How to set up a Transition to Retirement Pension

If you’ve explored your options and decided that transition to retirement is right for you, here are the steps you need to take to open an account.

We aim to process your application within 10 working days of receiving your form and all the necessary details, including information from your employer. Sometimes this can take longer, depending on your situation.

Please read the Product Information Booklet and the documents recommended in the booklet before you apply for a Transition to Retirement Pension. The booklet includes the forms you will need to fill out to open an account.

For a guide on how to complete these forms, please read the steps below.

1. Read the Retirement Income Pension Product Information Booklet

In the Product Information Booklet, you’ll find:

  • The forms you need to fill out to open an account
  • A summary of the benefits, options and features that are available with your Transition to Retirement Pension, including your investment options
  • A guide to choosing your annual pension income
  • Details of other important documents that relate to your Transition to Retirement Pension

2. Get certified copies of your ID documents

For your security, we need to confirm your identity before you can withdraw any of your super benefit. You could provide:

  • A certified copy of your passport only
  • A certified copy of your driver’s licence only
  • Certified copies of your birth/citizenship certificate or Centrelink pension card AND an Australian Taxation Office (ATO) notice of assessment from the last 12 months or your local government rates notice from the past three months with your name and address

This image shows the ‘Step 2 - Proof of identity’ section of the Retirement Income Pension application form. In this section, you need to tick box to confirm you have attached certified copies of your proof of identity as listed on page 39.

For more details on providing certified identification, please see page 43 of the Product Information Booklet or read our proof of identity page.

3. Work out your retirement date

As you're opening a Transition to Retirement Pension you can skip this question and move on to step 4.

This image shows the ‘Step 3 - Retirement date’ section of the Retirement Income Pension application form. If you would like your application to be processed after your retirement, you need to provide your date of retirement in this section.

4. Select your pension product

Confirm if you are applying to open an RI Allocated Pension or Transition to Retirement Pension.

This image shows the ‘Step 4 - Select your pension product’ section of the Retirement Income Pension application form. In this section, you need to tick the relevant box to confirm which Retirement Income Pension option you are applying for - either the RI Allocated Pension or Transition to Retirement Pension. For a summary of the differences between the two pensions, see gesb.wa.gov.au/differences. If you don’t know which Retirement Income Pension account you can open, please contact your Member Services Centre on 13 43 72.

5. Provide your reason for benefit eligibility

Confirm that you meet a condition of release.

This image shows Step 5 of the Retirement Income Pension application and requires applicants to select one of more boxes that apply.

6. Choose the amount you'd like to transfer

For your first RI Allocated Pension, you need a minimum of $30,000 (gross). If you already have an allocated pension with us, you’ll need $10,000 (gross) to open another account.

You’ll need to indicate if you want to transfer the entire balance of your super account or just part of your account. You can also choose to transfer a specific amount or a certain percentage of your account.

If you want to keep your super account open, you need to write on the form how much you would like to leave in the account. This amount needs to be at least $1,000 to keep your account open.

This image shows the ‘Step 6 - Transfer to a Retirement Income Pension account’ section of the Retirement Income Pension application form. In this section, you need to indicate which GESB accounts - Gold State Super, West State Super, GESB Super and/or an external super fund/s - you would like to transfer to your Retirement Income Pension. For each account, you can choose from three options on the form: Option 1: ‘Transfer all my funds’. Option 2: ‘Leave a specific balance’ in your account/s. Option 3: ‘Transfer a specific amount’ (gross or net) from your account/s into your Retirement Income Pension. If you are transferring more than one GESB account, your funds must be consolidated in your West State Super or GESB Super account before being transferred to your Retirement Income Pension. Alternatively, if you would like to keep these funds separate, you will need to complete another application form to open a separate Retirement Income Pension account. If you are transferring funds from external funds only, please contact your Member Services Centre on 13 43 72 for more information. If you want to open an RI Allocated Pension account, as well as receive a lump-sum payment or rollover part of your benefit to a complying super fund, you’ll need to complete the relevant ‘Benefit access’ form at gesb.wa.gov.au/forms.

7. List any other related super funds

If you intend transferring your money from any another super funds into your GESB Super or West State Super account, please list those external funds in this step.

Remember, you’ll need to roll in your other super to an existing GESB Super or West State Super account before transferring to an RI Allocated Pension.

