Guides › Switching Financial Advisors
Updated September 4, 2026. Quick answer: you open the account at the receiving firm and sign the transfer form there; the new firm pulls the account through ACATS. UBS prices the account transfer at $95, the same figure the firm has published since at least 2020, and layers a separate $125 annual IRA fee ($100 with e-delivery) on top if you are closing a retirement account rather than moving it whole. UBS is also one of the few firms on this list that caps its own account and service fees at $500 per relationship per year, which does not reduce the $95 transfer charge itself but limits how much other UBS account fees can add to it in the same year. This page states only what the firm itself publishes.
The published numbers
Every figure below comes from UBS’s own fee-disclosure booklet, “Your relationship with UBS: Understanding our approach, services, fees, compensation and conflicts of interest,” dated July 2026, fetched directly from ubs.com. The same $95 transfer figure also appears in the older January 2020 “Understanding our fees, charges and other compensation” guide (doc# 2020-225958), still linked from the site as of this reading: the number has not moved in six years of published editions.
| What it charges | Amount | How it is charged |
|---|---|---|
| Account transfer fee | $95 | Per account, full transfer out |
| Individual Retirement Account (IRA) annual fee | $125 ($100 with e-delivery) | Per year |
| Annual service and maintenance fee cap | $500 | Per Marketing Relationship, per calendar year |
The $500 cap is real, but it is not a transfer-fee discount. UBS’s booklet states: “Annual service and maintenance fees are capped at $500 per Marketing Relationship (defined below) for the calendar year… We may waive the fees described below based on the scope of our relationship with you.” The cap applies to the bundle of annual service and maintenance line items UBS charges across a household: the $95 transfer fee is a one-time, per-account charge triggered by leaving, not one of the annual fees the cap limits. Read the cap as a ceiling on what UBS can charge you every year you stay, not a discount on what it charges you to go.
No separate partial-transfer fee is published; the $95 line covers the “Account transfer fee” without a full/partial split. A distinct “Non-DRS transfer fee $25” and “Restricted legend removal fee $125” apply only to specific security types, not to partial account transfers generally.
Compare your next step
Just comparing fees? Keep reading the fee guide.Optional next step
Explore an adviser match
Compare the services and the full fee before deciding whether to hire anyone.
- No fee to request a match
- No obligation to hire
Expect questions about your situation, your name, email and phone, and phone verification by text. A match is not guaranteed.
The form is run by Kapitalwise, our advisor-matching partner. Kapitalwise sends your details to advisers who pay for the introduction, so expect calls and texts. Clear Money Guide is paid when you submit the form, whether or not you ever hire anyone. This is free to you and there is no obligation to hire anyone.
Opens here. Nothing loads and nothing reaches Kapitalwise until you press the button.
How our partner relationships workCompare an adviser match before you decide
Ask about the full fee, what it covers and how the adviser is paid. A match is an introduction, not a recommendation from Clear Money Guide.
- Free matching service
- No obligation to hire
The matching service is run by WiserAdvisor, an independent advisor-matching company. It opens on their site, asks for your ZIP code and a few questions, and matches you with 2 to 3 vetted advisors. It is free to you. WiserAdvisor states the service is built for portfolios of $250,000 and above. By submitting, you consent to emails, phone calls and text messages from WiserAdvisor and up to three advisors, so expect to be contacted. Advisers pay for the introduction. Clear Money Guide is paid when you complete the form, whether or not you ever hire anyone. There is no obligation to hire anyone.
Continue to WiserAdvisorOpens on WiserAdvisor’s site in a new tab.
Source: WiserAdvisor’s service descriptionClosing the account vs transferring it: the $95 transfer-out fee
Closing an account and transferring it are different events. A transfer in kind moves your holdings to the new firm as they are. Closing by selling everything and withdrawing the cash is a liquidation. A liquidation is a taxable event; a transfer in kind is not, see IRS Publication 550 and Publication 590-B.
How do I close an UBS account?
To leave without selling, open the account at the receiving firm and start the transfer there. To close by liquidating, sell the holdings and withdraw the cash. The charge for moving the account is covered in the next answer.
What is the UBS transfer out fee?
The UBS fee-disclosure booklet, Your relationship with UBS lists “Account transfer fee” at $95, charged per account, full transfer out.
What is the UBS ACAT fee?
ACATS is the system the receiving firm uses to pull an account. The amount published for sending an account out is $95, from the UBS fee-disclosure booklet, Your relationship with UBS.
The sequence
1. Pull a current statement for every account, showing the exact registration, account numbers and complete holdings list. 2. Check the holdings for anything that will not move. Ask the receiving firm directly: “Can you hold every position on this statement?” Anything they cannot hold has to be sold, and in a taxable account that is a realised gain in the year you switch: the categories that commonly do not transfer. 3. Open the receiving account and sign the transfer form there. Under FINRA Rule 11870 the delivering firm then has one business day to validate and three business days after validation to complete. 4. Send a dated termination letter for the record, the generator writes it, and confirm in writing that billing has stopped.
Two things to get right
Cost basis. Under IRC §6045A the delivering broker must furnish a transfer statement carrying basis for covered securities within 15 days of the transfer. Keep your final statements anyway, and check the first statement at the new firm for positions showing a missing or zero basis. Retirement accounts move as a direct transfer, trustee to trustee, not as a distribution to you. Why that distinction matters. Budget $95 for the exit charge and leave the cash to cover it in the account rather than sweeping the balance to zero first. Whether the fee is worth paying at all is a question of what you are moving to: our benchmark of published adviser fee schedules puts the weighted median annual cost near $2,000 to $2,500 on $250,000: the benchmark. The general mechanics: switching financial advisors. To put the exit charge next to the fee you would stop paying, the switching advisors cost calculator returns the break-even in months.
Comparing exit steps at more than one firm? How to leave U.S. Bank, fee by fee and form by form.
Want to know what UBS charges before you decide whether to leave? See the dollar breakdown from UBS’s own fee disclosure.
Before you decide to leave UBS, check whether it owes you a fiduciary duty in the first place.
Independent RIAs don’t custody your money themselves, so the real exit cost is set by whoever does: Creative Planning and Edelman Financial Engines both route clients through Schwab, Fidelity, or another named custodian.
Weighing whether to move ahead? Read the full UBS review, including its fiduciary status and what it costs to leave.
Leaving a different firm? See the exit guides for all 189 firms, with the four steps every exit shares.