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Pension questions

South Africa pension questions

These are the questions people search about a pension left in South Africa. Each page answers its question in the first two sentences, and we show those two sentences below, read from the official source with the date we read it. We identify where a pension is likely held and the route to it. We do not give advice.

English

  • How do I find an old pension fund in South Africa?

    The regulator's central database runs back to 1981, so employment from the early eighties can still be sitting there. Where the FSCA database returns a match, it gives only the fund's contact details and you then deal with the fund yourself; acknowledgement letters quote a six month turnaround, and the FSCA states it does not administer payment.

    • Source: fsca.co.za, gepf.co.za, gov.za, read 4 October 2026
    • Source: fsca.co.za, fscamymoney.co.za, gepf.co.za, read 4 October 2026

  • How do former GEPF members abroad find their benefit?

    Its list of benefits nobody has applied for is issued province by province inside South Africa, and the GEPF confirmed to us in writing on 13 and 17 August 2026 that there is no overseas breakdown. The forms demand a certified copy of your ID with a certification stamp no older than six months, plus a banking details form.

    • Source: fsca.co.za, fscamymoney.co.za, gepf.co.za, read 4 October 2026

  • Can I withdraw my South African retirement annuity after emigrating?

    SARS's tax-directive guide states that, effective 1 March 2021, a member of a retirement annuity fund who has stopped contributing and who has ceased to be a South African tax resident for an uninterrupted period of three years or longer on or after 1 March 2021 may withdraw the full benefit before electing to retire from the fund. The same guide states the taxpayer must inform SARS as soon as he or she ceased to be an SA resident, and that if the member did not inform SARS the application will be rejected.

    • Source: sars.gov.za, read 1 September 2026
    • Source: sars.gov.za, read 4 October 2026

  • Can I get the South African older persons grant if I live abroad?

    The older persons grant is means tested and requires you to live in South Africa, and it lapses when you are absent from the country. A few years on a South African payroll rarely leaves a state pension.

    • Source: fsca.co.za, gepf.co.za, gov.za, read 4 October 2026

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