Returning to work after a superannuation payout

Many Aussies retire at different ages and under different circumstances. Due to the many differences in age and timing of retirement, the ATO has set out various requirements for accessing super even if you choose to stay in the workforce or return to work.

If you’ve accessed your super after the age of 65, then your employment status doesn’t matter. You’re not required to retire to access your super, and you may choose to work full-time or part-time. If you retire and leave the workforce but later decide to return to work, it won’t impact your ability to access your super.

You can access your super when you reach your preservation age, cease gainful employment and have no intention to be gainfully employed in the future. Depending on which year you were born, your preservation age is somewhere between 55 and 60 years. Once you cross this age and retire, you can access your super. At this time, you may sign a declaration stating that you have no intention of returning to gainful employment. Gainful employment, in this case, means working more than 10 hours a week, which is considered ‘casual employment’.

If you change your mind later and want to go back to working part-time - between 10 and 30 hours a week, or full time - over 30 hours a week, you’ll need to explain to the ATO that your conditions have changed. They’ll need to be convinced that your intention was to retire at the time when you signed the declaration, but things have changed now. You may need to show that you require the income from employment to make ends meet. 

Once you start working again, your employer will make compulsory super contributions. You may need to speak to a financial advisor about how or when you may be able to access these new contributions.

You get access to your super savings once you turn 60 and one employment arrangement has ended. You’ll need to notify your super fund and can access your balance as early as the same day. Bear in mind that you cannot simply reduce your working hours with the same employer to fulfil this condition. One employment arrangement must come to an end, but you can take up full-time or part-time gainful employment under a different contract. 

So when it comes to returning to work after accessing your superannuation, it mostly comes down to the age you officially retired. If you’ve accessed your superannuation savings before you turned 60 and want to return to work, you’ll need an explanation for the ATO. You may also want to consider allowing some time between signing the declaration you’ll never work again and getting a new job or signing a new contract. But if you retrieved your super money after you turned 60, there are fewer restrictions on returning to work.