Immigration & Pension/Ra

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krycor

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So I'm curious, if you immigrate/leave SA and decide to reside permanently abroad.. Is there a way to transfer funds out of SA into a foreign scheme? Or does it have to go thru the withdrawal & tax process
 
You could probably transfer it to an investment house ("fund manager") - but then choose to invest the funds in an overseas type fund - or I think you can take a large portion cash as a once off - but you would need to pay tax on that - suppose it depends how much money - and if it's a permanent move if you mind loosing a chunk by cashing it in?
 
For those pensions you cannot cash or withdraw, you need to either have a bank account in destination country or be already there before they will let the funds go.
 
This is exactly what I myself have been trying to find out. I spoke to ETFSARA and they mentioned that they could do a transfer to a similar type of fund in NZ.

There seems to be a fund called KiwiSaver in NZ so I'm definitely gonna try to move it over.

If it comes down to it, I'll just lower my contribution amount and when I turn 55, come over for a holiday here in SA with the initial paid out cash. It shouldn't be too much if I lower the contributions.
 
I transferred mine into a pension preservation fund when I quit my SA job. It all seemed rather pointless and I cashed it out in full last month and just took the tax knock.

A guy I know gets his cash out of the country without loss via buying and selling Kruger rands at the airports.
 
Voicy said:
I transferred mine into a pension preservation fund when I quit my SA job. It all seemed rather pointless and I cashed it out in full last month and just took the tax knock.

A guy I know gets his cash out of the country without loss via buying and selling Kruger rands at the airports.
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What tax percentage is it if you cash it out? I am not sure if my RA is penalised if I cash it out early. Need to go read that fine print.
 
shauntir said:
What tax percentage is it if you cash it out? I am not sure if my RA is penalised if I cash it out early. Need to go read that fine print.
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Cashing it out is a no no, mine was in a preservation fund because when I resigned I had 3 options:

1) Cash out and take the tax knock
2) Keep in the company's pension scheme and get paid out at 60.
3) Transfer to a pension preservation fund until my new company sets up a pension fund for me and then transfer it into there, all tax free.

I chose option 3, but since my new company doesn't have a pension fund...and is in Norway where we pay taxes to cover all that, I just bit the bullet and cashed out. It was around 7,5-9% if I recall correctly.

Quite honestly speaking, I don't bother with pension plans or retirement annuities anymore. I have one with momentum tied with a disability / life cover plan which I got when I was 24 and im just letting it run its course. It's a measely amount anyway but I'm pretty much just doing it for the payout in case I get disabled.

Other than that I have my savings invested in low risk stocks through my broker. That way it can just slowly build at no worse pace than my pension fund would've, except I can add and remove from it as I please without having to wait until im 60 for my own money. Of course if you can't trust yourself with your own finances then this is not a clever move. I'm basically forgetting about my pension payout and investments in SA and using my norwegian salary to save up.
 
Yup - leave the cash where it is till retirement age or pull it and get taxed.

Both options kinda suck...which is why I abandoned the whole RA/pension idea as a whole once I realised I might move overseas. If I had a Pension / RA I'd likely pull it though.
 
HavocXphere said:
Yup - leave the cash where it is till retirement age or pull it and get taxed.

Both options kinda suck...which is why I abandoned the whole RA/pension idea as a whole once I realised I might move overseas. If I had a Pension / RA I'd likely pull it though.
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Yup mine's pulled. Stuck it into investments which I have control over. If it tanks I can pull it. If I get my perm residence then I'm pulling everything to here.
 
I heard to cash out you have to close all your financial affairs in South Africa. This includes not being allowed to own a bank account or have property. Not sure how true this is but apparently SARS won't give a tax clearance certificate until everything is closed.

Either way I'm going to apply for my visa and just leave my current RA contributions in a preservation fund.
 
^^vampire^^ said:
I heard to cash out you have to close all your financial affairs in South Africa. This includes not being allowed to own a bank account or have property. Not sure how true this is but apparently SARS won't give a tax clearance certificate until everything is closed.

Either way I'm going to apply for my visa and just leave my current RA contributions in a preservation fund.
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Has probably changed, but Old Mutual were adamant, once I was there... and had a bank account there, they would transfer it.
 
Most replies are incorrect as I have been through the process. To get an RA out, you have to Officially Emigrate via SARS and SARB.
This is best done Before you leave as it is rather simple. Doing so after you leave will cost you R10K to R25K.

I did it for a mere R600 odd via FNB. It took 2 trips to SARS and 3 to the bank.

I would strongly advise the poster to do this before he leaves. His bank will "block" his account and any money leaving the country has to go via this blocked account for monitoring money movement purposes.

If the poster has Officially Emigrated, and he has no need of holding a bank account, he can give instruction for his RA or other lumpsums to be transferred directly to his overseas account.

Unfortunately he will have to pay tax on it but it will be similar to "withholding tax".

TIP: If you leave before 91 days after tax year end, you will not need to do tax in SA for that year. If not, you will have to submit returns to SARS AND your new country of residence.
 
Has anyone got more recent information regarding this?

I am researching a few companies that assist with transferring funds/investments and RA's. Any suggestions or names of companies used?
 
Hi there.
Just wanting to find out what South African companies are the best for this?? I have been looking at a few companies, FinGlobal, Exchange for Free, Rand Rescue and Expatri8.

Anyone used these companies or have any suggestions?
 
MJames said:
Has anyone got more recent information regarding this?

I am researching a few companies that assist with transferring funds/investments and RA's. Any suggestions or names of companies used?
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Can't help with that bit, but about the RA, you have to officially emigrate, then you can have the RA paid out in full (which would be taxed) and do with it whatever you want.
 
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