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About your benefit

Pension Administration Service | Bi-Annual Benefits | CPI Update | Latest Date to make changes to payments | Medicare

What You Receive As A Pension Recipient

If you retire on non-medical grounds and have 20 or more years of effective service, or have 15 or more years of effective service and have reached your statutory retiring age, you are entitled to retirement pay and there is an option to commute part of your future retirement pay to a lump sum.

Retirement pay becomes payable on the day after the date of your discharge from the Defence Force.  It will be paid to you fortnightly for the rest of your life, unless you re-enter the Defence Force in the Reserves for a period greater than 12 months or in the Permanent Forces and elect to return to DFRDB.

Calculation of retirement pay

Your benefit is worked out as a percentage of your salary when you retire. The two factors which are used to work out your retirement pay are your annual rate of pay and your completed years of effective service.

Your rate of pay, for Scheme purposes, is the maximum rate of pay which applies to your rank and pay level, including any recognised environmental allowance.

Effective service is the total of your continuous full-time contributory service, plus any periods of past service you may have bought back. You can find out how much effective service you have by looking at your most recent annual member statement and then adding the effective service that you have accumulated since the date of that statement.

The following table shows the amount of retirement pay that you can expect to receive, depending on your annual rate of pay and your completed years of effective service. You can use the table and the following example, to estimate how much retirement pay you will be entitled to when you leave the Defence Force.

To estimate your potential retirement benefit you can also use the i-Estimator. You will need your access number to use this service.

Retirement pay as a percentage of annual salary
Years of service Percentage
20 35.00
21 36.50
22 38.00
23 39.50
24 41.00
25 42.50
26 44.00
27 45.75
28 47.50
29 49.25
30 51.25
31 53.25
32 55.50
33 57.75
34 60.25
35 62.75
36 65.75
37 67.75
38 70.50
39 73.50
40 (or more) 76.50

Commutation

Commutation is the lump sum prepayment of part of your future retirement pay. If you have retired and are entitled to retirement pay, you can elect to commute (that is, exchange) a portion of that retirement pay for a lump sum. Similarly, if you are classified Class C after being discharged medically unfit for further service, and you would have been entitled to receive retirement pay had you voluntarily discharged, you can elect to commute a portion of your benefit. If you have an entitlement to a deferred benefit, you may also elect to commute a portion of that benefit.

An election to commute a portion of your retirement pay may be made up to three months before, or up to six months after your retirement or the date on which a deferred benefit becomes payable. An election to commute can only be made by completing form D20.

From 2002 the maximum amount that you may commute has been five times your annual rate of retirement pay on exit. The maximum commutation factor was progressively increased from four in 1982 to five from 2002 onwards.

Note: Commutation of a benefit results in a permanent reduction in your pension even if the Member attains or exceeds his or her life expectancy.

Life Expectancy Factors
Age Male Factor Female Factor
30 41.12 46.49
31 40.18 45.53
32 39.25 44.57
33 38.31 43.61
34 37.38 42.65
35 36.45 41.70
36 35.51 40.75
37 34.59 39.81
38 33.67 38.86
39 32.75 37.92
40 31.84 36.99
41 30.93 36.06
42 30.03 35.13
43 29.14 34.21
44 28.25 33.29
45 27.38 32.38
46 26.51 31.48
47 25.65 30.58
48 24.80 29.69
49 23.96 28.80
50 23.13 27.92
51 22.31 27.05
52 21.51 26.18
53 20.72 25.32
54 19.94 24.47
55 19.18 23.63
56 18.43 22.79
57 17.70 21.96
58 16.99 21.13
59 16.29 20.32
60 15.60 19.51
61 14.94 18.72
62 14.29 17.94
63 13.67 17.17
64 13.06 16.42
65 12.47 15.68

Date of effect

A commutation election becomes effective on the date the election is received by ComSuper; or on the later of:
  • the date following retirement

    or

  • the date a deferred benefit becomes payable.

For taxation purposes a commutation election should be made within six months of exit.

Commutation amount and retirement pay increases
You may commute less than the maximum entitlement, however:

  • if you elect to commute between four and five times your retirement pay—the total amount of the remaining retirement pay is CPI indexed

    but

  • if no election is made to commute, or you commutate less than four times your retirement pay, CPI Indexation will only be applied to your notional retirement pay, which is the rate of retirement pay that would be payable if you had elected to commute four times retirement pay.

More Information

Links

Forms and Fact Sheets

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