND
• does not have substantial assets in a readily realisable form that could reasonably be used.

http://guides.dss.gov.au/guide-social-security-law/3/4/6/10

 

 

[totally thaied up]

9 hours ago, simple1 said:

Do you know anyone who has successfully claimed in Thailand, seems unlikely when looking at the criteria.

 

Yes, I know several people that have had. They have nothing and claimed section 25 and got the full payment. These people all wither reside in the Philippines or Thailand.

[ELVIS123456]

On 7/27/2017 at 4:07 PM, totally thaied up said:

 

Yes, I know several people that have had. They have nothing and claimed section 25 and got the full payment. These people all wither reside in the Philippines or Thailand.

Could you explain 'section 25' more - I have never heard of that.  Are you saying some Aussies living in Thailand and Singapore applied while living there and got full payments, due to 'section 25'. Or have I got that all wrong. 

[totally thaied up]

On 02/08/2017 at 2:25 AM, ELVIS123456 said:

Could you explain 'section 25' more - I have never heard of that.  Are you saying some Aussies living in Thailand and Singapore applied while living there and got full payments, due to 'section 25'. Or have I got that all wrong. 

From my understanding, you need to be first on a pension that is portable (old age or disability). You then need to have under $5000 in assets (this is including cash). The people that I know that have it here do not have 400.000 in the bank. They get the yearly marriage visa from Lao. They then appeal to Centrelink for Section 25.

 

So, Section 25 is for those in hardship and yes, is very hard to get. I would hate to be in this position.

 

Most that I do know that do have Section 25 live out of the Philippines.

[ELVIS123456]

20 hours ago, totally thaied up said:

From my understanding, you need to be first on a pension that is portable (old age or disability). You then need to have under $5000 in assets (this is including cash). The people that I know that have it here do not have 400.000 in the bank. They get the yearly marriage visa from Lao. They then appeal to Centrelink for Section 25.

 

So, Section 25 is for those in hardship and yes, is very hard to get. I would hate to be in this position.

 

Most that I do know that do have Section 25 live out of the Philippines.

Total assets under $5K - wow, that is doing it hard. Hopefully not me either.

Thanks for clarifying.

[simple1]

17 hours ago, ELVIS123456 said:

Total assets under $5K - wow, that is doing it hard. Hopefully not me either.

Thanks for clarifying.

Given the following criteria, if one is on the Aged Pension, I still find it very difficult to understand why Section 25 would be granted.in Thailand or the Philippines

 

has an income below 25% of the average weekly earnings in the country where they live

[totally thaied up]

15 hours ago, simple1 said:

Given the following criteria, if one is on the Aged Pension, I still find it very difficult to understand why Section 25 would be granted.in Thailand or the Philippines

 

has an income below 25% of the average weekly earnings in the country where they live

I know 4 people that have Section 25.

 

Three live in the Philippines and one in Thailand. From what I know, they got granted due to the fact they all have nothing. No money, no assets, no super, just nothing at all. If they lived at home in Australia, they would be on the streets.

 

They were in fact neighbours of mine when I lived in the Philippines 12 years ago. The three that I know that live in the Philippines have a very hard life. The one that lived in Thailand whom I knew has since divorced his wife and relocated to Australia to live with the sister as he was in very poor health and needed medical assistance. 

 

So yes, Section 25 is granted but I would not like to be in that boat at all. 

[simple1]

20 minutes ago, totally thaied up said:

I know 4 people that have Section 25.

 

Three live in the Philippines and one in Thailand. From what I know, they got granted due to the fact they all have nothing. No money, no assets, no super, just nothing at all. If they lived at home in Australia, they would be on the streets.

 

They were in fact neighbours of mine when I lived in the Philippines 12 years ago. The three that I know that live in the Philippines have a very hard life. The one that lived in Thailand whom I knew has since divorced his wife and relocated to Australia to live with the sister as he was in very poor health and needed medical assistance. 

 

So yes, Section 25 is granted but I would not like to be in that boat at all. 

If you say so. Still sounds really weird as why would any Oz national be living in the Philippines whilst earning less than 25% of the average weekly wage. Looks as though the payment ceased for anyone trying to apply after 2000.

 

No new grants can be made after 20 September 2000. 

 

http://guides.dss.gov.au/guide-social-security-law/3/4/6/10

[totally thaied up]

6 hours ago, simple1 said:

If you say so. Still sounds really weird as why would any Oz national be living in the Philippines whilst earning less than 25% of the average weekly wage. Looks as though the payment ceased for anyone trying to apply after 2000.

