Liberty Life supports smart planning with 'win your tax back' prize
Leading life assurer Liberty Life is playing cupid in a new consumer campaign to get the public to ‘love the taxman’ by offering the chance to win the equivalent of a year’s income tax. The taxpayer has to fulfil all his/her obligations to SARS before entering the national draw and receiving his/her prize.
The competition runs throughout February, the last month of the tax year and the month when Valentines traditionally show their faithfulness.
Entrants don’t have to buy financial products or make investments through Liberty Life to qualify, as the promotion is part of a strategy to foster national retirement savings and get consumers to take a sensible, long-term approach to financial provision.
“That includes doing the right thing by paying tax and sending in their tax assessments in good time,” says Howard Fox, Divisional Director of Marketing at Liberty Life.
The prize is the equivalent of the winner’s personal income tax for the 2008 year to a maximum of R100 000. The winner has to prove the amount of tax that has been paid by providing an original IT34 assessment and an original of the SARS statement of account.
“The promotion is our way of encouraging the consumer to get the most out of the tax process,” explains Fox. “For the purposes of our competition, you get the chance to win the equivalent of your tax back; but even if you don’t win the draw you can still achieve a significant financial advantage by exploiting opportunities presented to you every year by our ‘loving taxman’.
“Perhaps the best examples are the tax-breaks for sensible retirement provision through vehicles like a retirement annuity (RA) or Personal Pension.”
Marketing staff and Liberty aligned financial advisers will use the promotion as a way of highlighting the tax advantages offered by an RA, but there is no obligation to invest in one.
An RA member is entitled to three different tax-breaks:
- Deductions on contributions during the life of the RA;
- On investment build-up within the product as taxes on retirement funds have been scrapped; and
- Via a tax-free amount and favourable tax rates on the lump sum taken by the RA member at retirement.
Fox adds: “These concessions have been sweetened by SARS in recent months; which is why we say ‘you’ve got to love the taxman’, engage in tax compliant processes and optimise the opportunities open to you.”
Liberty Life launched its strategy of encouraging sensible financial provision late last year with its ‘Get a Plan, Get a Life’ campaign. Only those who used the Financial Planning Institute methodology to develop an objective financial plan were in line for the R1 million consumer prize.
In the ‘Get your tax back’ competition, consumers can enter online at http://www.libertylife.co.za/ or obtain a form from a Liberty Life insurance adviser.
