Use this guide alongside the official service
Read the steps here first and keep the relevant documents or questions ready. Outside websites open in a new tab, so this guide stays here. To continue, return to the Pension Path tab or close the new tab.
If online steps are difficult, find phone, paper or in-person help.
Changes worth checking
- Starting or stopping work, wages or self-employment.
- Changed savings, investments, super, income streams or property.
- A new relationship, separation, illness separation or partner's death.
- A new address, rent, accommodation arrangement or home sale.
- Overseas travel or a change in residence.
- An inheritance, gift, business or trust change.
Follow the right deadline and method
Many circumstance changes have a notification period, but regular income reporting and particular review requests have their own timetable. Check the official instructions for the type of change and your letter's deadline.
Wages are generally reported as gross amounts paid before tax or deductions. Check prefilled employer information against payslips. Self-employment uses a different process; do not simply enter business turnover into the wages field.
Annual income-stream reviews can ask for particular evidence even where a provider normally supplies information. The due date on a request still matters.
Your next steps
- Identify the change, date and household member affected.
- Use the official Centrelink account or contact staff to confirm the reporting method.
- Provide the requested evidence and check that corrected details are recorded.
- Keep a confirmation, date and copy of what you supplied. Check any resulting assessment.
If you missed a deadline or need help
Contact Centrelink promptly rather than waiting for the next payment. Explain the change and ask what information is needed. An overpayment can become a debt; reporting late does not guarantee the debt will be waived.
Use the Older Australians line on 132 300 or ask for in-person, interpreter or relay help. If a decision is wrong, use the formal review route. Pension Path cannot report changes for you.
Your next-step checklist
For your own notes. Ticks do not submit a claim or notify an agency.
Print or write down your steps if you prefer.
Your official next step
When you are ready, use the official instructions to apply or make your change. Keep this guide open while you work through the service. Follow that service's instructions and keep any confirmation it gives you.
Services Australia: report a change (opens in a new tab)Official sources for this page
Guidance reviewed 5 October 2026. Source checks and content reviews are different: a successful download does not confirm that every rule is unchanged.
- Change of circumstances on Age Pension (opens in a new tab)Services Australia · Content checked 5 October 2026Automated retrieval 5 October 2026. This is not an editorial review.
- What to report to Centrelink (opens in a new tab)Services Australia · Content checked 5 October 2026Automated retrieval 5 October 2026. This is not an editorial review.
- Extra help when calling Services Australia (opens in a new tab)Services Australia · Content checked 5 October 2026Automated retrieval 5 October 2026. This is not an editorial review.
- What happens when Centrelink overpays you (opens in a new tab)Services Australia · Content checked 5 October 2026Automated retrieval 5 October 2026. This is not an editorial review.
- Income stream reviews (opens in a new tab)Services Australia · Content checked 5 October 2026Automated retrieval 5 October 2026. This is not an editorial review.
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