2 days ago
3
February 11, 2026 — 5:01am
Could you explain what is needed for the Commonwealth Seniors Health Card? I have $1.6 million in a super in pension phase and have to withdraw 5 per cent each year until I turn 75, with the money paid into my bank account. I also receive rental income from an investment property which still has a mortgage.
I am 74 and will turn 75 later this year, and I am still working with an income of about $60,000 a year. I would like to know whether I am likely to qualify for the Commonwealth Seniors Health Card.
To qualify for the CSHC you must be of pensionable age, which is 67, and not be eligible for the age pension. There is no asset test, but there is an income test, which is the sum of the deemed income from superannuation from which you are drawing a pension, plus your adjusted taxable income.
The cutout point for a single is $101,105. The deemed income from your super is $42,716 a year, which leaves you space of $58,389, or your taxable income.
It appears you are slightly over the limit, because of your extra income, so it may be a good idea to liaise with your accountant to see if it’s possible to get your adjusted taxable income reduced to below $58,389 or seek financial advice on rolling back a portion of your pension to super accumulation phase to reduce the deemed income.
I am about to turn 60 and my wife is 58. We each earn about $250,000 before tax, so roughly $500,000 combined. We owe $1.2 million on our home, which is worth about $7 million, and we also have an investment property worth about $1 million with a $550,000 mortgage. I have about $2.3 million in super, my wife has about $700,000, and we have about $350,000 in the bank offset against our home loan.
As I turn 60, I am thinking about starting a transition-to-retirement pension (TTR) and reducing my working hours to three days a week by the end of the year. I am considering putting $1 million into a TTR and understand I would need to withdraw between 4 and 10 per cent each year, and that earnings inside the TTR would be taxed at 15 per cent. If my working hours drop and my employer contributions fall below the cap, I plan to add extra contributions to super, but I am unsure whether they would be concessional or non-concessional contributions, or whether I could choose. Is there anything else I should be thinking about?
It seems a reasonable strategy, but keep in mind that you cannot make non-concessional contributions to super if the balance is over $2 million. This is expected to rise to $2.1 million after June 30.
You could certainly make non-concessional contributions to your wife’s super, and I see no big disadvantages here because the age difference is minimal. The concessional contributions are limited to a total of $30,000 a year, including the employer contribution.
So I suggest you’re probably maxed out if you’re earning $250,000 a year each. However, if you reduce your working hours and your income, there may be some space available to make some concessional contributions. Your super balance does not affect how much you can make by way of concessional conditions.
I have a share portfolio worth about $940,000, with an original cost of $780,000. Is it advisable to sell the entire portfolio and reinvest the proceeds to establish a new cost base, after allowing for brokerage and capital gains tax? Some shares would be sold at a loss, which could help offset capital gains tax. Reinvesting would also increase our dividend income. We are retired and pay very little tax.
I can’t see any downside. And the good thing about shares is you can spread the sales over more than one year if necessary to minimise capital gains tax. Increasing the allocation to franked dividends would certainly improve your income, especially as you are retired and on a low income and will get the franking credits back.
In a recent column, you discussed a woman who bought a house for $610,000 and was going to sell it to her son for $545,000. I don’t understand how she could be liable for capital gains tax on this transaction.
It’s OK to sell or give a property to another person at whatever value you choose, but if the asset is subject to capital gains tax, the deemed value for capital gains tax purposes will be the market value of the asset at date of transfer.
Noel Whittaker is author of Retirement Made Simple and other books on personal finance. Questions to: [email protected]
- Advice given in this article is general in nature and is not intended to influence readers’ decisions about investing or financial products. They should always seek their own professional advice that takes into account their own personal circumstances before making any financial decisions.
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