Age Pension age: when can you claim?

Age Pension age in Australia is 67. You can claim from the day you reach it, provided you also meet the residence rules and pass the income and assets tests. Reaching 67 is the entry requirement, not an automatic entitlement, and the claim is not made for you.

The age itself

Age Pension age is 67 for everyone reaching it now. It rose in steps over the previous decade and has finished rising, so unlike many retirement figures this one is stable and not scheduled to move.

Two things follow from that. You can plan against it with reasonable confidence. And it is worth checking your own date, since it is the single fixed point most retirement plans are built around.

The residence rules

These catch people out more often than the age does, particularly anyone who has spent working years overseas.

To qualify you generally need to be an Australian resident, and to have been an Australian resident for at least 10 years in total. At least 5 of those years must be a continuous period without a break. You also need to be in Australia on the day you lodge the claim.

Australia has social security agreements with a number of countries, which can help someone who does not meet the standard residence period, or who is living overseas. If your working life included time abroad, this is worth checking specifically rather than assuming you do not qualify.

The two tests

Meeting the age and residence requirements gets you assessed. It does not set the amount.

The payment is then worked out under two tests, the income test and the assets test, and the one that produces the lower payment is the one that applies. Both are applied, not one or the other.

The part most people miss is what happens to super. Before you reach Age Pension age, super sitting in accumulation phase is generally not counted by Centrelink. Once you reach Age Pension age, it counts under both tests, the same as any other asset you hold.

For couples with an age gap this happens at two different times, because each person's super comes into the assessment when they individually reach Age Pension age. That can mean a household's assessed position changes twice, several years apart.

What to do before you turn 67

Check your date and diarise it. You can lodge a claim up to 13 weeks before you reach Age Pension age, so the useful reminder is earlier than the birthday.

Check the residence position early, especially if you have worked overseas. This is the requirement most likely to need documents you do not have to hand.

Understand what your super does on that date. It moves from invisible to counted, and if that is going to change your assessed position, it is much better known in advance than discovered afterwards.

The bigger question underneath

Knowing when you can claim is the easy part, and this page is most of it.

The harder question is how the Age Pension and your own super work together over 25 years: what to draw and when, how the two tests interact as your balance changes, and what that means for what you can actually spend. That is a moving picture rather than a date, and it is the part we built SuperYears to show you.

Information provided is general in nature and does not constitute personal financial advice. You should consider seeking advice from a licensed financial planner before making any financial decisions.

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Sources: Services Australia, Who can get Age Pension and Residence rules for Age Pension, servicesaustralia.gov.au, read 8 September 2026.