Access only by resigning — and then to everything. Workers quit jobs to reach their pensions; billions leaked out through the R27 500 withdrawal table. Preservation and access were enemies.
Every new contribution splits ⅓ : ⅔ into a savings and a retirement component. Existing balances froze into a vested component, which seeded the savings pot with 10%, capped at R30 000 — once-off.
One savings withdrawal per tax year, minimum R2 000, taxed at your marginal rate via SARS directive. The 2027 tax year opened a fresh allowance on 1 March 2026.
The name undersells it. Every member holds a vested pot (a time capsule of pre-September 2024 money under the old rules), a savings pot (⅓ of new contributions — the accessible tap), and a retirement pot (⅔ — sealed until retirement, then annuitised). Access and preservation, finally in the same fund.
One withdrawal per fund per year of assessment. The allowance resets every 1 March — it does not accumulate if unused.
No withdrawal below R2 000. A thinly-seeded pot must first grow before the tap will open at all.
The fund requests a SARS tax directive before paying. Not registered for tax, or in debt to SARS? The directive is rejected or docked.
Withdrawals are added to taxable income — no exemption, no lump-sum table. A year-end bonus can even push you into a top-up on assessment.
The old leakage channel — resign, cash out everything — is now closed for new money. But each pot answers differently:
Pre-2024 money may still be taken in cash on resignation — but through the punitive withdrawal table: only R27 500 tax-free, lifetime. The time capsule carries the old temptation and the old penalty.
Must transfer to the new fund, unless the balance is under R2 000 or the year's single withdrawal is still unused. Resignation is not a second tap.
No cash on resignation, retrenchment or dismissal — transfer or preserve only. At retirement it must buy an annuity, unless all pots combined fall under the R165 000 de minimis.