SARS pays back R10bn, but some taxpayers’ refunds are being withheld

Taxpayers should inform SARS if they have been unemployed for a full year or longer, to avoid being flagged as non-compliant.

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FAIS Ombud to Challenge Appeal Board Rulings

According to an article published in Personal Finance on Saturday, the FAIS Ombud intends appealing against certain findings by the FSB Appeal Board. “Late last year, the Appeal Board of the financial services […]

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Virtual Meeting Rooms

The Oosthuysen determination, published in December 2016, and discussed above, yet again highlights the importance of accurate record keeping, and the need to consider using technology to cover our backs from clients suffering from […]

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Fee Adjustments

Bad news and good news – Both the FSB and the Council for Medical Schemes have published fee increases. FSB Fees The previous notice was published on 24 March 2015, and signed by the then […]

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Slim vang sy baas

This Afrikaans saying is very apt with regards to a recent Ombud determination in which, for once, the adviser was not held liable for a client’s loss. During January 2012, two complaints were […]

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Remuneration for Investment Product Advice

This is possibly the biggest bone of contention for advisers in the investment space. In the FSB’s RDR Update published in December 2016, the following information was conveyed: Commission on investment products As indicated […]

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DA Reacts to Demarcation Regulations

In a media release on the matter, the Democratic Alliance states: This poorly conceived decision demonstrates just how ideologically constrained the Ministers have become when it comes to ensuring that poor South Africans […]

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He said She said…

In December, the FAIS Ombud released no less than eight determinations. In a strange turn of events, one case was actually referred to the courts as the Ombud was unable to determine whether […]

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Conduct of Business Reforms in 2017

At the conclusion of the Insurance Regulatory Seminar last year, Mr. Jonathan Dixon, Deputy Registrar of Insurance at the FSB, indicated that 2017 will be a year of substantial change. The huge amount […]

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Short term Remuneration Update

The RDR status review, published in December 2016, contained the following information concerning short term remuneration, and specifically regarding additional fees currently charged under section 8(5) of the Short Term Insurance Act. (f) Proposal […]

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Implementing RDR Phase 1

True to form, a huge amount of proposed legislative changes were published towards the end of last year. Formal consultation on the draft regulatory instruments to be used to give effect to Phase […]

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Long-term Validity of RE Results

A reader recently enquired about the validity of the regulatory exams in view of all the pending new legislation. “Will my RE1 and RE5 certificates still be valid when the new Twin Peaks […]

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Conduct of Business Reports

The FSB intends replacing the current FSB compliance reports with Conduct of Business Reports (COBR) and has called for industry input on the proposed document. The content and format of the proposed COBR […]

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Suitebox Assessment by Industry Experts

SuiteBox provides video business meeting software of specific benefit to modern day financial advisers. Apart from providing significant cost, productivity and client engagement improvements, it assists in simplifying record keeping. Inaccurate or insufficient […]

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Important Proposals on Regulatory Changes

Revised Draft Default Regulations on Lowering Charges and Improving Market Conduct for Retirement Funds: National Treasury today publishes a second draft of the retirement funds default regulations, made in terms of section 36 […]

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