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.
Accessing super is a separate decision
Ordinary super access from 60 depends on a condition of release. At 65, access generally does not require retirement. Defined-benefit schemes and exceptional early release need specific checks.
Reaching an access age does not require you to withdraw all your super. Choices can include leaving money invested, a lump sum or an income stream. Fees, risk, insurance, tax and future costs matter.
An account-based pension pays from your own super; it is not government Age Pension. It has withdrawal rules and investment risks and can run out. Transition-to-retirement income streams have further limits.
How it interacts with Centrelink
At pension age, super balances ordinarily count under the assessment rules. Below pension age, accumulation super not paying a super pension can have an exemption, including for a younger partner.
Income streams differ by type, start date and grandfathering. Tax-free does not mean ignored by Centrelink. Ask about the actual account or product rather than applying one rule to every super pension.
Tax needs the correct year and fund details
Age Pension is taxable, but that does not mean every recipient owes tax. You can ask about deductions from Centrelink payments and keep the payment summary.
Taxed-fund withdrawals from age 60 are generally tax-free; untaxed and some defined-benefit arrangements differ. Other income, overseas pensions and offsets need the relevant financial year's checks.
Seniors and pensioners tax offset eligibility is separate from pension approval. Avoid using last year's table as this year's threshold.
Before making a decision
- Gather fund statements, tax components, fees, income-stream details and household finances.
- Ask your fund about release rules and product details.
- Use FIS for education about pension interactions.
- For personal recommendations, use an appropriately authorised adviser; for tax, seek qualified tax help. Check services and costs.
Different help has different roles
FIS is free education, not personal investment advice. Financial counselling helps with hardship/debt. ASIC's adviser register helps check authorisation; listing is not an ASIC endorsement. Do not send super or tax records to Pension Path.
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.
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.
- Getting your super (opens in a new tab)ASIC Moneysmart · Content checked 5 October 2026Automated retrieval 5 October 2026. This is not an editorial review.
- Super and finances when you retire (opens in a new tab)myGov · Content checked 5 October 2026Automated retrieval 5 October 2026. This is not an editorial review.
- Types of retirement income (opens in a new tab)ASIC Moneysmart · Content checked 5 October 2026Automated retrieval 5 October 2026. This is not an editorial review.
- How super affects your payment (opens in a new tab)Services Australia · Content checked 5 October 2026Automated retrieval 5 October 2026. This is not an editorial review.
- Income streams (opens in a new tab)Services Australia · Content checked 5 October 2026Automated retrieval 5 October 2026. This is not an editorial review.
- Retirement income and tax (opens in a new tab)ASIC Moneysmart · Content checked 5 October 2026Automated retrieval 5 October 2026. This is not an editorial review.
- Taxable Centrelink payments (opens in a new tab)Services Australia · Content checked 5 October 2026Automated retrieval 5 October 2026. This is not an editorial review.
- Paying tax on a Centrelink payment (opens in a new tab)Services Australia · Content checked 5 October 2026Automated retrieval 5 October 2026. This is not an editorial review.
- Financial services when thinking about retirement (opens in a new tab)Services Australia · Content checked 5 October 2026Automated retrieval 5 October 2026. This is not an editorial review.
- Financial advisers register (opens in a new tab)ASIC Moneysmart · Content checked 5 October 2026Automated retrieval 5 October 2026. This is not an editorial review.
- Account-based pensions (opens in a new tab)ASIC Moneysmart · Content checked 5 October 2026Automated retrieval 5 October 2026. This is not an editorial review.
- Transition to retirement (opens in a new tab)ASIC Moneysmart · Content checked 5 October 2026 · The page includes an older financial-year worked example. This guide does not reuse its cap figures.Automated retrieval 5 October 2026. This is not an editorial review.
- Seniors and pensioners tax offset (opens in a new tab)Australian Taxation Office · Content checked 5 October 2026 · Verified in a live browser. Displayed numerical tables were for 2025-26; no 2026-27 threshold is asserted.Automated retrieval 5 October 2026. This is not an editorial review.
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