There’s no turning back, make sure your provider can pay Two-Pot claims

Source: Supplied. Guy Chennells chief commercial officer at Discovery Comprehensive Employee Benefits (CEB).

“This legislative action signifies the final step towards the implementation of this new retirement system and effectively means that effective from 1 June 2024 – there is no turning back,” says Guy Chennells, chief commercial officer of Discovery corporate and employee benefits.

“With the new system officially coming into effect on 1 September 2024, retirement fund administrators in particular only have a few months left to organise their affairs, particularly regarding pending legal matters, if they want to pay out their clients’ withdrawal claims promptly post 1 September.”

Chennells emphasises that this is a crucial period for all providers to ensure they are fully prepared for the potentially unprecedented volumes of savings withdrawal requests coming their way from clients who may still be battling with financial woes in the aftermath of the Covid pandemic and the financial headwinds facing all South Africans.

What should providers be doing right now?

The first deadline of importance for retirement funds is Monday, 15 July 2024, which is the final date for all retirement funds to submit their rules amendments for registration if they are to be assured that their rules are registered and approved before Sunday, 1 September 2024.

Retirement funds submitting rule amendments after 15 July stand the risk of their rules amendments not being registered in time which will result in the delay of implementing Two-Pot and paying out savings withdrawal claims.

“Failure to register rule amendments for Two-Pot implementation with the Financial Services Conduct Authority (FSCA) by 1 September will mean no savings withdrawal claims can be paid from the fund.

"This could also impact the tax-approval status of retirement funds when the South African Revenue Services (Sars) does its annual tax assessments. If retirement funds lose their tax-approval status, it will mean that contributions to retirement funds are then no longer tax deductible and employers could have an industrial relations disaster on their hands,” cautions Chennells.

Straight-through processing capability

The next important consideration is whether the provider can process claims on what is termed a ‘straight-through process’. Straight-through is an automated electronic payment process which does not need manual intervention.

“This is because the volumes are expected to be unprecedented. The Minister of Finance in his 2024 National Budget Speech said he is anticipating a massive R5bn revenue windfall from taxing Two-Pot withdrawals in the next financial year,” continues Chennells.

“This number indicates that government expects many hundreds of thousands of South Africans to access money from their savings component as soon as the Two-Pot regulation becomes effective.

"One could easily see claims volumes in September 50 to 80 times higher than a normal month of exit claims. It would not be possible to increase staffing adequately for this. And so, without the straight-through process for payments, providers could have very long payment turnaround times before savings withdrawal claims can be paid.”

Many, if not most, employees will be making a withdrawal. If they have problems accessing their money, they will look to their employers for answers. This could result in very difficult labour relations issues for employers.

Chennells notes that while retirement funds and administrators have these milestones to meet, companies also need to tick a couple of boxes in order to ensure they’re ready for the Two-Pot system to kick in and ensure that their employees can get their withdrawal claims paid out if needed.

Employers' immediate action steps

Below is a high-level list of what employers need to be doing already, or start doing right now:

• Drive tax compliance
• Maintain or update ID or passport and phone numbers
• Drive digital adoption
• Reassess your provider
• Communicate the basics
• All companies need to ensure that their employees have tax numbers, which are included in the data they’ve shared with their retirement-fund administrator.

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Why?

“Employees will need to be registered for tax to make a withdrawal, even if they are below the tax thresholds,” adds Chennells. “This is because the South African Revenue Service (Sars) has confirmed that every withdrawal from the savings component will need a tax directive, and administrators will withhold marginal tax on each transaction.”

Employers must make sure that they regularly update employees’ mobile numbers and also send these revised details to their retirement-fund administrator every month. They should collect ID numbers for every employee. For foreigners, they must collect new passport numbers when old ones expire.

Why?

Chennells says that administrators will need to verify who is asking for a withdrawal.

“If an employer has incorrect ID or passport details, the process will stop and they will have to update those details through the next month’s contribution schedule, leading to serious delays.

"Phone numbers are just as important because they are the tool to deliver one-time passwords (OTPs) for members to confirm that they are the ones requesting a withdrawal,” he says.

He adds that the ID or passport number shared with the administrator must be the same one used to register for one’s tax reference number. If they don’t match, unfortunately Sars will decline the directive application.

Provider change implications

Chennells cautions that whether you are an employer, or an individual invested in a retirement annuity fund or a preservation fund, if you have any doubt in your retirement-fund administrator’s ability to get through the legal hoops and to deliver straight through claims processes, you still have time now to move in an orderly way to a more digitally and operationally capable retirement fund.

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Why?

“Waiting until September to find out that you (or your employees in the case of employer-sponsored umbrella funds) are unable to get access to money owing would be extremely frustrating, and you would need to make a move in a hurry,” he says.

The next question to ask is what would happen to people or companies who decide to change their providers if their Section 14 transfer is still in progress by 1 September.

A Section 14 transfer is the legal process that must be followed to move money from one retirement fund to another, ensuring that no mistakes are made along the way. It can take months to complete.

According to the FSCA, for Section 14 transfers that straddle the implementation date - or are still being considered for approval by them on 1 September 2024 - the transfer or fund that has member assets as at 31 August 2024 must calculate the seed capital for all members, irrespective of the status of the transfer, and must pay out savings withdrawal claims where they can.

It may be a concern that the transfer or fund may not want to pay out these claims, especially since the assets are moving off their platform, and this could prejudice members. It would be important to understand the capability and intention of the transfer or fund and approach the FSCA for an expedited Section 14 process if the transfer or fund will not be able to - or would not be prepared to - pay withdrawal claims within a reasonable time.

Chennells adds: “Of course if a fund is not able to pay claims for schemes awaiting transfer, they are likely to have heavy delays in paying withdrawal claims for active members too.

"Employers currently contributing to such a fund should consider moving sooner rather than later to at least give members some new contributions in the new fund from which to withdraw, and to get the ball rolling to get members savings into a fund from which they can access the seed capital in a reasonable time.”

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Sars withdrawal deductions

Sars may claim any money a person owes them from these withdrawals before they get paid (IT88s). So, everyone should think twice before withdrawing if they owe Sars something.

The rest of the money that retirement-fund members have saved before 1 September 2024 will have the same rules apply as before – i.e. they can still access that money if they leave their employer in the future.

This is never encouraged, but people should know that they do not need to resign before 1 September to access this money as it would still be accessible if they resigned at a later date after 1 September 2024.

Provident fund members who were 55 or older on 1 March 2021 and who have not moved funds since then, will have an option to opt in to the Two-Pot system. They can opt-in before 1 September 2025 (they have 12 months to opt in). If they don’t convert to the Two-Pot system, all their future contributions will still be accessible as cash if they resign or retire. This only applies to the provident-fund, not pension funds.

“In conclusion, the new Two-Pot retirement system is going to take some getting used to, from all stakeholders of retirement funds. It’s important to know your rights, know what you are entitled to access, and understand whether your administrators will be ready to support you and your needs come 1 September 2024.

"We urge everyone who has a retirement fund, to take time now to understand the new system, so that you can make the right decision for you – with a provider that is prepared and ready to assist when the time comes,” concludes Chennells.