{"id":"F1998B00021","name":"Judges' Pensions Regulations 1998","slug":"judges-pensions-regulations-1998","collection":"legislative_instrument","jurisdiction":"commonwealth","status":"in_force","isInForce":true,"actNumber":"25 of 1998","makingDate":null,"administeringDepartment":null,"currentVersion":{"id":29752,"registerId":"commonwealth-F1998B00021-current","compilationNumber":null,"startDate":"2026-04-01","status":"InForce","reasons":null,"registeredAt":null},"sections":[{"sectionNumber":"Part 1","sectionType":"part","heading":"Preliminary","content":"## Part 1—Preliminary","sortOrder":0},{"sectionNumber":"1","sectionType":"section","heading":"Name of Regulations","content":"#### 1 Name of Regulations\n\n These Regulations are the Judges’ Pensions Regulations 1998.","sortOrder":1},{"sectionNumber":"3","sectionType":"section","heading":"Definitions","content":"#### 3 Definitions\n\n In these Regulations:\n\n> Act means the Judges’ Pensions Act 1968.","sortOrder":2},{"sectionNumber":"Part 1A","sectionType":"part","heading":"Age factor","content":"## Part 1A—Age factor","sortOrder":3},{"sectionNumber":"3A","sectionType":"section","heading":"Age factor","content":"#### 3A Age factor\n\n (1) For subsection 6C(4) of the Act, the age factor is worked out using the following formula:\n ![Start formula start fraction a start subscript y end subscript times open bracket 365 minus d close bracket plus a start subscript y plus 1 end subscript times d over 365 end fraction end formula](image.002.png)\n where:\n\n> ay is the factor mentioned in Schedule 1A that applies to the Judge’s gender and age on retirement.\n\n> ay+1 is the factor mentioned in Schedule 1A that applies to the Judge’s gender and age, as if the Judge were 1 year older on retirement.\n\n> d is the number of days starting at the start of the day after the Judge’s last birthday and ending at the end of the day he or she retires.\n\n> Note: d is equal to zero if the Judge retires on his or her birthday.\n\n (2) In this regulation:\n\n> age is taken to be the Judge’s age at his or her last birthday before or on retirement.","sortOrder":4},{"sectionNumber":"Part 1B","sectionType":"part","heading":"Age factor for calculation of benefits after payment of release authority lump sum for Division 293 tax purposes","content":"## Part 1B—Age factor for calculation of benefits after payment of release authority lump sum for Division 293 tax purposes","sortOrder":5},{"sectionNumber":"3B","sectionType":"section","heading":"Age factor for calculation of benefits after payment of release authority lump sum for Division 293 tax purposes","content":"#### 3B Age factor for calculation of benefits after payment of release authority lump sum for Division 293 tax purposes\n\n (1) For the purposes of subsection 17AN(4) of the Act, the age factor for a Judge whose age is specified in an item of the following table is:\n (a) unless paragraph (b) applies—the factor set out in column 2 of the item; or\n (b) if the Judge’s retirement is due to permanent disability or infirmity—the factor set out in column 3 of the item.\n\n```html\n

Age factor for calculation of benefits after payment of release authority lump sum for Division 293 tax purposes