I was a member of a Social Security Board for many years for Australian Residents and I can recall several others appealing for Section 25 and of them being granted. I do not know these members personally, but that was only back in 2014/2015.

 

Special provisions

If it is decided you are a member of a couple but you believe this will result in unfair hardship, contact us on your regular payment line. We may consider you as single under special provisions in the Social Security Act 1991. We assess each request on a case by case basis.

[ray simmons1948]

He will have to do the two years to get portabilty for his pension but he can leave for up to six weeks at a time(no pay) and not added on to his two years.Its not good but thats how C/Link sees it!! Good luck and only deal with C/Link International they are very helpful!!

[1337markus]

12 hours ago, ray simmons1948 said:

He will have to do the two years to get portabilty for his pension but he can leave for up to six weeks at a time(no pay) and not added on to his two years.Its not good but thats how C/Link sees it!! Good luck and only deal with C/Link International they are very helpful!!

The time they finish wasting 122 million  dollars  on a postal vote on same sex marriage and buying new uniforms for parliament like Pauline Hansons burka yesterday in parliament. Not to forget the ex cop Dutton is copying US Homelands model there will be no money left for aged pensions.

[simple1]

15 hours ago, ray simmons1948 said:

He will have to do the two years to get portabilty for his pension but he can leave for up to six weeks at a time(no pay) and not added on to his two years.Its not good but thats how C/Link sees it!! Good luck and only deal with C/Link International they are very helpful!!

Age Pension is paid in full when overseas for six weeks whilst waiting for portability.

[David Walden]

On 8/26/2016 at 12:13 PM, yaagjon said:

Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but your friend should have enquired about this before. It is correct I understand.

 

Your friend can go for holidays up to 6 weeks overseas whilst living in Australia during that two year period, I could be wrong, but I believe there is no limit to the amount of holidays.

If he is going on holidays to where ever after being granted the pension, maybe Thailand or who knows where,  after 6 weeks he will lose the " pension supplement" of about $58 p/f not "the pension" which is about $847.00 P/F.  It will be better if he/she indicates a day of re-entry into Australia.  A few more trips back and forth to Aus over the 2 years should do the trick.  Then your all OK (unless the govt does a back flip).  A lot of people get "The Australian Aged Pension" mixed up with the "Australian Aged Pension Supplement", which is part of the "the Pension" of about $907 P/F

[liberator6996]

I'm interested in your last sentence.  I'm not an ex politician, but an ex public servant on the old Comsuper scheme. What, or where, is the ruling about  excluding old, pre 2004, pigs from the new tax rules.

Politicians super changed about 2004 to a scheme similar to the working class, except of course, theirs is non contributory, and 11.5%, not 9.5% like the rest of us. After 20 years, I think, it goes to 19.5%, once again relying on memory. It's all online if you're interested in looking.

Sent from my SM-G610F using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[David Walden]

This appears on the ABC Australia web site today.  Should be of interest to many Australians  http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-05-16/pensioners-retiring-overseas-because-they-cant-afford-australia/9762418  

[1337markus]

2 hours ago, David Walden said:

This appears on the ABC Australia web site today.  Should be of interest to many Australians  http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-05-16/pensioners-retiring-overseas-because-they-cant-afford-australia/9762418  

Thanks for the heads up. I wish it was as easy as it should be. Example;to get the medicare levy stopped you have to apply at the ATO. Once they know you are resident overseas your minimum tax threshold up to $18000 ceases; and for me I would have to pay an increase on tax of $6000 on my current non aged pension, just not worth the hassle.

[David Walden]

1 hour ago, 1337markus said:

Thanks for the heads up. I wish it was as easy as it should be. Example;to get the medicare levy stopped you have to apply at the ATO. Once they know you are resident overseas your minimum tax threshold up to $18000 ceases; and for me I would have to pay an increase on tax of $6000 on my current non aged pension, just not worth the hassle.

Well it appears that you are speaking about the tax thresholds for DSP or various pensions or self funded retirees for people under 65.  Once you reach 65  any income in Australia i.e. the Australian aged pension and other investment   dividends and you are over 65 your tax threshold goes up to about Aus $35,000 and any money paid out of a super fund is tax free (now already is taxed at 15% by stealth.)  Your assets and income test will mostly sort things out for you.  Most pension recipients do not have to pay the medicare levee, there is a threshold and only higher income earner pay this levee.   If you intend living overseas just make sure you come back home from time to time that way you will still be an Australian resident.

