An in-depth look into the 2013/2014 and how it affects the taxpayers

Legislation is the term used to describe the laws made by Parliament. Look at the changes made in 2013.

Many retailers have standard policies that deal with returns and repairs relating to defective products. Some of these policies may have been drafted long ago and have probably become outdated due to changing legislation.

In addition to this, an unemployment spell at a time when unemployment rates are high, such as now,is much worse than when unemployment rates are lower.

The challenge Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan faced in his 2012/13 Budget was how to narrow the budget deficit, meet social spending demands and maintain infrastructure investment. He essentially did so by raising taxes and the tax burden.

By 2014,Government could start the implementation of a national retirement scheme,based on recent announcements in the Budget Speech.

If your company is thinking of selling any capital assets and its year end is not February or March there may be a window of opportunity to do it at the lower effective tax rate for a short while.

Considered by many a different form of "capital punishment" – or at least a lifelong sentence. So investors would have paid keen attention to the tax amendments put forward in National Treasury's 2012/13 Budget, and would have watched as further judgment was handed down.

Last October the Medium Term Budget Policy Statement was tabled against the backdrop of a somewhat optimistic economic outlook. South Africa's GDP was expected to increase at 3.1% for 2011 and 3.4% for 2012.

The following is a summary of the tax related budget proposals announced by the Minister of Finance on 22 February 2012.