Providing required evidence
Each category of compassionate release of super has specific evidence you must provide to support the eligibility of the:
- claim
- expense amount.
You will need to provide additional evidence if you:
- are requesting to pay expenses for another person and you have either an interdependency relationship or a substantial financial dependency relationship with them
- borrowed money to pay for the expense and you are unable to pay the outstanding amount.
If you don't provide all required evidence your application will be delayed or will not be approved.
Format of evidence documents
Understand the following requirements which apply to the evidence and information that you provide:
- Statutory declarations
- Online applications
- Paper applications
- Evidence in a language other than English
- Images
- Financial statements.
Statutory declarations
You can make a Commonwealth statutory declarationExternal Link via the paper form or through your myGov account. You can also use any State or Territory statutory declaration form, so long as it meets the requirements of the Act it is made under.
Online applications
If you submit your application online, you need to provide digital copies of the required evidence. Please note:
- We do accept photos of documents. The supported file formats are PDF, gif, jpeg and png.
- We do not accept screen shots of text messages or emails.
- Our system will not accept more than 20 attachments. The maximum size for an attachment is 10 MB.
Paper applications
If you submit a paper application, you need to ensure you provide copies of your documents. Do not provide the original documents as these will not be returned.
Evidence in a language other than English
If your evidence, including quotes and invoices or registered medical practitioner and specialist reports, are written in a language other than English you will need to have it translated.
The translator must be accredited by the National Accreditation Authority for Translators and Interpreters (NAATI)External Link.
Images
Do not include images of a disturbing nature to support your application, as they're not necessary to assess your application.
Financial statements
When providing financial statements (for example, from a lender) to support your application, you need to ensure these are:
- on the provider's letterhead
- include the account holder’s name and the statement period.
Relevant registered medical specialists
Application for medical treatment or transport require at least one medical report to be provided by a specialist in the area that you're applying to have medical treatment for. If you’re applying for:
- treatment of life-threatening illness or injury, one medical report must be from a registered medical specialist whose speciality is relevant to the life-threatening illness or injury. For example, if you're applying to pay for an expense to treat cancer, the specialist will be an oncologist.
- treatment of an acute or chronic mental illness, your application must include a medical report from a psychiatrist (not a psychologist).
- dental treatment to alleviate acute or chronic pain, you can provide either:
- one report from a registered medical practitioner and one report from a dental practitioner
- a medical report from 2 separate dental practitioners.
Allied professionals, such as physiotherapists, psychologists and podiatrists, are not considered registered medical practitioners or medical specialists.
Quotes or unpaid invoices
Invoices and quotes must:
- be on the provider's letterhead
- be addressed to you, or your dependant if you are applying for them
- include the provider's name and contact details
- include an itemised list of expenses and their respective costs. Lump sum quotes or invoices won't be accepted.
- be converted to Australian dollars if they're in a foreign currency. The conversion must be at the exchange rate at the time you apply. If we approve your application, we won't recalculate the conversion at the time of approval.
Paid invoices
If the expense you are applying for was paid by borrowing money, your paid invoice, receipt or bank statement that shows the payment of the expense, will need to include the:
- date of payment
- method of payment (electronic payment, credit card, cash)
- amount paid
- payer's details.
Where you are providing bank statements, you need to ensure that the account holder's name and statement period are visible.
Timing of requirements
When providing documents to support your application, you need to ensure they meet the timing requirements. These requirements apply from the date your application is submitted and differ depending on the type of document being provided, as follows:
- medical reports must be completed, signed and dated less than 6 months old
- quotes must be dated less than 6 months old
- invoices must be dated less than 30 days old
- utility bills must be less than 3 months old
- letters indicating foreclosure action must be less than 30 days old.
Paid by borrowing money
If the expense you are applying for was paid by borrowing money, there are no time requirements for documents, unless they relate to preventing foreclosure or forced sale of your home.
If your application related to preventing foreclosure or forced sale of your home, you will need to provide:
- documents from your lender showing the value of 3 months repayments and 12 months interest at the time the amount was owing. Documents that can be provided include mortgage statements for the period or a letter from your lender.
- default notice or equivalent notice from your mortgagee that relates to the amount that was owing
- utility bill (such as for gas or electricity) dated within 3 months of the above documents, in your name and that shows the address of the property.
Validation checks
We may carry out checks with your providers to validate evidence provided in your application. This may include contacting service providers to:
- validate invoices, quotes or medical reports
- ask for missing or additional information that is required.