Certain tax proposals presented on 27 February 2013 in South Africa’s annual budget are summarized below:
There were no tax increases but there was a substantial increase in fuel levies of 23 cents from April 2013. There was no specific mention of tax proposals for the mining sector, but a review of the general tax policy framework to be implemented that could include a review of mining taxes as well as the current mineral royalty regime. The review will aim at the relaxation of the tax requirements for companies and of cross-border financial regulations. Also, a single registration process is to be introduced to enable companies to register for all taxes and customs activities in a once-off process.
Other announcements included a proposal to simplify the tax treatment of pension and retirement annuity funds. An employment incentive was proposed for youth to encourage new businesses. Also a VAT registration obligation was proposed for foreign providers of e-services (music, video, e-books and other e-content) via the internet when the content is consumed in South Africa.
