A penalty or charge CANNOT be levied on the payment of a transfer value from which one of the following?

• A. Buy-Out Bond
• B. Rac
• C. Prsa
• D. Employer pension scheme

Answer: (C)

The key idea is portability of pension benefits and how transfer values can be charged. The payment of a transfer value should reflect the full value to be moved to the new arrangement; some products permit charges when you exit or transfer, but not all.

A Personal Retirement Savings Account is designed to be highly portable, so the transfer value (the value being transferred) cannot be reduced by a penalty or charge—the amount paid to the receiving scheme must be the full transfer value. You may still face charges related to the PRSA's own fund management or policy provisions, but these charges do not come out of the transfer value itself.

In contrast, other products or schemes can levy exit or transfer penalties or charges when a transfer value is paid out, such as a Buy-Out Bond, a RAC, or an employer pension scheme, where costs may be deducted in connection with terminating the contract or transferring benefits.