Singapore CPF Withdrawal after Naturalization

[Prawninator 138]

Any Singaporeans here who have Naturalized to US Citizens?

 

I wanna pick your brain about withdrawing CPF funds after renouncing SG Citizenship.

[Yosemite 0]

Hi! I'm looking for some insights regarding withdrawing CPF after renouncing Singaporean citizenship. Did you do it? Was it considered taxable? Thanks!

[ujongjoe 6]

On 12/9/2022 at 11:20 AM, Yosemite said:

Hi! I'm looking for some insights regarding withdrawing CPF after renouncing Singaporean citizenship. Did you do it? Was it considered taxable? Thanks!

I am not a tax advisor, but my understanding is this: from a US tax perspective, a withdrawal from CPF is no different than a withdrawal from a bank account, you only owe tax on the interest earned each year. Plus, if you or your employer contribute to CPF after you become US taxable, those contributions are not tax deductible and must be included as taxable income each year.
 

One exception is CPF LIFE payments. The tax code on annuities has a special provision making the entire payment taxable as income if the funds were contributed while you were not US taxable (usually the case). For this reason, it is usually better to withdraw (or try to get an exemption) before age 70.