Public servants' retirement savings could take hits worth hundreds of thousands of dollars from new government superannuation rules coming into force later this year.
The changes could leave mid-ranking public servants up to $260,000 worse-off over 20 years, according to financial modelling.
From July 1, public servants still paying into the PSS and CSS schemes could be hit with tax rates of up to 47 per cent on salary-sacrifice contributions, a popular choice in the public sector, after decades of enjoying generous tax concessions on the payments.
Members of the Public Sector Superannuation Accumulation Plan, which include much of the present-day rank-and-file, would be hit less hard under the new rules, but could still find themselves up to $115,000 worse-off over 20 years of contributions.
Financial advisors are worried members of the PSS and CSS public schemes could be hit "extra hard" after July 1.
Former Commonwealth Superannuation Corporation executive Dan Blackman, who is now a Canberra financial advisor, warned the "extremely complex" new rules put public servants in danger of getting burned.
The federal government's generous "defined benefits schemes", the CSS and the PSS, which feature payments into the funds by both employers and workers, closed to new members in 1990 and 2005 respectively but remain the envy of working Australians.
The schemes still have about 90,000 contributing members, mostly public servants.
According to Mr Blackman, those members are about to find their arrangements are a little less generous when the government imposes its $25,000 cap on low-tax concessional contributions.
The rate of salary-sacrificing in the public service is estimated to be as high as two-in-five workers, more than twice the reported rate of one-in-five across the wider workforce.
But Mr Blackman, who left his career at the CSC to launch his advisory service in Canberra, said serving and former public servants who were salary-sacrificing needed to take stock of their arrangements before July 1.
"The key out-take is for members of the defined benefit superannuation schemes to seek expert advice as to how the new rule changes will affect them," the advisor said.
"The biggest impact is going to be on those defined benefit members who are actively salary sacrificing.
"They may need to adjust their salary sacrificing strategy to ensure they don't end up paying additional tax by exceeding the cap.
"If they're not aware of the changes, they could exceed the cap which could then subject them to excess concessional contribution tax which would be taxed at their marginal rate.
"It could potentially could be as high as 47 per cent in the new financial year versus the 15 per cent contributions tax on a concessional contribution."
Mr Blackman said the "complex" new environment created enormous potential for confusion and misunderstanding.
"Changes are complex and and the methodology for determining defined benefit contributions is especially complex," he said.
"It's a one-size-fits-all kind of a deal that applies to all defined benefits funds.
"Even the Commonwealth Superannuation Corporation, with all its resources, still struggles to correctly apply the methodology and their have been errors in the past.
"Expert advice is essential to this."
Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated the PSS closed in 1995. The fund closed to new members in 2005.
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