Pension Problem with Momentum
In September this year I instructed Mr. de Meyer to change my pension from a Living Annuity to a Compulsory Joint Annuity. When I received the quotation I noticed a mistake. Momentum indicated a tax deduction of 5,26% (R 440.71p/m) on an income of R 8 371.10 which is a yearly income of R100453.20. The Tax Tables from SARS on this amount earned yearly and taking my age in consideration is 0% paye Monthly Deduction Tables Remuneration Annual Equivalent Tax Under 65 65 - 74 Over 75 R8,111 - R8,211 R97,932 R33 R0 R0 1st Quotation R 8 371.10 100453.20 R 440.71 R 14,373 - R 14,473 R 173,076 R 1,160 R 373 R 111 The 1st line (R8111 – R8211) is the tax bracket I will be falling in 0% Tax The 2nd line (R8371.10 or R100453.20 py) is the income as quoted by Momentum with the tax bracket of 5.26% which is totally wrong The 3rd line (R14373 – R14473pm or R173076 py) is the income I should receive to justify the tax deduction of R373 py which is even less than the tax Momentum wanted to deduct. The first income date was given as 1 November 2023 That quotation I could not sign After multiple attempts to prove them wrong they would not listen to me or my broker Mr James de Meyer. Momentum would not listen but insisted that SARS send out the instruction in this regard. Momentum then forced me to go to SARS to obtain a 0% tax directive, which I did very reluctantly as I knew Momentum is in the wrong which they would not admit. At SARS I spoke to Ms Amy Martin a tax consultant and the following case numbers were recorded: *** and ***. After speaking to her supervisor she then returned and advised me SARS do not issue directives to tax payers, Momentum has to apply for the directive themselfes if needed, but in my case no directive is needed as the tax tables for 2023 - 2024 provide all the info Momentum needs. Ms Martin made the comment that is a big lie, SARS will only issue such a request in very rare cases. Needless to say I did not get paid on November 1, 2023 as promised, through the incapability of Momentum. After numerous discussions Momentum had to accept they were in the wrong regarding the tax deduction and a new quotation was issued on 28 November 2023 with again a payment date of December 1, 2023 which until today December 13, 2023 has not happened. The new quotation also shows a lower income although the new gross amount transferred to Momentum is R5000-00 higher than the amount of the original quotation The original amount on the first quotation was R862000-00 and the quotation on the final quotation without the tax deduction is R867000-00 To summarize my gross income on R862000-00 would have been R8371.10 pm (R100453.20 p/y) on the first quotation of November 3, 2023 Now all of a sudden my income from R867000-00 will only be R 8 112,95 pm (R97355.40 p/y) a difference of –R3097.80 p/y. How do Momentum explain that??
Another issue is the quotation for a yearly drawdown of 17.5% on my saldo of R867000-00 on Dec 4, 2023 (Which was declined by me) on the amount of R151551.90 but the tax I would have paid is only R606.21 p/y @ 0.4% Now compare this to the tax Momentum wanted to deduct (R5288.52 p/y or 5.26%) on an income of R100453.10 and even a grade one child can make the calculation that Momentum is totally in the wrong in this instance
Because of their total incompetency I very strongly believe that Momentum should also pay me back the lost monthly income for November 2023
Please I need you to investigate this mal practice of Momentum
Thank you for your posting.
The matter has been escalated to the relevant business area for their urgent attention. They will be in communication with you soon.
Kind regards,
EdB
Thank you for your posting.
The matter has been escalated to the relevant business area for their urgent attention. They will be in communication with you soon.
Kind regards,
EdB
To add to my complain about Momentum’s incapability or willingness to rectify my pension payment on contract Contract: PP***
After many e-mails between my self, my broker Mr J de Meyer and Momentum absolutely no progress has been made over the past 6 weeks to rectify Momentum’s mistake while I have to suffer with insufficient funds. Apart from some very feeble excuses as to why the mistake can’t be rectified there has not been any assistance from Momentum’s side as yet.
