Defined Benefit Super Calculator

Choose the Scheme Formula

This defined benefit super calculator estimates a PSS benefit from a supplied accrued multiple or a standard CSS indexed pension. Select the scheme and payment option before entering its factors. All amounts are gross.

The PSS branch covers contributing members retiring at an exact birthday from age 60 to 70, with accrued multiples up to ten. Choose a full pension or full lump sum.

The CSS branch covers standard Table 4 age retirement at exact birthdays from 55 to 65, for membership commencing after June 1976.

A defined benefit follows scheme rules. An accumulation account grows with contributions and investment returns. A compound return on an account balance does not calculate the CSS or PSS entitlement.

CSS deferred benefits, including 54/11, use a different method. This tool excludes pre-1976 membership, former provident accounts and special unit restrictions. It also excludes CSS non-indexed pensions and the separate member and productivity lump sums.

Enter Salary and Service Factors

For PSS, enter the final average salary and accrued benefit multiple from the client’s estimate. Commonwealth Superannuation Corporation’s PSS guidance calculates the gross defined benefit as salary multiplied by that multiple. Keep separate accumulation amounts outside it.

PSS final average salary generally uses the last three reported super salaries, at their full-time equivalent. The existing multiple already reflects past contributions and service. Do not reduce it again for part-time work.

The alternative PSS scenario adds service at a fixed 5% member contribution rate. Each full-time year adds 0.21 to the multiple. Enter the approved service fraction applying throughout that extra period. Half a year at 80% adds 0.084.

CSC’s work-pattern rules use approved birthday hours for part-time accrual. Split periods outside this tool when those hours change. Partial invalidity and other contribution rates need a separate scheme estimate.

For CSS, enter final super salary and recognised contributory service already adjusted by CSC. Use credited years plus remaining credited days divided by 365. Extra CSS service is also credited service. The tool applies no second part-time reduction.

Compare Benefit Options

A full PSS lump sum equals final average salary multiplied by the accrued benefit multiple. A full pension divides that benefit by the age-based pension conversion factor. For example, the factor is 11 at age 60 and 10 at age 65.

CSC’s benefit-access guide sets out those factors and payment conditions. This tool calculates whole-birthday illustrations only. It excludes reduced pensions for higher survivor benefits, preserved-member rules and mixed pension/lump-sum elections.

The standard CSS percentage accrues at 2% for each of the first 20 credited years, 1% for each of the next ten and 0.25% thereafter. It stops at 52.5% after 40 years. Earlier retirement reduces that percentage.

CSC’s CSS benefit tables show the standard salary percentages. The calculator uses Table 4 and its service interpolation. At age 60, 30 credited years gives 45% of final salary. At age 65, the same service gives 50%.

The alternative keeps salary fixed and changes extra service and the selected birthday. Its difference separates the service effect at the original age from the remaining age effect. This comparison is arithmetic, not a recommendation to retire or continue working.

Check the Benefit Statement

In a fictional PSS example, final average salary is $125,000 and the supplied accrued multiple is 6.3. At age 65, the gross benefit is $787,500. Dividing by ten gives a gross annual pension of $78,750.

Add one full-time year at 5% contributions and compare age 66. The multiple becomes 6.51 and the benefit becomes $813,750. Dividing by 9.8 gives $83,036 a year, an increase of $4,286 after rounding.

In a fictional CSS example, $125,000 final salary and 30 credited years at age 60 produce $56,250 a year. Compare one extra credited year and age 61. The alternative is $57,788 a year, an increase of $1,538.

Compare the salary basis and service credited with the administrator’s statement before using the result in cash-flow assumptions. Only CSC determines the payable benefit and whether a payment option is available. Family-law splits and individual benefit reductions require that determination.

These results contain no tax estimate. Use the super withdrawal tax calculator for a separately supported withdrawal-tax calculation. A pension and a lump sum have different tax rules, so do not deduct a lump-sum estimate from pension income.

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