   Remember there are 31 Countries you can go to and live in forever and still receive all your entitlements.  England, France and Thailand and many other countries are NOT one of those.  Look in Centrelink web site they are all listed there.  

  A friend of mine wants to live in France near the boarder with Italy.  Officially he does live in Italy but really lives in France, only a few miles away.  Italy has an agreement with Australia, France does not.  He gets free medical in Italy, (similar to free Medicate in Aus) if he officially lived in France no medical cover at all.

Edited May 16, 2018 by David Walden

[David Walden]

1 hour ago, David Walden said:

Well it appears that you are speaking about the tax thresholds for DSP or various pensions or self funded retirees for people under 65.  Once you reach 65  any income in Australia i.e. the Australian aged pension and other investment   dividends and you are over 65 your tax threshold goes up to about Aus $35,000 and any money paid out of a super fund is tax free (now already is taxed at 15% by stealth.)  Your assets and income test will mostly sort things out for you.  Most pension recipients do not have to pay the medicare levee, there is a threshold and only higher income earner pay this levee.   If you intend living overseas just make sure you come back home from time to time that way you will still be an Australian resident.

   Remember there are 31 Countries you can go to and live in forever and still receive all your entitlements.  England, France and Thailand and many other countries are NOT one of those.  Look in Centrelink web site they are all listed there.  

  A friend of mine wants to live in France near the boarder with Italy.  Officially he does live in Italy but really lives in France, only a few miles away.  Italy has an agreement with Australia, France does not.  He gets free medical in Italy, (similar to free Medicate in Aus) if he officially lived in France no medical cover at all.

https://www.etax.com.au/aged-pension/   The threshold is for a single person over the age of 65 is $31,279.  (correction I did say about $35,000) If you are married the threshold is less $28,974 but the good thing is you can use the offset.  This means that you can earn about $58,000 per year and pay no tax .  As a couple the income earner can use the tax free threshold of partner if she has no wages or other income.  You will likely lose some of the pension due to the asset and income provision but the tax benefit somewhat makes up for this especially the offset provision.  Yes a retired couple on the pension with $375,000 of assets and own a house can have a combined income of $58,000 per year and pay no tax at all...how do I know?  this situation applies to me.

Edited May 16, 2018 by David Walden

[David Walden]

On 5/7/2018 at 3:07 AM, liberator6996 said:

Politicians super changed about 2004 to a scheme similar to the working class, except of course, theirs is non contributory, and 11.5%, not 9.5% like the rest of us. After 20 years, I think, it goes to 19.5%, once again relying on memory. It's all online if you're interested in looking.

Sent from my SM-G610F using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app
 

It is not easy for a retired politician to get a job on merit after they have retired from there seat or been defeated by a vote.  One of the reasons for politicians getting a lavish super pension is they could use their party influence if they like to get many jobs but that would be unfair to other applicant for that job.  Politicians can use their influence to get jobs at the expense of other genuine applicants who maybe better qualified.  The system is not perfect but it is not a bad idea if "used" politicians are put out to graze and maybe do charity work after retireing.  Perhaps a handsome pension will help in that regard. 

[stud858]

The rule and other rules indirectly says to youth of today, Don't work and pay taxes.  Because.you won't get anything back for it. Only slacker pollies.

[ELVIS123456]

13 hours ago, stud858 said:

The rule and other rules indirectly says to youth of today, Don't work and pay taxes.  Because.you won't get anything back for it. Only slacker pollies.

So true.  I had always assumed that the Libs/Nats would always do the right thing by those that had worked and paid taxes all their life - and that Labor/Greens would always look after those who were on welfare (and newbies to the country).  What has become clear is that while Lab/Greens still look after their own, the Libs and Nats have abandoned their traditional base and now see us as an 'expense' and are looking for ways to reduce their budget costs by taking away our OAP entitlements, and also changing things on Super to also save costs. If anyone wants a list of those negative changes I suggest you seacrh google - there has been plenty over the last 3-5 years.

 

And there has been even worse attempted by the Libs/Nats (like OAP at 70) but thankfully Labs and Greens in the Sernate have blocked them. Hate to say it, but the old adage that the Libs/Nats only look after the 'big' end of towen is very clearly their preferred strategy going forward.  If Turnbull stays on the Libs/Nats will probably lose the next election.  And they will definitewly have lost my vote - for the first time since 1983.