Can I work and still get the Age Pension?

The Work Bonus — free earnings nobody tells you about

The first $300 a fortnight (~$7,800 a year) of employment income doesn't count in the pension income test at all. Centrelink just pretends you didn't earn it.

• It only applies to work income — wages, not investments or rent.
• Don't use it? It banks up — unused bonus accrues to a $11,800 buffer, so seasonal or occasional work gets shielded too.
• It only kicks in at pension age — a working partner under 67 doesn't get it.

Then the income test free area

After the Work Bonus, ordinary income sits under a free area before anything happens to your pension:

• Single: ~$226/fortnight free, on top of the Work Bonus — so roughly $526/fortnight (~$13,700/yr) in wages before the pension moves at all.
• Couple: ~$396/fortnight combined free area, plus each partner's own Work Bonus on wages.
• Above the free area, the pension drops 50 cents per $1 — a taper, not a cliff. You always keep more than half of every extra dollar earned.

Worked example: a single pensioner earning $800/fortnight in wages keeps all $800 — the only cost is the pension drops ~$137/fortnight. The job adds $800, the pension loses $137: they're $663/fortnight better off.

What counts and what doesn't

• Counts: wages (after Work Bonus), deemed income on savings and super, foreign pensions like the UK State Pension.
• Doesn't count: tax-free super withdrawals aren't income — but the super balance itself gets deemed (its assumed earnings count, not what you actually draw).
• The other test still applies: Centrelink pays whichever is lower of the income test and the assets test — a fat super balance can bind first even with low income.

Why a part-time job punches above its weight

$13k of largely pension-free wages every year is effectively like adding ~$200k+ to your super — money you never had to save. That's why "two days a week until 70" rescues so many borderline retirement plans: it adds income now and leaves the super untouched to keep growing.

See it on your own numbers — free

RetirePath applies the Work Bonus and both means tests year by year. Add a part-time stage at 67–70 and explore how it changes your estimated pension and projected savings runway.