Choosing to have iDeCo withdrawn from bank, what happens with taxes?

[Roger Van Zant]

Eh? You "already paid" income tax on your iDeCo investments? That doesn't sound right. I thought iDeCo was tax-free on the way in and tax-free on the way out?

You are entitled to not pay tax on the investments. But the way it works in practice (when you make the payments yourself) is that the deposits are taken from your post-tax income (AKA your bank account), and you claim a tax refund every year. In other words, iDeCo is not taken account all year when your employer deducts your taxes from your salary, then you settle-up in the end of year adjustment. Not sure what happens if your employer makes the payments on your behalf.

I guess I missed out on my tax refund this year (ie 2020) but at least I won't make that mistake twice.

Either are options. You can submit it to your company if they do your taxes for you, or to the tax office if you do a tax return.

+1. You're still in time to submit a tax return, which would get you the refund too (not sure if you can claim earlier years if you don't do either).

That makes sense. Thanks.