Question:
I phoned Alexander Forbes who told me my pension fund documents are at SARS for processing and they are awaiting feedback. How long does this take? I am in debt and didn't think the company that I sacrificed my life for would hold my pension fund documents for one month before releasing them. I resigned on 6/12/20.
Answer:
When you withdraw or retire from your employer's pension fund, and optto receive a portion as a cash lump sum, the administrator must revert toSARS for a tax directive. The reason for this is that lump sums are taxedon either the withdrawal or retirement lump sum tax table. These tables areapplied to the cumulative amount of all the lump sums you may have receivedfrom this and/or previous retirement funds.
Only SARS keeps track of any previous lump sums you may have taken.Their turn-aroundtime is normally quick (only a couple of days) provided your taxaffairs are in order.
It typically takes between 4 and 12 weeks to process a retirement fundpay-out (21 business days at 10X Investments), from your lastcontribution or when the required instruction forms are received bythe administrator (whichever happens last). If you stopped working inNovember, then your employer has held up the process, but if you stillworked a part of December (as your resignation date suggests), then yourlast contribution would only have been invested at the end of December orearly January and your process would not be delayed by your employerhanding in the forms in January only.
For information about preserving your pension fund capital, read morehere.
Or, if you would prefer, speak to a consultantabout the benefits of a preservation fund.
