Welfare recipients turning down jobs to play golf may soon lose government handouts with a Senate bill set to close a billion-dollar loophole.

Department of Human Services documents obtained by News Corp listed some of the reasons people are turning down jobs including a 58-year old man who doesn't want to work on golf days and a 23-year old man who refuses to work more than three hours a day.

A loophole in the Newstart Allowance system, which cost taxpayers $7.5 billion a year and gives singles $523.40 a fortnight, allows recipients who turn down potential jobs the option to request a waiver preventing an eight-week ban on payments.

More than 70 per cent of welfare receipts who had rejected a job for unsatisfactory reasons had exploited this loophole.

Employment Minister Michaelia Cash said a bill before the Senate which is currently being blocked by the Greens and Labor could close this loophole.

"There are loopholes in the system that are allowing some to get away with making insufficient or inadequate job search efforts without good reason," News Corp reports.