Liquid Assets:
Liquid assets are any readily available funds, including those of your partner, which you can access within 28 days of date you last worked.
What assets are counted as liquid assets?
Liquid assets include:
- cash on hand
- shares and debentures
- term deposits
- other money available at short notice
- some payments made or due to be made (within 28 days) by your last employer;
- 10 year insurance bonds
- amounts deposited or lent to banks or other financial institutions whether or not the amount can be withdrawn or repaid immediately
- amounts borrowed from the bank for a specific purpose such as international travel that may not have been used for the said purpose
- assets given to a son or daughter in some circumstances
- loans to other people
- unencumbered proceeds from sale of business
- any money in trust funds, bank accounts including mortgage offset accounts, BUT NOT balances of mortgage redraw accounts
- redundancies or eligible termination payments that are not rolled over or cannot be rolled over
- compensation payments.
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What are not counted as liquid assets?
Liquid assets DO NOT include:
- superannuation and termination payments which have been rolled over or are going to be rolled over directly from your employer
- proceeds from the sale of your principal home in some circumstances
- voluntary one off payments of your non housing debts in some circumstances.
If you are a tertiary student and get Youth Allowance or Austudy, liquid assets can be reduced by certain costs directly related to studying, including:
- up front course fees
- HECS payments
- union fees
- the cost of text books
- the cost of any tools or equipment required to undertake the course, including computer software
- expenses directly related to any field trips you need to taken for your course.
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How do liquid assets affect my payment?
Liquid assets may affect you if you get:
Your payment will not be affected if your liquid assets are less than $2 500 (single) or $5 000 (couple or single with dependents).
If your liquid assets are above this amount, there will be a liquid assets waiting period. Centrelink will let you know how long you have to wait before you can be paid, which can vary from 1-13 weeks depending on:
- the amount of your liquid assets, and
- whether you are a member of a couple, and
- whether you have dependent children.
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Can I be exempt from the liquid assets waiting period?
You can be exempted from the liquid assets waiting period if you:
- or your partner have been subject to a liquid assets waiting period that started within the last 12 months, or
- are transferring from one payment to another within a 14 day period (in some circumstances), or
- have self-served the liquid assets waiting period i.e. you claim a payment after the liquid assets waiting period would have expired, or
- are undertaking:
- a rehabilitation program
- formal vocational training in a labour market program that has been approved by Centrelink; or
- become qualified for Newstart Allowance after a continuous period in receipt of another payment (in some circumstances).
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