The excuses include that the assistants on the go are not qualified to rectify mistakes like incorrect tax deductions. The question is why does Momentum have people who are not qualified to do the job place those people in that type of important position, people who are merely printing operators and don’t have the training to check the quotations they issue, which cause endless problems for Momentum’s clients. And then when the mistake is reported Momentum come up with all kinds of feeble excuses and try to cover up for the assistants and delay the process and causes endless unnecessary arguments and delays.
It was over and over proven to Momentum that there is a flaw in their system, and again the assistants are not trained to identify those problems before sending out the incorrect quotations, also something Momentum up to now was very reluctant to address, again causing a long delay in paying out my pension. It seems there is nobody in Momentum except for Annuities who can actually over ride that flaw in their ******* system
Now because of the time delay, the paye problem was solved, but now the amount I was supposed to get from the very first quotation was reduced by 0.45% (a few hundred Rand per month) and with no inflation adjustment in future it now means I will be penalized monthly for the rest of my life because of Momentum’s mistake. How can that be fair from a so called honest and registered financial institution like Momentum??
I just want to stress the point again that when I received the first quotation on 6 Nov 2023 I immediately (within minutes after receiving the quotation) informed my broker there is a mistake with the paye which must first be rectified before I can sign the quotation. The only problem was the incorrect paye on the quotation which any intelligent person in the finance department of Momentum should have been able to fix in minutes, which should have been a very straight forward and simple process, yet they were very stubborn that their ******* system was correct. Now after 6 weeks I have to be satisfied to accept to be penalized for Momentum’s mistake and still have to wait to get paid. Momentum also dispute the fact that they have to pay back pay from 1 Nov 2023 which in my opinion is the right thing to do seeing that it was Momentum’s mistake and not mine
That is unfair, unconstitutional and *******
To add to my complain about Momentum’s incapability or willingness to rectify my pension payment on contract Contract: PP***
After many e-mails between my self, my broker Mr J de Meyer and Momentum absolutely no progress has been made over the past 6 weeks to rectify Momentum’s mistake while I have to suffer with insufficient funds. Apart from some very feeble excuses as to why the mistake can’t be rectified there has not been any assistance from Momentum’s side as yet.
The excuses include that the assistants on the go are not qualified to rectify mistakes like incorrect tax deductions. The question is why does Momentum have people who are not qualified to do the job place those people in that type of important position, people who are merely printing operators and don’t have the training to check the quotations they issue, which cause endless problems for Momentum’s clients. And then when the mistake is reported Momentum come up with all kinds of feeble excuses and try to cover up for the assistants and delay the process and causes endless unnecessary arguments and delays.
It was over and over proven to Momentum that there is a flaw in their system, and again the assistants are not trained to identify those problems before sending out the incorrect quotations, also something Momentum up to now was very reluctant to address, again causing a long delay in paying out my pension. It seems there is nobody in Momentum except for Annuities who can actually over ride that flaw in their ******* system
Now because of the time delay, the paye problem was solved, but now the amount I was supposed to get from the very first quotation was reduced by 0.45% (a few hundred Rand per month) and with no inflation adjustment in future it now means I will be penalized monthly for the rest of my life because of Momentum’s mistake. How can that be fair from a so called honest and registered financial institution like Momentum??
I just want to stress the point again that when I received the first quotation on 6 Nov 2023 I immediately (within minutes after receiving the quotation) informed my broker there is a mistake with the paye which must first be rectified before I can sign the quotation. The only problem was the incorrect paye on the quotation which any intelligent person in the finance department of Momentum should have been able to fix in minutes, which should have been a very straight forward and simple process, yet they were very stubborn that their ******* system was correct. Now after 6 weeks I have to be satisfied to accept to be penalized for Momentum’s mistake and still have to wait to get paid. Momentum also dispute the fact that they have to pay back pay from 1 Nov 2023 which in my opinion is the right thing to do seeing that it was Momentum’s mistake and not mine
That is unfair, unconstitutional and *******