Protected Tax Free Cash (PTFC)

[never give up]

Hi UK MMMers. I’ve recently applied for a partial transfer from a company DC pension into a SIPP. I’ve done this to benefit from a wider choice of funds as well as cheaper fees. However my transfer has been held up, I’ve learned, after being called this morning, as they need to know if I am happy to give up my PTFC. Umm. Oo er. I thought a partial transfer was a simple thing to do and that I wouldn’t be ‘giving up’ anything by doing it.

I’m going to receive a pack that will tell me more but I’m a bit concerned it will be full of jargon and not very clear. Has anyone completed a partial transfer and had a similar decision to make? For all I know this is going to cost me 35p or something but alternatively I don’t want to hit retirement in 20 or so years just to find out 80% of my pot is now sacrificed all because of the PTFC decision I made 20 years previous!

Any thoughts are much appreciated and hopefully the post may help others that want to partially transfer their pension in the future.

[Kwill]

This is completely new to me, but I'm curious to hear what others have to say.

[never give up]

Yes I hadn’t heard of it before but by all coincidence it made an appearance in one of the latest Monevator postings. It appears to be around potential entitlements to more than just the normal 25% tax free lump sum. That sounds quite important to me although I’ve no idea what the rules will be by the time I come to take the pension. As a result I’m going to cancel the transfer so I don’t lose anything here concerning this.