Death benefits are governed by Section 37C of the Pension Funds Act. This section instructs the RA fund’s trustees to distribute all retirement fund assets to the deceased dependants and nominated beneficiaries in the manner they deem fit. It is therefore very important that participating employees keep their dependants and beneficiary nomination forms up to date.
Your investment will be taxed on the same basis as on retirement. However, from 1 March 2015, contributions that were made to an RA fund that did not receive a tax deduction are included in the estate of the deceased and subject to estate duty.