From 1 July 2007, life expectancy has been removed as a factor in determining the tax-free and taxable components of a superannuation pension. Significantly, the pension is taxed the same regardless of whether there is a reversionary beneficiary or not.
However, life expectancy is still used to calculate the deductible amount for some superannuation pensions for Centrelink purposes and a reversionary pension still uses the longest life expectancy of the member or reversionary beneficiary (i.e. a lower deductible amount).
Centrelink do not use the Australian Life Tables published by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).Centrelink only use tables published by the Australian Government Actuary (AGA). Refer to the links below for more information.
The next AGA Life tables are due for release in 2019.