Easily Compare Income Protection Insurance Quotes

Your premium can depend on numerous factors, including things like your age, gender, job and lifestyle. You could probably make a good guess of what’s contributing to yours by looking at what information the insurer asked you for when you went to buy a policy.

Of course, every insurer is different. They may weigh up different aspects in their own ways. As a result, you could find that policies that offer you a similar level of cover don’t always have the same premiums.

No. Unfortunately, your income protection insurance most likely won’t cover you if you are made redundant or take a voluntary redundancy package. After all, income protection is for if you can’t work, rather than are out of work.

Having said that, it may be possible to find income protection insurance that includes redundancy as an extra, but you may need to pay a higher premium. Additionally, there may be exclusions that apply.

If you’re worried about your income protection premiums carrying some extra weight, you can rest easy. Since Income Protection Insurance is classed as a financial service, it means your premiums are GST-free.

There are no jobs that specifically require you to get Income Protection Insurance. Having said that though, it may be worthwhile considering if your job has a level of risk attached to it. For instance, working up high or with heavy machinery may mean you’re at greater risk of an injury than someone working in an office. Some trades people may require income protection to be allowed on site.

If you’re self-employed, income protection insurance may also be a way that you can safeguard your livelihood if you were unable to work for a stretch of time or ever again.

It’s ultimately up to you to weigh up the risks and what could happen if you were unable to work, whatever your job may be.

If you’re still shifting through the pros and cons of income protection, it may help to know that your premiums may be tax deductible. Well, as long as your income protection isn’t tied in with your superannuation.

And if you do get your income protection paid out in the event of serious illness injury, you’ll need to include these payments on your tax return for the Australian Taxation Office (ATO). These payments essentially act as your regular salary, so you’ll need to pay tax on them.

This is different to other forms of life insurance premiums, which aren’t tax deductible.

Generally, your insurer will ask for the following information:

• Your age
• Your job and income, whether that’s salary, wages and/or commissions
• Your medical history
• Your lifestyle, like if you regularly drink or smoke, or take part in high-risk sports or hobbies

However, each insurer is different. They may ask more or fewer questions. Keep in mind that if they don’t ask about your medical history, this could mean that the policy comes with more exclusions.

When sharing any information with your insurer, remember to be honest. While it can be tempting to omit facts or alter them in the hopes for a lower premium, this could come back to bite you in the unfortunate event you had to make a claim. If your misrepresentation were found out, your insurer could deny your claims, change your policy or completely cancel it.

As you’re comparing income protection policies, you may want to keep an eye out for an loadings and exclusions. These could change how you rank a policy.

Loadings are a percentage increase on your premium. They’re a way for insurers to manage the increased possibility of certain people making a claim. For example, if you have a pre-existing medical condition and want to get cover that includes it, a loading might be added to your policy.

Exclusions can also come about because of pre-existing medical conditions, along with other high-risk factors, like jobs, hobbies and even travel plans. If your policy excludes something, like being injured while cliff diving to the point that you can no longer work, you won’t be able to claim your income protection.

You could get a better idea of your policy’s loadings and exclusions by speaking with your insurer or reading the Product Disclosure Statement (PDS). Additionally, the PDS or your insurer may be able to let you know if there’s any possibility to have these exclusions and loadings reviewed and changed.

As convenient as it would be to have a clear winner in the income protection bracket, it’s just not possible. Everyone’s needs and circumstances are different, so a policy that might come out on top for you may be dead last for your neighbour. This is why taking the time to shop around and comprehensively compare policies can make such a big difference.

Handily, iSelect and Lifebroker can help you compare a range of income protection policies from different providers in a matter of minutes, if you want to speed up the process.

Running your own business can be exciting but sometimes it’s nice to know there’s a safety net too. Thankfully, along with Business Insurance, you can get income protection if you’re self-employed.

There may be some eligibility requirements though, like working a certain number of paid hours each week.

When it comes to declaring your income for your policy, you’ll also have to do a few extra calculations. This tends to be calculating it as what your business earns minus any costs your business incurs. Of course, this can change a bit between insurers (as well as business years), so you may want to double-check with them before putting pen to paper. Additionally, you may need to be prepared to provide evidence of your final number, like previous tax returns.