(1) Whether a person has a service credit at a particular time (the subsidy time ) for the purposes of an entitlement period, and the length of time standing to the person's service credit, is worked out as follows.
Method statement
Step 1. Work out the person's accrued subsidy period under section 47, in completed months, as at the subsidy time.
Step 2. Add together the following:
(a) if a subsidy lump sum has become payable to the person--the number of months of service credit accessed for the subsidy lump sum (see section 54);
(b) in any case--the number of months in respect of which monthly subsidy has been payable in relation to the person under this Act, as at the subsidy time;
(c) in any case--the number of months in respect of which subsidy has been payable in relation to the person under the Defence Force (Home Loans Assistance) Act 1990 and the Defence Service Homes Act 1918 , as at the subsidy time.
Step 3. If the step 1 result exceeds the step 2 result, the person has a service credit at the subsidy time.
Step 4. The number of months (if any) by which the step 1 result exceeds the step 2 result is the number of months standing to the person's service credit.
(2) Step 2 of the method statement in subsection (1):
(a) includes months during a previous entitlement period or periods; and
(b) includes a reference to a subsidy lump sum that became payable to a person during a previous entitlement period; and
(c) includes months during which subsidy was paid (under this or another Act) whether or not the months are continuous.