This image shows the ‘Step 7 - Transfer from other funds’ section of the Retirement Income Pension application form. In this section, you have two options for transferring money from another fund(s). You can roll money from one other external fund into a new Retirement Income Pension account, or you can roll money from multiple funds into an existing GESB Super or West State Super account before rolling it in to a new Retirement Income Pension account. In this section, please select your preferred option and list the institution name/s and approximate value with the fund/s.

8. Provide your bank account details

We need to know the details of the account you’d like your income to be paid into. For your security, we’ll need a copy of your bank statement showing your full name, the name and BSB of your bank and your account number. If you are providing an internet bank statement, it must show your bank name and logo. If it doesn't, you must add your signature, printed name and date to the page. Payments cannot be made to a credit card, overseas, third-party (such as business, ‘trading as’ or trust accounts), equity or other loan accounts (other than mortgage accounts with a redraw facility or an offset account).

This image shows the ‘Step 8 - Financial institution details’ section of the Retirement Income Pension application form. In this section, you need to provide the details of the account you would like your pension paid into. This includes your bank, building society or credit union name, BSB number, account number and account name. It's also importnant to note, payments cannot be made to credit card, overseas, third-party (such as business, 'trading as' or trust accounts), equity or other loan accounts (other than mortgage accounts with a redraw facility or an offset account).

9. Choose monthly, quarterly or annual payments

You can choose to receive the minimum pension drawdown amount or apply for another amount (gross or net). You can alter payments to meet your changing lifestyle needs, subject to minimum limits set by the Commonwealth Government.

This image shows the ‘Step 9 - Income frequency’ section of the Retirement Income Pension application form. This section refers to page 7 of our ‘Retirement Income Pension Product Information Booklet’ for information to help you decide how much pension you will need. You will find this Product Information Booklet at gesb.wa.gov.au/brochures. If you select a pension amount that falls outside the limits set by the Commonwealth Government, this will be adjusted to the minimum or maximum amount, accordingly. This section also provides a tick box to choose your preferred payment frequency – monthly, quarterly or annual payment.

10. Decide when you would like your pension payment to start

If the payment date of your nominated month has passed, you will receive your first income payment in the next available month.

This image shows the ‘Step 10 - Income start date and amount’ section of the Retirement Income Pension application form. In this section, you need to tell us when you would like your pension payment to start by entering the start month and year. If the payment date of your nominated month has passed, you will receive your first income payment in the next available month. You then need to tell us if you would like to be paid the 'Minimum pension amount' (Note: the Government has temporarily reduced the minimum drawdown rates by 50% until 30 June 2021. For more information see page 7.); the 'Maximum pension amount' (if applying for a Transition to Retirement Pension and you are under age 65); or 'Other amount'. You then need to enter either your gross (before-tax) pension payment amount or your net (after-tax) pension payment amount.

11. Choose your investment plan

At this point in completing the form, you’ll need to choose how you would like to invest your money. Please note: the Transition to Retirement Pension investment plans are also listed here. For example, if under Readymade plans you tick ‘Growth plan/Growth plan TTR’ and you are applying for an RI Allocated Pension, you will be invested in the ‘Growth plan’.

This image shows the ‘Step 11 - Investment choice’ section of the Retirement Income Pension application form. You can choose option A - Readymade plans, option B - combination of Cash or Cash TTR and Readymade plans, or option C - Mix Your plan. Once we have accepted your ‘Retirement Income Pension application’ form, we can’t change your initial investment choice. You can make investment plan changes in the future using the relevant ‘Investment choice’ form at gesb.wa.gov.au/forms. However, these changes will only take effect once we have completed your previous request.

You can choose from three investment types:

