How do life insurance payouts work?
A life insurance payout is a one-off tax-free payment that can be given to your loved ones when you die.

Generally, a life insurance payout is a one-off lump sum payment in the region of $100,000 to $1.5 million. It goes to the person or persons the policyholder (the person who has passed away) has nominated as their beneficiaries – this is usually a family member or loved one.
The beneficiaries of the person who died will generally need to submit a claim to the life insurer. Most people will be aware that they have been listed as the beneficiary – the person who took out the policy should usually inform you. But if you're not made aware, you can make a search on the ASIC unclaimed money register.
These are the four main steps to a life insurance payout.
The insurer's information should be available on the policyholder's certificate of insurance.
You'll need to submit a certified copy of the death certificate when you get in touch with the insurer. This is so they can verify that the policyholder has passed away.
The insurer will send you a claims form. You'll need to fill that out and provide any information it asks for. For example, the insurance policy details outlining that you are the person the policyholder has listed as their beneficiary. You can usually fill it out and submit online.
Life insurance payouts are usually made to the beneficiary within two weeks of the claim being submitted. If your claim is denied, you can file an internal dispute with your insurer or the Australian Financial Complaints Authority.
In most cases, a life insurance claim will take less than two weeks to be processed by an insurer. However, this is just the processing time. Whether an insurer decides to accept or reject your claim can take as long as a few months.
We've taken a look at the latest Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) data on claims performance to give you an idea of how long it might take for your life insurance claim to be paid out. The data is based on the average time it took Australian insurers to accept or deny a claim for death cover from July 2023 to June 2024. We've broken this down into the different ways most Aussies buy life insurance, including superannuation, using a financial adviser, or directly with a provider.
Here are some of the key findings:
Types of cover | All channels | Superannuation | Financial Adviser | Direct |
---|---|---|---|---|
Death cover | 1.7 | 1.0 | 1.4 | 2.7 |
TPD | 5.6 | 4.2 | 7.0 | N/A |
Income protection | 2.9 | 1.7 | 1.5 | 1.9 |
Trauma | 1.4 | N/A | 1.4 | N/A |
Funeral | 0.6 | N/A | N/A | 0.6 |
It depends on the type of policy you take out. For income protection insurance, it's likely you'll have to pay tax on the monthly benefits you receive, just like you would with your regular income.
However, payouts for other types of life insurance are usually tax-free. If the payment is made to a dependent, like a spouse or a child, it will be tax-free. This can include life insurance (death cover), trauma insurance, and total and permanent disability insurance.
The exception is when the life insurance benefit is paid to an adult who is not considered a financial dependent. In that case, the tax-free status could change, and the beneficiary could be taxed up to 30%. If the life insurance policy is purchased from your super, this can also include a medicare levy.
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