Tag: National Treasury

Expatriates and those with plans to emigrate will be relieved to learn that the proposal to impose an exit tax on retirement interests will be withdrawn. In presenting their Draft Response Document on the 2021 Draft Tax Bills, National Treasury and SARS confirmed that the proposal will not be included in final Taxation Laws Amendment Bill that will be tabled in tomorrow’s Medium Term Budget.

The most contentious proposal introduced by the 2021 Draft Tax Bills is arguably the tax on retirement interests when a person ceases tax residency. The proposed tax has widely been christened as a further 'exit tax' imposed on South Africans leaving the country. However, based on responses by the Minister of Finance to a written parliamentary Q&A, some have questioned whether the proposal can rightfully be classified as an 'exit tax'.

In the weeks prior to the Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBSP), South Africans await more clarity from National Treasury on their proposal for limited pre-retirement withdrawals and the logistics required to make this happen.

Keep up to date on the most important Financial Services Regulation developments in South Africa in June 2021.

National Treasury published the latest Draft Tax Bills on 28 July 2021, which incorporate the tax proposals made in the 2021 Budget. Highlighted are five key changes proposed by government that taxpayers need to be aware of.  

It has been more than three years since SARS’s media statement on cryptocurrencies. In this statement, SARS said that it would apply 'normal income tax rules' to cryptocurrencies when assessing whether a gain is revenue or capital in nature, and that crypto assets are not seen as currency for income tax purposes.

In the 2021 Budget, there are proposals to halt abuse of employment tax incentives and expand the scope of what constitutes a long-service award. The 2021 Budget Review contained several proposals in relation to individuals, employment tax and associated benefits and incentives.

When the minister of finance delivered Budget 2020/21 on 26 February 2020, COVID-19 was mostly contained to China (with other countries registering few cases). The budget therefore made virtually no provision for what was to become one of the largest health and economic meltdowns in the past 90 years. As such, except for the growing fiscal deficit, the main and consolidated budgets[1] contained no earth-shattering announcements.

Taxpayers were listening very closely as Tito Mboweni delivered his annual budget speech. Taxpayers can however breathe a sigh of relief as no increases in tax rates will be incurred despite a year of national lockdown and the roll out of the vaccine.

Finance Minister Tito Mboweni’s budget has been received very positively, as demonstrated by the reaction from markets. SA Inc companies have rallied, the rand initially strengthened, and even the bond market is acting positively. However, while there are notes of hope, this budget also demonstrates a number of key risks, overly optimistic assumptions and potential weaknesses, pointing to an extremely challenging path ahead for the country.