Franc Tax-Free Savings Account

A tax-free savings account (TFSA) is a powerful tool to build long-term wealth, and that’s why it was a no-brainer for us at Franc to make opening and managing a TFSA as simple, straightforward, and accessible as possible, so you can start growing your money, tax-free.

What is a Tax-Free Savings Account?

You might have heard of a TFSA but you aren’t completely sure of the benefits, so let’s break it down.

A tax-free savings account is a long-term investment that allows you to earn returns without paying tax on the growth. The South African government introduced TFSAs to encourage long-term saving, and we’re bringing it to Franc to make it easy for you to take advantage of this benefit.

Now, it’s important to point out that a TFSA is best for LONG term investing (despite its name), and to get the most out of it, you need to keep your funds invested for a long time period, allowing that tax-free growth to compound over time.

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All about the Franc Tax-Free Savings Account

A TFSA is just an investment vehicle, which means you can fill it with any fund (or combination of funds) you like, granted the chosen fund still is a designated TFSA. Because you want significant growth in a TFSA, it pays to choose the right underlying fund.

When you invest in a Franc TFSA, the underlying fund is the Satrix Global Balanced FOF ETF, which is a balanced offshore index-tracking exchange-traded fund (ETF). An ETF typically follows and replicates the performance of a specific index, or group of shares – which means it’s diversified by its very nature.

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Want to start investing, tax free? Open your Franc TFSA now.

Much like all funds at Franc, we’ve done the hard work for you and chosen the leading fund in the category that we believe is a solid option for almost all investors: it has high-growth, but a smooth trajectory, and is a very well diversified fund. It’s also cheaper than a unit trust.

Know your limits with a TFSA

A Tax-Free Savings Account (TFSA) comes with government-imposed contribution limits. The annual contribution limit is set at R36,000 per tax year, while the lifetime limit is capped at R500,000.

It’s important to stay within these limits because any excess contributions will be taxed at 40%. With Franc, you’ll have full visibility of your contributions on your TFSA dashboard, so you can track your savings to avoid penalties.

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Note that the total contribution limit applies across all your TFSA accounts. It's important to keep track of your total contributions across all providers if you have more than one.

How to open a Franc TFSA

Sign up or log in. If you’re new to the Franc app, sign up for an account. If you already have the app, simply log in. You need to ensure you’re on the latest version of the Franc app (5.7.0) to see the tax-free savings account.
Select the Tax-Free Savings Account Card. After signing up, select the Tax-Free Savings Account option. If you are already logged into the app, go to your Portfolio dashboard. Look for the Tax-Free Savings Account card and select it. Note that your Franc account has to be verified to select this option.
Follow the instructions. Once you select the card, you'll be guided through the simple setup process. Just follow the on-screen instructions to complete the setup of your Tax-Free Savings Account.
Make a deposit. Once you’re done setting up your account, you can go ahead and start making deposits. You can choose from 2 deposit options:

1. Via in-app InstantEFT. Click on the Deposit button in your Bitcoin Goal and select the InstantEFT option. You’ll be guided through the process of connecting your banking app and making payment.

2. Make a normal EFT deposit through your bank account. Manually deposit the money into your Franc account using the following bank details:

Bank: Nedbank
Name: Franc Group
Account type: Current
Account number: 1285788907

That's it! You’re now ready to start saving tax-free with Franc.