  • A Readymade plan - choose from our range of Readymade plans.
    This image shows part of the ‘Step 11 - Investment choice' section of the Retirement Income Pension application form. It shows ‘Option A - Readymade plans’. Here you can choose one of our four Readymade plans: Growth plan/Growth plan TTR, if you’re a Transition to Retirement Pension (or TTR) member; Balanced plan/Balanced plan TTR, Conservative plan/Conservative plan TTR, or Cash plan/Cash plan TTR. If you don’t nominate an investment plan, the default investment option - ‘Balanced plan/Balanced plan TTR’ – will be chosen for you.
  • A Cash plan and another Readymade plan - you can decide to invest your money in two Readymade plans, one of which will be the Cash plan. You can also allocate from which investment plan your income payments will be made by percentage or in what order.
    This image shows part of the ‘Step 11 - Investment choice’ section of the Retirement Income Pension application form. It shows ‘Option B - Combination of Cash/Cash TTR and Readymade plans’. Here you can nominate the percentage you would like invested in the Cash/Cash plan TTR, and nominate the plan you would like the remainder invested in. Your pension will be paid in the same proportions as it is invested. Alternatively, if you want to have your pension paid in different proportions or in a debit order, you will need to complete the percentage or order boxes provided.
  • The Mix Your plan option - you can build your own investment mix by choosing 5% multiples in one or more Mix Your plan asset classes to total 100%.
    This image shows part of the ‘Step 11 - Investment choice’ section of the Retirement Income Pension application form. It only shows ‘Option C - Mix Your plan’. Here you can build your investment mix by choosing 5% multiples in one or more of the asset classes listed to total 100%. You can nominate your investment mix percentage and the percentage of payment or the order you would like your pension to be paid. You can select from five asset classes, which are: Cash/Cash TTR, Fixed Interest/Fixed Interest TTR, Australian Shares/Australian Shares TTR, International Shares/International Shares TTR, Property/Property TTR.

12. Plan for the future of your account

You can choose to nominate what we call a reversionary pensioner for your account. This could be your spouse, de facto partner, child or someone who is financially dependent on you or who has an interdependency relationship with you.

It’s optional but nominating someone means they will receive your pension in the event of your death.

If you want to nominate a reversionary pensioner, you need to do this when you apply for your account. It can’t be done at a later date.

This image shows the ‘Step 12 - Reversionary beneficiary (optional)’ section of the Retirement Income Pension application form. This section is optional. It allows you to nominate a reversionary beneficiary and provide their personal details, including their GESB member number, surname, given name or names, date of birth, and gender.

If you’re not sure if someone is financially dependent or has an interdependency relationship with you, read section 13 in the Product Information Booklet or contact your Member Services Centre on 13 43 72 for help.

13. Complete this if you’ve received a Surcharge Assessment notice

If the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has sent you a Surcharge Assessment notice, you can use this step to choose an amount of your benefit that we can hold for you. This means you can later pay your final assessment to the ATO from your pre-tax benefit.

This image shows the ‘Step 13 - Surcharge Liability’ section of the Retirement Income Pension application form. In this section, you need to indicate if you would like us to retain a portion of your total benefit for the future payment of your Surcharge Liability (if applicable), indicate the amount in the box provided and select whether to retain the amount from your Gold State Super or West State Super account. We will deduct this amount from your gross benefit (before tax is deducted). When you receive your ‘Notice of final liability’ please send us a copy. We will close your surcharge liability account and send you a cheque, which you can then pay to the ATO. If the amount is not enough to cover the liability, you will need to pay the shortfall. Any remaining balance in the surcharge liability account will be paid out to you and subject to any applicable tax.

14. Sign the declaration

As you finish the application process, you’ll need to read and agree to the declaration, confirm that you’ve read the relevant information and sign and date the form.

This image shows part of the ‘Step 14 - Declaration and signature’ section of the Retirement Income Pension application form. In this section, you need to read and agree to the declaration and tick one or more of the relevant boxes under ‘Transition to Retirement Pension only’, ‘Gold State Super benefits’, ‘West State Super and GESB Super benefits’ and ‘Other’ sections.

15. Post your form and other relevant documents to us

At the end of the form, you’ll find a checklist of the documents that you need to send into us with your form.

Please note:

  • We can only process your application once we have all of the details and documents
  • Your member number needs to appear on all supporting documents

This image shows the ‘Step 15 - Post your form to us’ section of the Retirement Income Pension application form. It is important you complete all relevant sections and attach all the required documents (see the checklist on page 1). Please send your completed form and relevant documents to GESB, PO Box J 755, Perth, WA 6842.

Once your form has been submitted, we aim to process your application within 10 working days. Sometimes it can take us longer to process, depending on your situation. If you’re opening an allocated pension to access your Gold State Super, please allow some extra processing time before your application is finalised.

We’re here to help

If you have questions about setting up your Transition to Retirement Pension or need more help with the application form, please call us on 13 43 72 between 7.30am and 5.30pm (AWST), Monday to Friday.

Page last updated 24 January 2024

Thank you for printing this page. Remember to come back to gesb.wa.gov.au for the latest information as our content is updated regularly. This information is correct as at 20 April 2024.