ATM urges govt to waiver taxes on pension fund withdrawals

The African Transformation Movement (ATM) has called on government to waiver taxes on pension fund withdrawals.

This comes as the two-pot retirement system came into effect on September 1.

The ATM also wants government to reconsider the R30 000 cap on withdrawals as they say this limit could exacerbate financial struggles for debt-burdened workers.

Party spokesperson Zama Ntshona says, “If you are closer to your threshold in terms of the tax bracket, when you add this on top of this, in just 12 months’ time it would have pushed you out of your current tax bracket and it introduces you to the next one so therefore your taxes are going to increase.”

Ntshona says, “So for us as ATM, we don’t see how this is going to assist. So this is one of the ways you can alleviate workers from this challenge. The burden that comes with the tax and the fees of transferring this money would actually leave them at no better state than they were before. ”

PODCAST: Zama Ntshona’s interview on SAfm’s First Take Programme: