Skip to main content
Skip to left navigation
 

Your Benefit Options

When and how can I access my preserved benefit?

Your preserved MilitarySuper benefit must be paid out of the scheme by age 65. At 65 your Member Benefit is payable as a lump sum. The Employer Benefit less any accrued surcharge debt you might have is payable as a lump sum or you may convert 50% or more of it to a CPI indexed pension and receive the balance as a lump sum.

If, at age 65, you choose to continue in the workforce you are obliged to receive your Employer Benefit, less any accrued surcharge debt, entirely as an indexed pension. You would also have to make arrangements with a rollover Fund to have your Member Benefit also paid as a pension.

Rolling Funds out of MilitarySuper - Preserved Member Benefits

If you are over 55 years and have passed your preservation age

You can:

  • roll over the preserved Employer Benefit less surcharge debt to another Fund;
  • or take it all as pension;
  • or take 50 per cent or more as pension and roll over the balance;
  • or leave the balance in MilitarySuper.

You cannot take any part of it as lump sum until you have:

  • reached age 60 and ceased employment; or
  • reached your preservation age and retired from the workforce.

If you are under 55 years

You are able to claim all or part of your preserved Member Benefit before reaching your preservation age.
Your Member Benefit is made up of your contributions and interest accrued at the earning rate of the MilitarySuper Fund. If you transferred from the DFRDB Scheme, your Member Benefit includes your DFRDB contributions plus notional interest on those contributions.

The options for your Member Benefit are:

  • the pre 1 July 1999 component (contributions and interest earned on those contributions prior to 1 July 1999) can be taken as cash lump sum, rolled over, or preserved in MilitarySuper;
  • the post 30 June 1999 component (interest earned and all contributions made after 30 June 1999) must be preserved in MilitarySuper or rolled over to another Fund. If you preserve any of your pre 1 July 1999 component with MilitarySuper, any future withdrawal must be in multiples of $10,000. There must be a minimum of six months between withdrawals.

You do not have any option for your Employer Benefit - it must be preserved in MilitarySuper until you reach at least age 55. Your Employer Benefit can be paid out earlier in some limited circumstances (e.g. severe financial hardship, total and permanent disablement). See Early Access to Benefits below.

Age and incapacity benefits

The preserved benefits diagram describes the most common situations, and the manner, in which a preserved MilitarySuper benefit can be paid. In this diagram early release on medical grounds means total and permanent incapacity (TPI), which is different from normal invalidity retirement from the Australian Defence Force (ADF) as a contributor. It is also different from TPI assessments under Repatriation (DVA) legislation and medical assessments for compensation purposes.

The main points to note are that:

  • the preserved Employer Benefit must normally remain in the scheme until at least age 55 but it can be taken as pension from that age or rolled over to another scheme;
  • full access to benefits as a lump sum depends on your age at discharge, your preservation age, and whether you have retired from the workforce ; and
  • the Member Benefit you had accrued to 30 June 1999 can be accessed at any time upon leaving the ADF either in full or in multiples of $10 000 (but there must be at least a six-month interval between each withdrawal. Currently no administrative charge is applied to withdrawals).

Death benefits

The preserved benefits diagram shows what happens should you die after leaving the ADF but before claiming your preserved benefit. For more information please see Deceased Member's Benefits.

Early access to benefits

The Preserved Benefit diagram describes the most common situations, and the manner, in which a preserved MilitarySuper benefit can be paid.

Normally you cannot access any part of a compulsorily preserved MilitarySuper benefit before age 55, but there are three exceptions.

  1. The Board may approve payment of an invalidity benefit to you where you have become totally and permanently incapacitated, in which case you have full access to your preserved benefit as described in the Preserved Benefit diagram.
  2. The Australian Prudential Regulatory Authority (APRA) may approve early payment of some of your preserved MilitarySuper benefit on specified grounds.

    Generally, these are:

    • compassionate grounds for early release of a superannuation benefit. These include where you cannot otherwise meet medical and associated expenses for a life-threatening or chronic pain condition, expenses associated with palliative care for yourself or dependants;
    • funeral expenses for a dependant, or
    • you are facing foreclosure of a mortgage on your principal place of residence.

    In these circumstances you should use the APRA application form for Early Release of Superannuation Benefits on Compassionate Grounds and send it directly to:

    Early Release of Superannuation Benefits
    APRA
    GPO Box 9836
    Canberra ACT 2601

  3. The Board may allow early release of a limited amount of your preserved benefit on the grounds of severe financial hardship.

    To be eligible for early release of a preserved MilitarySuper benefit on the grounds of severe financial hardship before age 55 you must:

The fact sheet Early Access to your Superannuation Benefit (PDF 398k) can be downloaded with this information.

*The written evidence required is a letter, concerning yourself only, from either Centrelink or Veterans' Affairs confirming that you are in receipt of an eligible Commonwealth income support payment. Centrelink provides this letter as Form Q230. The title of the letter from Veterans' Affairs is Release of Superannuation Benefits on Hardship Grounds - Income Support Requirements Met.

If your application meets the requirements for early release on the grounds of severe financial hardship you may be paid, in any twelve-month period, a single lump sum of not less than $1,000 (unless your preserved benefit is less than $1,000) but not more than $10,000.

Any such payment is subject to tax as a PAYG

Not more than one payment can be made in any twelvemonth period.

More Information

Customer Service Centre

For information about your superannuation entitlement, the payment of your benefit or about any other superannuation related matter, see the Customer Service Centre.

Forms

Publications

PDFs can be viewed and printed using the FREE Adobe Acrobat Reader.