Ang Kalatas May 2017 Issue | Page 6

6 COMMUNITY

THE MESSAGE . BRINGING INTO FOCUS FILIPINO PRESENCE IN AUSTRALIA www . kalatas . com . au | Volume 7 Number 8 | MAY 2017

Pinoys for Duterte

Sydney-based members of the April30forDuterte Movement gathered last month at the Hickson Park in Sydney to celebrate the first anniversary of their movement . The Filipino-Australians joining the event also took the occasion to pledge their support to the Duterte Government and the changes which President Duterte has undertaken since his election last June . Hundreds came to the picnic day which included Pinoy-style salu-salo and entertainment . Photos by Mitchell Badelles .

WELCOME to a regular column with Department of Human Services General Manager , Hank Jongen . Here you can find out HANK JONGEN important information about the Australian Government

Department of Human Services

Department of Human

General Manager

Services , which includes Centrelink , Medicare and Child Support .

TALKING HUMAN SERVICES

How gifting may affect Age Pension

Since the pension assets test changes on 1 January 2017 , there has been talk about gifting and how this may affect the Age Pension .

If you are considering helping out family or friends , there are important things you need to know about how your payment may be affected ed by giving away money or assets .

Gifting ing is when assets are given away without receiving something of at least the same value in return . This will reduce e the net value of your overall assets by the amount you gifted . It is not classified as gifting if you exchange assets for other assets of equal value .

Examples of gifts include :

• buying a car for your son ,

• giving away shares to a friend , or

• forgiving a loan to your daughter .

So what are the gifting thresholds before your Age Pension is affected ?

Single people or couples can give away up to $ 10,000 in a financial year ,

although not more than $ 30,000 over five consecutive financial years .

Any gifts over these thresholds will be assessed as an asset for five years and be deemed to be earning income .

It is not appropriate for individuals to give away assets , then rely on the community for support . If you would like more information on how gifting can affect your Age Pension , or other financial questions

, you can speak to one of the Department ’ s Financial Information Service Officers or visit humanservices . gov . au and search for ‘ Gifting ’. To find out more about available resources and support services in Tagalog visit humanservices . gov . au / yourlanguage or call the multilingual phone service on 131 202 . You can also subscribe to ‘ News for migrants , refugees and visitors ’ to find out more about the department ’ s latest products and services for customers from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds .