Author: Marty Santana, PAYE Director at BDO SA Johannesburg, 26 February 2015 – Individuals are going to be seriously out of pocket during the next financial year. The budget has announced a 1% increase in all the rates in excess of income at R181 900. Although consumers have had the benefit of a decrease in petrol price in recent months, this is not expected to last for much longer and now the budget has announced a fuel levy increase of 30.50 cents a litre and an increase in the Road Accident Fund of 50 cents a litre. There was no announcement made about the abolition of the toll levies so consumers again are not getting any relief on this front.
Tax News
Transfer Pricing and Country by Country Reporting – Critical focus for Budget
Author: Roxanna Nyiri, Head: Transfer Pricing, BDO South Africa The OECD’s adoption of country-by-country reporting (CbCR) was issued in September 2014 as part of the ongoing review of base erosion and profit shifting (“BEPS”).
Using the VAT system to decrease the Budget deficit
Author: Ferdie Schneider, National Head: Tax, BDO South Africa The Minister has various options at his disposal concerning how he could use VAT as a fiscal instrument to raise revenue and reduce the budget deficit that has occupied the brain trust in government. South Africa’s VAT rate has been constant since 1993 when it was raised from 10% to 14%, it is also relatively low compared to international standards. Emerging markets average at approximately 18%, whereas developed countries average at approximately 17%.
Budget 2015 – Using the VAT system to decrease the Budget deficit
Author: Ferdie Schneider, National Head: Tax, BDO South Africa The Minister has various options at his disposal concerning how he could use VAT as a fiscal instrument to raise revenue and reduce the budget deficit that has occupied the brain trust in government. South Africa’s VAT rate has been constant since 1993 when it was raised from 10% to 14%, it is also relatively low compared to international standards. Emerging markets average at approximately 18%, whereas developed countries average at approximately 17%.
Budget 2015 – Highlights
Highlights of Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene’s 2015/16 main budget include: — A budget deficit of 3.9% of GDP is expected for 2014/15, narrowing to 2.5 percent in 2017/18; — Debt stock as a percentage of GDP is expected to stabilise at 43.7 percent in 2017/18; — The main budget non-interest expenditure ceiling has been reduced by R25 billion over the next two years;
Budget 2015 – Social development budget up 7.9% #Budget2015
The 2015/16 social development budget allocation of R155.3 billion will largely be spent on assisting vulnerable groups, Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene said. The 7.9 percent increase in the budget over the previous year was to cater for a larger number of beneficiaries, mostly in the child support grant, and higher grant pay-outs, he told the National Assembly in tabling his first main budget.
Budget 2015 – Nene appoints advisory committee to resolve the woes of SARS #Budget2015
Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene announced that he has appointed an advisory committee headed by a retired judge to help resolve the woes of the SA Revenue Service (Sars). Nene made the announcement shortly before tabling his first main budget in the National Assembly, for 2015/16, and said the committee would be headed by retired Judge Frank Kroon.
Budget 2015 – The full 2015 budget speech as delivered by Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene.
Honourable Speaker – I have the honour to present the first budget of our fifth democratic Parliament. Members of the House, and fellow South Africans – Over the past twenty years we have built houses, delivered water and electricity, improved access to schools and health care. Yet there are people living in shacks, there are schools without sanitation, there are patients without care.
Budget 2015 – Taxed to death
Author: TJ Strydom Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene has gone for the jugular of the middle class. After half a decade of Pravin Gordhan taxing by stealth, Nene yesterday announced a raft of measures that will hurt high income-earners, luxury home-buyers and car-owners directly and almost immediately.
Nene: No (more) tax hikes – maybe
Author: MARIAM ISA – TimesLive.co.za Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene insists that further tax hikes are not inevitable in the next few years – despite a pressing need to raise extra revenue to finance new policy goals, and control budget deficits in the face of lacklustre economic growth.