Item

Column 1

Judge’s age

Column 2

Retirement not due to permanent disability or infirmity

Column 3

Retirement due to permanent disability or infirmity

1

55

Not applicable

23.585

2

56

Not applicable

23.162

3

57

Not applicable

22.730

4

58

Not applicable

22.290

5

59

Not applicable

21.841

6

60

22.525

21.385

7

61

22.056

20.921

8

62

21.576

20.450

9

63

21.086

19.971

10

64

20.584

19.486

11

65

20.072

18.994

\n```\n\n (2) In this regulation:\n\n> age is taken to be the Judge’s age at his or her last birthday before or on retirement.\n\n> Note: Division 293 tax is not payable by a Justice of the High Court or a justice or judge of a court created by the Parliament (see Subdivision 293‑F of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997).","sortOrder":6},{"sectionNumber":"Part 2","sectionType":"part","heading":"Notional surchargeable contributions factors","content":"## Part 2—Notional surchargeable contributions factors","sortOrder":7},{"sectionNumber":"4","sectionType":"section","heading":"Notional surchargeable contributions factors","content":"#### 4 Notional surchargeable contributions factors\n\n (1) For subsection 19(2) of the Act, the notional surchargeable contributions factor that applies to a male Judge for a financial year is the percentage set out in Schedule 1 that is worked out according to:\n (a) the Judge’s period of service as a Judge, in whole years, at the end of the financial year; and\n (b) the Judge’s age, on the Judge’s latest birthday, at the end of the financial year.\n (2) For subsection 19(2) of the Act, the notional surchargeable contributions factor that applies to a female Judge for a financial year is the percentage set out in Schedule 2 that is worked out according to:\n (a) the Judge’s period of service as a Judge, in whole years, at the end of the financial year; and\n (b) the Judge’s age, on the Judge’s latest birthday, at the end of the financial year.\n\n> Note: These Regulations are subject to the application provision in item 21 of Schedule 5 to the Superannuation Legislation Amendment (Superannuation Contributions Tax) Act 1997.\\]","sortOrder":8},{"sectionNumber":"Part 3","sectionType":"part","heading":"Superannuation Payment split (Parts VIIIB and VIIIC, Family Law Act 1975)","content":"## Part 3—Superannuation Payment split (Parts VIIIB and VIIIC, Family Law Act 1975)","sortOrder":9},{"sectionNumber":"5","sectionType":"section","heading":"Accrued benefit multiples","content":"#### 5 Accrued benefit multiples\n\n (1) For Parts VIIIB and VIIIC of the Family Law Act 1975, and regulations made under that Act, the following accrued benefit multiples are prescribed in relation to the entitlement of a Judge to a pension under the Judges’ Pensions Act 1968:\n (a) at separation—the number equal to the time, in days, of qualifying service as a Judge served when separation occurs;\n (b) at payment:\n (i) for a Judge to whom subsection 6(2) of the Act does not apply—the number equal to the time, in days, of service as a Judge served at the time when the Judge becomes, in regard to his or her service, entitled to a pension under the Act; and\n (ii) for a Judge to whom subsection 6(2) of the Act applies—the number equal to the minimum time, in days, of service that the Judge would have had to serve in order to become, in regard to his or her service, entitled to a pension under the Act if that subsection did not apply.\n (2) In this regulation:\n\n> qualifying service as a Judge means service counting towards qualifying the Judge for entitlement to pension under the Act.\n\n> Note: For application of the multiplier, see, in particular, sections 41 and 48 of the Family Law (Superannuation) Regulations 2025.","sortOrder":10}],"analysis":{"flash_summary":{"complexity_score":8,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"These Regulations are a technical implementation of the Judges' Pensions Act and related Acts: they supply numeric factors, interpolation rules and tables required to operationalise statutory calculations. They do not broaden coverage or create new categories of persons or entitlements; they instead define the numerical inputs and conditional branches (e.g. disability exceptions) needed to calculate pensions, Division 293 tax adjustments and family-law superannuation splits."