The National Treasury today publishes the revised draft Taxation Laws Amendment Bill,
2014, (TLAB) revised draft Tax Administration Laws Amendment Bill 2014, (TALAB) and the
draft Response Document that was presented to the Standing Committee on Finance
(SCOF) in Parliament yesterday (15 October 2014).
The revised draft TLAB and TALAB revise the initial draft Bills published on 17 July 2014
and takes into account the public hearings in Parliament and submissions received by
Parliament, National Treasury and SARS. During the hearings in Parliament yesterday, the
SCOF made recommendations on the implementation dates for the tax treatment of
retirement savings and the removal of VAT zero rating for agricultural goods. The Bill has
been updated based on these two recommendations.
With regard to the tax treatment of retirement fund contributions, Government has agreed to
delay the implementation of laws which was originally set for 1 March 2015. For now, the
delay will be for a year to allow for further consultations at NEDLAC. But should there be no
agreement at NEDLAC by end-June 2015, the implementation date may be moved to 1
March 2017. This comes after the labour constituency at NEDLAC requested that the
implementation of these laws – enacted last year – be postponed until further consultations
between Government and NEDLAC on social security reform.
The draft Response Document and revised draft Bills represent the final proposals put
forward by the National Treasury and SARS to the SCOF yesterday for its consideration.
The draft Response Document takes into account comments received from 90 organisations
and individuals on the content of the initial draft bills, which were published for public
comment on 17 July 2014. Workshops were held on 1, 2 and 12 September 2014, to discuss
the proposed amendments. Further meetings were held to discuss specific amendments in
more detail.
The draft Response Document provides the reasons for the proposals made by the Treasury
and SARS and is the version submitted to the SCOF. The draft Response Document
therefore deals with the following key issues:
· Amendments to the valuation of defined benefit fund contributions
· Introduction of tax free savings accounts
· Amendments to small business tax regime
· Excessive interest limitation rules
· Removal of VAT zero rating for agricultural goods
· Relevant material and information gathering by SARS
The draft Response Document and the revised draft Bills are released today for information
purposes only, and not for further public comment. The final Bills are expected to be tabled
in Parliament next week Wednesday.
For more information, please contact Phumza Macanda at Phumza.macanda@treasury.gov.za.
Issued by: National Treasury
Date: 16 October 2014