Two-pot withdrawals: taxpayers who understate their income face penalties
SARS has processed more than 1.2 million tax directives for savings component withdrawals, paying out R21.4 billion to fund members.
SARS has processed more than 1.2 million tax directives for savings component withdrawals, paying out R21.4 billion to fund members.
One of its four proposals is to allow members to transfer up to a third of their vested savings to their savings component.
South Africa has the potential to boost its savings rate and secure a more stable source of funding for fixed investments, essential for driving economic growth.
Members should find out whether they will be eligible to withdraw money from their savings components.
The type of fund to which a member belongs may improve or undermine the preservation of retirement fund assets, says Allan Gray.
Economists assess the possible impact of the reforms on household consumption, real fixed investment, inflation, government debt, and GDP growth.
Retirement fund members must ensure their fund has their correct details and they are registered as a taxpayer with SARS.
Funds that cannot pay withdrawals because their rules are invalid must inform members why they may not be allowed to access their benefits.
Old Mutual’s learnings about what people know or expect, based on its interactions with customers and advisers.
Preservation must be encouraged, but the reality is that a retirement fund is many South Africans’ only source of savings, says Alexforbes.
Members particularly need to understand pre-retirement withdrawals, and the implications of these withdrawals, including tax and liquidity at retirement.
An application clause will provide for the Pension Funds Act to prevail over the Divorce Act where the Acts’ provisions conflict.
The Association for Savings and Investment SA and the Institute of Retirement Funds Africa also call for amendments not related to the two-pot system to be held over.
The Pension Bill will prohibit members from making a withdrawal from the savings component if the withdrawal results in insufficient funds remaining to settle a court order.