},"complexity_factors":["Multiple cross-references to the Judges' Pensions Act 1968 (subsections 6C(4), 17AN(4), 19(2)) and to the Family Law Act 1975 and Income Tax law (Division 293).","Interpolate-by-days formula in regulation 3A requiring precise day counts and use of two adjacent age factors.","Separate, gender-specific matrices with many numeric cells: Schedule 1 (male) and Schedule 2 (female) cover age bands and years-of-service grids (dozens to hundreds of numeric entries).","Regulation 3B contains conditional logic (different factor if retirement due to permanent disability/infirmity).","Accrued benefit multiples in regulation 5 require different day-count rules depending on separation vs payment and whether subsection 6(2) of the Act applies.","Large tabular data separated into multiple parts (0–9, 10–19, 20–29 years of service) and repeated for sexes, increasing scope for misapplication.","Numerical sensitivity: many entries with decimal precision (e.g. 21.576), so rounding and precision rules matter operationally.","Administrative dependencies: pension administrators, tax officers and family-law regulators must coordinate and apply the correct schedule and regime."],"plain_english_summary":"**What this instrument does (mechanically)\n\n- Prescribes the exact numerical factors and tables used to calculate judges' pensions, tax-related adjustments and how a judge's superannuation is treated in family-law property splits. It does not change who is covered — it tells administrators how to convert a judge's age, sex, service and timing into numbers used in formulas. (See regulation 3A, 3B, 4 and 5, and Schedules.)\n\n**Key elements, in plain language**\n\n- Age interpolation for pension calculations: If a judge retires between birthdays, the regulations give a precise interpolation formula that weights two age factors by the number of days since the last birthday. That formula is in regulation 3A. The age factors that feed that formula are taken from Schedule 1A (gender-and-age specific factors).\n\n- Special age factors for tax adjustment: For the particular calculation used after a release-authority lump sum payment for Division 293 (a surcharge on high-value super), regulation 3B prescribes a table of age factors. The regulation also says a different factor applies if retirement is because of permanent disability or infirmity (regulation 3B(1)(b)). The regulation notes that Division 293 does not apply to High Court justices or judges of courts created by Parliament (see the note in reg 3B(2)).\n\n- Notional surchargeable contributions (for surcharge/tax purposes): Regulation 4 says how to find the percentage (the \"notional surchargeable contributions factor\") that applies for a financial year. The tables in Schedule 1 (male judges) and Schedule 2 (female judges) show those percentages by the judge’s age (last birthday) and whole years of judicial service at the end of the financial year. Those percentages feed the Act’s subsection 19(2).\n\n- Family-law treatment (superannuation splitting): Regulation 5 prescribes the \"accrued benefit multiples\" used when a judge’s pension entitlement is assessed under Parts VIIIB / VIIIC of the Family Law Act. It defines the multiplier at the date of separation and at the date of payment, and points to which days-of-service counts apply. (See reg 5 and the cross-reference to the Family Law (Superannuation) Regulations.)\n\n**Who this affects and who pays/decides**\n\n- Affected persons: serving and retired federal judges (different rules for male and female judges in the Schedules), ex-spouses in family-law superannuation splits where a judge's pension is part of the asset pool, and the Commonwealth (as payer of judges’ pensions). The Division 293 tax note narrows the tax application for certain judges (High Court and Parliament-created courts).\n\n- Who decides / applies the rules: the regulations instruct pension administrators, payroll/tax administrators and family‑law superannuation assessors how to compute numeric values; these administrators implement the calculations required by the Judges’ Pensions Act 1968 and related Acts (see regs 3A, 3B, 4, 5).\n\n**Why it matters (practical mechanics and trade-offs)**\n\n- Converts descriptive triggers (age, days since last birthday, years of service, reason for retirement) into precise numbers administrators must use to calculate pension amounts, tax adjustments and family-law splits. That makes pension outcomes predictable from the statutory inputs but also locks outcomes to specific numeric tables.\n\n- Incentives and behavioural effects: because pension and tax outcomes use age-and-service matrices and an interpolation rule, the timing of retirement (down to the day), the classification of retirement (e.g. permanent disability), and the gender-specific schedules can change the monetary result for a judge and potentially for their family-law counterparty. (See reg 3A, reg 3B, Schedules 1 and 2.)\n\n- Costs and burdens: administrative staff must apply the correct table and interpolation; accuracy matters because many numeric entries are involved. The Commonwealth bears the direct cost of pension payments calculated under these factors; family-law counterparties may see different property-split outcomes depending on the applied multipliers.\n\n- Implementation risks and needed care: these are technical numeric tables and cross‑references (to the Judges’ Pensions Act, Family Law Act provisions and the Income Tax Act). Mistakes in choosing the right table (male/female, years of service band, age band) or in interpolating days could produce materially incorrect payments or tax calculations. The regulations therefore place an operational burden on administering agencies.