SSS Pension: The Formula and What It Pays
Social Security System · benefits
Quick answer
The SSS monthly pension is the highest of three results: ₱300 plus 20% of your AMSC plus 2% of AMSC for each credited year beyond 10; or 40% of AMSC; or the minimum of ₱1,200 at 10 credited years and ₱2,400 at 20. It needs 120 monthly contributions.
Last verified
Where these figures come from
About these figures: the numbers below come from SSS's official published sources: Social Security System | Retirement Benefit (https://www.sss.gov.ph/retirement-benefit/, retrieved 2026-08-31); Social Security System | SSS Contribution Table (https://www.sss.gov.ph/sss-contribution-table/, retrieved 2026-08-31). Agencies change fees and rates without notice, so confirm with SSS before you rely on them. Last verified: 2026-08-31.
The SSS retirement benefit comes in two forms. A monthly pension is a lifetime payment to a member who has paid at least 120 monthly contributions before the semester of retirement. A lump sum is a one-time payment equal to the total contributions paid plus interest earned, for a member who has not reached 120. A member filing below 120 is given the option to keep paying as a voluntary member until they get there.
The formula, exactly as SSS publishes it
If you qualify, the monthly pension is the highest result of these three:
- ₱300 + (20% × AMSC) + (2% × AMSC) × (CYS − 10)
- 40% × AMSC
- the minimum pension: ₱1,200 with at least 10 credited years of service, or ₱2,400 with at least 20
AMSC is the Average Monthly Salary Credit. CYS is Credited Years of Service.
Which of the three wins is not random, and it changes as service builds up.
| AMSC | CYS | Formula 1 | Formula 2 | Minimum | Pension | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ₱5,000 | 10 | ₱1,300 | ₱2,000 | ₱1,200 | ₱2,000 | 40% of AMSC |
| ₱5,000 | 20 | ₱2,300 | ₱2,000 | ₱2,400 | ₱2,400 | minimum |
| ₱5,000 | 30 | ₱3,300 | ₱2,000 | ₱2,400 | ₱3,300 | base plus increment |
| ₱10,000 | 10 | ₱2,300 | ₱4,000 | ₱1,200 | ₱4,000 | 40% of AMSC |
| ₱10,000 | 20 | ₱4,300 | ₱4,000 | ₱2,400 | ₱4,300 | base plus increment |
| ₱20,000 | 10 | ₱4,300 | ₱8,000 | ₱1,200 | ₱8,000 | 40% of AMSC |
| ₱20,000 | 20 | ₱8,300 | ₱8,000 | ₱2,400 | ₱8,300 | base plus increment |
| ₱20,000 | 40 | ₱16,300 | ₱8,000 | ₱2,400 | ₱16,300 | base plus increment |
Read the pattern rather than the rows. At 10 and 15 credited years the 40% formula wins at every salary credit, because the increment part of formula 1 has not had time to build. From about 20 years onwards formula 1 takes over, and it keeps growing at 2% of AMSC per extra year while 40% of AMSC stays flat. The minimum pension only ever wins in one narrow place in this table: a ₱5,000 AMSC at 20 credited years, where ₱2,400 beats both ₱2,300 and ₱2,000.
The full pension table
Every figure below is this site’s arithmetic on the published SSS formula, not an SSS quotation. SSS computes your actual AMSC and CYS from your own record.
| AMSC | 10 CYS | 15 CYS | 20 CYS | 25 CYS | 30 CYS | 35 CYS | 40 CYS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ₱5,000 | ₱2,000 | ₱2,000 | ₱2,400 | ₱2,800 | ₱3,300 | ₱3,800 | ₱4,300 |
| ₱8,000 | ₱3,200 | ₱3,200 | ₱3,500 | ₱4,300 | ₱5,100 | ₱5,900 | ₱6,700 |
| ₱10,000 | ₱4,000 | ₱4,000 | ₱4,300 | ₱5,300 | ₱6,300 | ₱7,300 | ₱8,300 |
| ₱12,000 | ₱4,800 | ₱4,800 | ₱5,100 | ₱6,300 | ₱7,500 | ₱8,700 | ₱9,900 |
| ₱15,000 | ₱6,000 | ₱6,000 | ₱6,300 | ₱7,800 | ₱9,300 | ₱10,800 | ₱12,300 |
| ₱18,000 | ₱7,200 | ₱7,200 | ₱7,500 | ₱9,300 | ₱11,100 | ₱12,900 | ₱14,700 |
| ₱20,000 | ₱8,000 | ₱8,000 | ₱8,300 | ₱10,300 | ₱12,300 | ₱14,300 | ₱16,300 |
The table stops at ₱20,000 for a reason. Under SSS Circular 2024-006, effective January 2025, the contribution rate is 15% and the Monthly Salary Credit runs from ₱5,000.00 to ₱35,000.00, but SSS states that Regular SS and EC benefits are computed on MSC from ₱5,000.00 up to ₱20,000.00. The portion from ₱20,000.00 up to ₱35,000.00 goes to the Mandatory Provident Fund, whose retirement, disability and death benefit is the total accumulated account value of contributions plus net investment income, not a formula pension. So ₱20,000 is the ceiling this formula can reach on.
