How to claim

Complete the following steps to claim your Pension Bonus. Before you start, check if you can get it.

You must claim the Pension Bonus with your Age Pension. Read about when to claim.

Steps to claim your Pension Bonus

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    1. Get ready to claim

    The easiest way to claim is online.

    To claim online, you need a Centrelink online account linked to myGov. If you don’t have a myGov account or a Centrelink online account you’ll need to set them up.

    You’ll need to get some supporting documents ready to help answer some of the questions in the claim. You also need to prove you passed the work test.

    You may need to prove your identity with us before you start your claim.

    If you’re registered in the Pension Bonus Scheme, we’ll ask you questions about for your Pension Bonus claim at the end of the Age Pension claim.

    If your partner is also a member of the scheme, they’ll need to submit their own online claim. Or, you can both claim on the same paper claim form.

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    2. Make your claim

    If you can claim online

    If your Centrelink account is linked to myGov you can claim online.

    To do this:

    1. Sign in to myGov.
    2. Select Make a claim or view claim status, then Make a claim.
    3. Under Older Australians, select Get started then follow the prompts to complete your claim.

    Sign in to myGov

    If you can’t claim online

    If you can’t claim online, you can do one of the following:

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    3. After you claim

    We’ll let you know the result of your claim. We’ll send a letter to either your:

    If you don’t get electronic letters, we’ll send you a letter in the mail.

    If we need more details we’ll ask you for them.

    If you think we’ve made a mistake you can ask us to review our decision.

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    4. After we approve your claim

    We’ll check if you can get a Pension Bonus Top Up payment 13 weeks after we grant you Age Pension. You don’t need to do anything.

Page last updated: 21 March 2023.
QC 43546