\n\n**Official purpose statements and testing against trade-offs**\n\n- The regulations plainly state their role is to provide the numerical factors that the Act's calculation provisions require (see reg 3A, 3B, 4 and 5). That is an operational purpose: to make the Act and related Acts workable.\n\n- Testing that claim against trade-offs: calibrating a detailed grid of factors increases administrative precision and predictability but concentrates the effect of any parameter choice in the few people who receive judges' pensions. It imposes an ongoing maintenance requirement (updating tables or notes if tax or actuarial assumptions change) and creates sensitivity to precise retirement timing and to correct application of disability exceptions.\n\n(Primary references in these Regulations: regulation 3A (age interpolation), regulation 3B (age factors for Division 293 contexts), regulation 4 (notional surchargeable contributions; Schedules 1 and 2), regulation 5 (accrued benefit multiples); plus Schedule 1A referenced by reg 3A.)"},"kimi_summary":{"_metrics":{"completionTokens":616},"content_quality":"ok","complexity_score":8,"scope_assessment":{"changed":true,"description":"The regulations have expanded significantly beyond their original 1998 scope. Originally focused on basic pension calculations, they now incorporate: Division 293 tax rules (added 2013), family law superannuation splitting provisions (added 2002), and multiple layers of surcharge and contribution calculations. The addition of Part 1B specifically for Division 293 tax purposes represents a substantial expansion into tax law integration that was not contemplated in the original framework."},"complexity_factors":["Extensive cross-referencing to the Judges' Pensions Act 1968 and Family Law Act 1975","Mathematical interpolation formula with subscript notation requiring precise day-counting","Multiple overlapping tables with gender-segregated data (male/female) and age/service matrix lookups","Conditional logic: different factors apply for disability retirement vs normal retirement","Division 293 tax interaction creates a secondary calculation layer","Family law superannuation splitting requires understanding of both family law and pension law","Schedules contain hundreds of specific percentage values without explanatory methodology","Historical surcharge provisions (now largely obsolete) retained in regulatory structure"],"plain_english_summary":"These regulations set out the technical rules for calculating judges' pensions in Australia. They cover three main areas:\n\n**1. Age factors for pension calculations**\n- When a judge retires, their pension is worked out using an \"age factor\" based on their age and gender\n- The formula interpolates between birthdays (using days since last birthday) to get a precise factor\n- Different factors apply for male and female judges, reflecting different life expectancy assumptions\n\n**2. Special rules for Division 293 tax**\n- If a judge has to pay Division 293 tax (an extra tax on high-income earners' superannuation), and they use a \"release authority lump sum\" to pay it, there are specific age factors to recalculate their remaining pension benefits\n- These factors differ depending on whether retirement was due to permanent disability/infirmity or normal retirement\n\n**3. Notional surchargeable contributions**\n- These are percentage factors used to calculate contributions tax for judges' superannuation\n- The percentages vary by age and years of service, with separate tables for male and female judges\n- The tables are extensive, covering ages 30-69 and service periods up to 29 years\n\n**4. Family law splits**\n- The regulations also prescribe how to value a judge's pension for family law property settlements, using \"accrued benefit multiples\" based on days of qualifying service\n\n**Who this affects:** Federal judges (High Court, Federal Court, Family Court, etc.) and their spouses/ex-spouses in property settlements.\n\n**Why it matters:** These technical calculations determine how much pension a judge receives, how much tax they pay, and how superannuation is divided in divorces. The gender-based distinctions reflect historical actuarial assumptions that may be outdated."},"flash_summary_failed":{"failed":true,"reason":"Unauthenticated. Configure AI_GATEWAY_API_KEY or use a provider module. Learn more: https://ai-sdk.dev/unauthenticated-ai-gateway","source":"analysis-cron"}},"importantCases":[],"_links":{"self":"/api/acts/judges-pensions-regulations-1998","history":"/api/acts/judges-pensions-regulations-1998/history","analysis":"/api/acts/judges-pensions-regulations-1998/analysis","conflicts":"/api/acts/judges-pensions-regulations-1998/conflicts","importantCases":"/api/acts/judges-pensions-regulations-1998/important-cases","documents":"/api/acts/judges-pensions-regulations-1998/documents"}}