Notice the two flat columns on the left. Going from 10 to 15 credited years adds nothing at any salary credit, because 40% of AMSC is still winning. The first extra peso arrives at 20 years, and from there each additional 5 years adds 10% of your AMSC to the pension: ₱1,000 per 5 years at a ₱10,000 AMSC, ₱2,000 per 5 years at ₱20,000.
What you actually receive each month
The formula result is not the whole payment.
| Component | What SSS publishes |
|---|---|
| Monthly pension | The highest of the three formulas above |
| Additional benefit | ₱1,000 a month on top, effective 1 January 2017, for all retirement pensioners |
| 13th month pension | Payable every December of the applicable year, since 1988 |
| Dependent’s pension | 10% of the member’s monthly pension or ₱250, whichever is higher, for up to 5 dependent children |
Put together, a full year’s cash looks like this. The 13th month column is the monthly figure paid 13 times rather than 12.
| AMSC at 30 CYS | Pension | With the ₱1,000 benefit | Paid 13 times a year | Dependent’s pension, each |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ₱5,000 | ₱3,300 | ₱4,300 | ₱55,900 | ₱330 |
| ₱8,000 | ₱5,100 | ₱6,100 | ₱79,300 | ₱510 |
| ₱10,000 | ₱6,300 | ₱7,300 | ₱94,900 | ₱630 |
| ₱12,000 | ₱7,500 | ₱8,500 | ₱110,500 | ₱750 |
| ₱15,000 | ₱9,300 | ₱10,300 | ₱133,900 | ₱930 |
| ₱18,000 | ₱11,100 | ₱12,100 | ₱157,300 | ₱1,110 |
| ₱20,000 | ₱12,300 | ₱13,300 | ₱172,900 | ₱1,230 |
The ₱1,000 additional benefit is worth far more at the bottom of the table than the top. On a ₱5,000 AMSC at 30 credited years it lifts ₱3,300 to ₱4,300, a 30.3% increase. On a ₱20,000 AMSC it lifts ₱12,300 to ₱13,300, an 8.1% increase.
The ₱250 floor on the dependent’s pension works the same way. It binds whenever the monthly pension is below ₱2,500, which on this formula means a member on the ₱2,400 minimum pension: 10% of ₱2,400 is ₱240, so the ₱250 floor applies.
When you can retire
| Route | Age | Condition |
|---|---|---|
| Optional retirement | 60 | Separated from employment, or ceased to be self-employed, an OFW or a household helper |
| Technical retirement | 65 | Whether employed, self-employed, working as an OFW or household helper, or not |
| Underground mineworker (RA 8558, effective 13 March 1998) | 55 optional, 60 technical | Certification or co-employee affidavits proving the job |
| Underground or surface mineworker (RA 10757, effective 27 April 2016) | 50 optional, 60 technical | Same proof |
| Racehorse jockey (RA 10789, effective 24 May 2016) | 55 technical | Certification from a PHILRACOM-licensed employer |
A total disability pensioner who has recovered and is at least 60, or the relevant mineworker age, also qualifies, as does a former retiree-pensioner whose pension was suspended for re-employment and who is now separated again.
Advance 18 months, and what it costs
A member may opt, at the time of filing the initial retirement claim, to receive the first 18 monthly pensions in advance as a lump sum, discounted at a preferential rate of interest determined by SSS.
| AMSC at 30 CYS | Monthly pension | 18 months at face value |
|---|---|---|
| ₱10,000 | ₱6,300 | ₱113,400 |
| ₱15,000 | ₱9,300 | ₱167,400 |
| ₱20,000 | ₱12,300 | ₱221,400 |
Those are face values. You will receive less, because SSS discounts the lump sum, and SSS does not publish the discount rate on the retirement benefit page. This guide therefore does not state one. There is a second consequence worth knowing: the SSS pension loan requires that a pensioner who availed of the 18 months advance pension must have been receiving the monthly pension for at least 1 month before borrowing.
Deductions, death and going back to work
Unpaid short-term member loans are deducted in full from the retirement benefit, whether or not the payment term has expired at the contingency date, and the contingency date is the cut-off for charging interest and penalty. A settled unemployment benefit may also be deducted in part or in full where there was an overlapping benefit, where a case against the employer was resolved against the employee, or where the employee was rehired within 2 months of involuntary separation. Overlapping sickness and partial disability benefits are deducted too, as is an overpaid pension caused by a dependent’s death, employment or marriage.
