Portability of Retirement Funds

Portability of retirement savings refers to the transfer of retirement savings between different retirement fund vehicles.

As a result of the tax harmonisation of retirement funds and subject to agreement between Government and stakeholders, tax neutral transfers between different retirement funds will be possible from 1 March 2018:

• Transfers between all retirement funds, other than from a retirement annuity fund, will be permitted on a tax neutral basis. This means that transfers from pension to provident funds for instance, will now be allowed without any adverse tax consequence.

• A member in a retirement annuity fund will still only be able to transfer to another retirement annuity fund. The reason for this exception is that a retirement annuity fund has a restriction that no other retirement fund has – a member in this fund can only take a withdrawal before retirement age under very limited circumstances.

It is important to remember that this change takes place after 1 March 2018. Any transfers from pension to provident funds BEFORE this date will NOT be tax neutral.