Pension Fund wihdrawel

[twicode]

Pension Fund withdrawel

How long should it take once you have given all the documentation to the pension company to pay you out when doing a pension fund withdrawel. Is there a time period around this that the law requires them so I can force them.

The pension company is BS me around with administration problems occurring.

 

[iDOL]

what specifically are they telling you? which company incidentally.

 

[DJ...]

1 - "withdrawing" from a pension fund is crazy in 90% of cases. From a tax perspective you are going to get nailed.
2 - once the pension fund receives the tax clearance from SARS they pay out immediately, to the best of my knowledge.
3 - Only two-thirds of the benefit can be claimed in cash and you may only ever make one "withdrawal" ever. Yes, just the one.
4 - why not move it to another fund? There are preservation funds for this very purpose.

 

[jargon7]

I worked for a company for 3 years. And from what I was told by the salaries dept and the pension company, a pension/provident fund can take minimum 3 months (ABSA Provident Fund).

HOWEVER:-

If you personally get in touch with the funders (ie in my case was ABSA Provident/Pension dept) and you speak to them really nicely (nicely meaning: bribe them with a bottle of jack daniels - they all love whiskey) then you will get your provident fund within 2 weeks

The only difficulty I found, was that I had to constantly phone them 2-3 times, daily. If you are always on there case to release the funds, you will come right.
There is one part of the process that CANNOT be hurried tho, and that is when ABSA sent my provident fund details to SARS, to check for tax nr etc. That takes approx 7 days.

Its really just a matter of persistance and continual follow-ups, and speaking to the decision maker, the person who releases the fund.

I wish you the best of luck tho!

 

[USZA]

1 - "withdrawing" from a pension fund is crazy in 90% of cases. From a tax perspective you are going to get nailed.
2 - once the pension fund receives the tax clearance from SARS they pay out immediately, to the best of my knowledge.
3 - Only two-thirds of the benefit can be claimed in cash and you may only ever make one "withdrawal" ever. Yes, just the one.
4 - why not move it to another fund? There are preservation funds for this very purpose.

I'm with you on this one. I did this is every company I've worked at. Nowadays you can even transfer it to the pension fund of the company you're going to.

OP, that is your retirement fund; you're not meant to be spending it now, unless you are retirement age of course.

 

[DJ...]

I worked for a company for 3 years. And from what I was told by the salaries dept and the pension company, a pension/provident fund can take minimum 3 months (ABSA Provident Fund).

Unlikely unless the hold-up is with SARS...

If you personally get in touch with the funders (ie in my case was ABSA Provident/Pension dept) and you speak to them really nicely (nicely meaning: bribe them with a bottle of jack daniels - they all love whiskey) then you will get your provident fund within 2 weeks

Firstly, pension and provident funds are very different beasts altogether. Do not confuse them. The terms are not interchangeable.
Secondly, there should be no need for bribery of any sorts. Once the tax clearance is given by SARS you should form a part of their next payment run. If you paid a bottle of Jacks for that, then, well, you got Punk'd.
Thirdly, the fund administrator won't just willy-nilly release a payment because you pestered him/her...

 

[twicode]

what specifically are they telling you? which company incidentally.

They are telling me conflicting things. What I don't like is the lack of traceability to see where the problem was.
After such a long delay they tell me just fax it rather to start the process from scratch as this this is quicker. Ironic is that I asked if I could email/fax them in the beginning but they refused so I had to do registered post.

 

[jargon7]

Thirdly, the fund administrator won't just willy-nilly release a payment because you pestered him/her...

You are wrong my friend. I dealt with them. A little bit of politeness and persistance can go a long way. I speak from experience as I managed to get them to release the fund in two weeks as apposed to 3 months

 

[DJ...]

You are wrong my friend. I dealt with them. A little bit of politeness and persistance can go a long way. I speak from experience as I managed to get them to release the fund in two weeks as apposed to 3 months

Sure. You know best after all...

 

[biometrics]

My housemate wants to leave her job and was told it takes three months if her tax is up to date.

At her previous job it paid out in two weeks.

 

[Freshy-ZN]

1 - "withdrawing" from a pension fund is crazy in 90% of cases. From a tax perspective you are going to get nailed.
2 - once the pension fund receives the tax clearance from SARS they pay out immediately, to the best of my knowledge.
3 - Only [-]two-thirds[/-] one third of the benefit can be claimed in cash and you may only ever make one "withdrawal" ever. Yes, just the one.
4 - why not move it to another fund? There are preservation funds for this very purpose.

Small error there, accidental Im sure.

 

[Celine]

1 - "withdrawing" from a pension fund is crazy in 90% of cases. From a tax perspective you are going to get nailed.
2 - once the pension fund receives the tax clearance from SARS they pay out immediately, to the best of my knowledge.
3 - Only two-thirds of the benefit can be claimed in cash and you may only ever make one "withdrawal" ever. Yes, just the one.
4 - why not move it to another fund? There are preservation funds for this very purpose.

freshy - point 3 refers to retirement from a pension fund and not withdrawal. a withdrawal is always paid out in full when an employee resigns from his employment.

point 2 - it's called a tax directive not a tax clearance.

 

[DJ...]

freshy - point 3 refers to retirement from a pension fund and not withdrawal. a withdrawal is always paid out in full when an employee resigns from his employment.

point 2 - it's called a tax directive not a tax clearance.

Apologies, tax directive was the phrase I was looking for. I was under the impression that full withdrawal from a pension fund was subject to certain trivialities, as per international standards? Most of these are so inhibitive as to make full withdrawal nigh on impossible...