On the death of a retiree pensioner, the primary beneficiaries receive 100% of the monthly pension and the dependents receive the dependent’s pension. If the pensioner dies within 60 months of the pension starting and has no primary beneficiaries, the secondary beneficiaries get a lump sum equal to the monthly pension for the balance of the 5-year guaranteed period, excluding the dependent’s pension.
Returning to work under 65 suspends the pension and puts you back into compulsory coverage. At 65 you can claim again regardless. A pensioner who retires more than once receives the higher of the pension computed on the first claim or the recomputed pension on the new one, which means a second stint of contributions cannot reduce what you already had.
How to file
All qualified employee, self-employed, voluntary and land-based OFW members file online through the My.SSS portal, under SSS Circular No. 2021-021 dated 28 December 2021. You must be registered on the SSS website and have a UMID card enrolled as ATM, or an approved disbursement account in the Disbursement Account Enrollment Module.
Some claims must go to a branch or Foreign Representative Office instead:
- with an outstanding Stock Investment Loan Program, Privatization Loan Program, Educational Loan or Vocational Technology Loan balance
- with dependent children under guardianship
- where the member is incapacitated, under guardianship, or confined in a penitentiary, correctional institution or rehabilitation centre
- applying the Portability Law or a Bilateral Social Security Agreement
- with an adjustment or re-adjudication of the claim
- an unclaimed benefit of a deceased member
The benefit is credited to a UMID card enrolled as ATM, or to the preferred disbursement account registered through the DAEM. A member confined in an applicable institution is paid by check.
What this page does not cover
SSS does not publish, on the retirement benefit page, the discount rate applied to the advance 18 months pension, an across-the-board pension increase beyond the ₱1,000 additional benefit effective 2017, the interest rate credited on a lump sum benefit, or the processing time for a claim. None of those are stated here. Your own AMSC and credited years of service come from your SSS record, and the figures in this guide are arithmetic on a published formula, not a quotation.
Related
The SSS pension calculator runs the same formula on figures you enter. The SSS pension loan guide covers borrowing against the pension once it starts, at 10% a year, and the SSS salary loan guide covers the loan that must be settled before a final benefit is released.
Frequently asked questions
- How is the SSS monthly pension computed?
- SSS takes the highest of three results: ₱300 + (20% × AMSC) + (2% × AMSC × credited years beyond 10); or 40% × AMSC; or the minimum pension of ₱1,200 with at least 10 credited years of service, or ₱2,400 with at least 20.
- How many contributions do I need for a monthly pension?
- At least 120 monthly contributions before the semester of retirement. Below that the benefit is a lump sum equal to the total contributions paid plus interest earned, though SSS gives you the option to keep paying as a voluntary member until you reach 120.
- At what age can I retire?
- 60 if you are separated from employment or have ceased to be self-employed, an OFW or a household helper, which SSS calls optional retirement. 65 whether working or not, which SSS calls technical retirement. Underground mineworkers can go at 55 under RA 8558 and underground or surface mineworkers at 50 under RA 10757, and racehorse jockeys at 55 under RA 10789.
- Is there an extra amount on top of the pension?
- Yes. Effective 1 January 2017 all retirement pensioners receive an additional ₱1,000 a month on top of the monthly pension. A 13th month pension is also paid every December, and has been since 1988.
- What is the maximum SSS pension?
- SSS does not publish a peso maximum. What it publishes is the salary credit ceiling behind the formula: Regular SS benefits are computed on a Monthly Salary Credit of ₱5,000 up to ₱20,000, with the portion above ₱20,000 going to the Mandatory Provident Fund instead. On a ₱20,000 AMSC and 40 credited years, the formula gives ₱16,300 before the ₱1,000 additional benefit.
- Do my children get anything?
- A dependent's pension of 10% of the member's monthly pension, or ₱250, whichever is higher, is paid for each dependent child conceived or legally adopted on or before the retirement date, up to a maximum of 5, beginning with the youngest and without substitution.
- Can I get my pension in advance?
- You may opt to receive the first 18 monthly pensions in advance as a lump sum, discounted at a preferential rate of interest determined by SSS. The option must be exercised when you file the initial retirement claim. SSS does not publish that discount rate.
- What happens to the pension if I go back to work?
- The monthly pension is suspended on re-employment or resumption of self-employment if you are under 65, and you go back into compulsory coverage. At 65 you can claim retirement again whether working or not, and a pensioner who retires more than once gets the higher of the first computation or the recomputed one.
More SSS guides
Sources
- Social Security System | Retirement Benefit, retrieved
- Social Security System | SSS Contribution Table, retrieved