Sanlam forms do not accommodate new legislation

The national assembly passed the Taxation Laws Amendment Bill of 2015 on 26 November 2015. The Act (The Taxation Laws Amenment Act of 2015) was proclaimed in the Government Gazette on 8 January 2016 and came into effect on 1st March 2016 and this day is referred to as T-day. The de minimus threshold was increased from R75000 to R247 500 and it is legislated that ‘From 1 March 2016 a total fund value of R247 000 or less will not be subject to annuitisation requirements and can be taken as a lumpsum at retirement’. Sanlam seems to be relying on their own interpretation of the legislation in that they seem to retrospectively consider ‘total fund value’ to include funds which are no longer under their control and this is unfair because it’s an ex-post facto matter. Seemingly, Sanlam has chosen to hide behind their own interpretation for the sake of retaining my funds which are legally due to me simply because my total fund value with Sanlam is lower than the stipulated threshold. Besides, the official claim forms of Sanlam do not refer to this option at all so it seems that Sanlam has taken a position on this in that after more than 18 months, they have still not made any amendment to their claim forms and this is rather misleading and unfair.

Please receive this as an official complaint and provide me with a complaint reference number.