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2024 Legal and Policy

Legal and Policy - 1 February 2024

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SARS

  • 25 January 2024 – RFP30/2023: Appointment of a service provider for the provision of Digital Forensics Review Platform software solution.

The questions and answers document is now available.

  • 25 January 2024 – Customs and Excise Act, 1964: The rule amendments notices, scheduled for publication in the Government Gazette, relate to the amendments to rules under sections 49 and 120, amending –
  • trade agreements (DAR256); and
  • substitution of the DA 177 – Environmental Levy Account for Carbon Dioxide Emission Levy (DAR255).

Publication details will be made available later

  • 25 January 2024 – Customs and Excise Act, 1964: The tariff amendments notices, scheduled for publication in the Government Gazette, relate to the amendments to –
  • Part 1 of Schedule No. 1, by the substitution of various tariff subheadings to implement changes to the rates of customs duties in terms of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Agreement (with effect from 31 January 2024):
  • Schedule No. 1, by the insertion of Notes in Part F in the General Notes and substitution of Appendix IV to Annex 2 on Rules of Origin in Part F, to implement the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Agreement (with effect from 31 January 2024);
  • Schedule No. 1, by the substitution of General Note O, to implement the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Agreement (with effect from 31 January 2024);
  • Part 2A of Schedule No. 1, by the substitution of tariff items 104.37.19 and 104.37.21 in order to increase the rates of excise duty for heated tobacco products, to give effect to the Budget proposals announced by the Minister of Finance on 22 February 2023;
  • Part 1 of Schedule No. 3, by the creation of a full-duty rebate facility on titanium dioxide classifiable under tariff subheading 3206.11, for use in the manufacture of white masterbatch, classifiable in tariff heading 3206.19.90 – ITAC Report No. 670 (up to and including 25 January 2027);
  • Part 1 of Schedule No. 3, review of rebate item 311.18/63.09/01.04 applicable to “wiping rags” – ITAC Report No. 694 (with effect from 26 January 2024 up to and including 25 January 2026);
  • Part 2 of Schedule No. 4, by the creation of temporary rebate provisions under item 460.03 for the importation of meat and edible offal of the species Gallus Domesticus classifiable under tariff subheading 0207.1– ITAC Report No. 726;
  • Part 2 of Schedule No. 4, by the insertion of rebate item 460.15./7301.10/01.06 in order to provide for the creation of a temporary rebate of the customs duty for the importation of sheet piling of iron or steel, whether or not drilled, punched or made from assembled elements excluding those that are cold-rolled (cold-reduced) classifiable under tariff subheading 7301.10 – ITAC Report No. 690;
  • Part 2 of Schedule No. 4, by the creation of temporary rebate provisions for the importation of certain flat-rolled products of iron or non-alloy steel, of a width of 600 mm or more, hot-rolled, not clad, plated or coated, classifiable under tariff subheadings 7208.26 and 7208.27 – ITAC Report No. 662; and
  • Part 2 of Schedule No. 4, by the creation of a temporary rebate provision for the importation of certain cold-rolled steel and painted steel classifiable under tariff subheadings 7211.29 and 7212.40 – ITAC Report No. 612.

Publication details will be made available later

  • 26 January 2024 – Income Tax Act, 1962
  • Draft guide – Solar Energy Tax Credit Provided under Section 6C

Due date for comment: 9 February 2024

  • 26 January 2024 – Legal Practice Act, 2014, and Vexatious Proceedings Act, 1956

Civil Procedure: Whether applicant may apply for declaratory relief as regards representation of parties and the rendering of legal services listed in section 33(1)(a) and (b) of the Legal Practice Act 28 of 2014 by persons other than legal practitioners admitted and enrolled under the Act, and in particular whether the applicant is within his right to represent his daughter in proceedings before the Tax Court.

  • 26 January 2024 – In order to encourage households to invest in clean electricity generation capacity as soon as possible, a tax credit has been introduced under section 6C of the Income Tax Act for a limited time period. Section 6C is deemed to have come into operation on 1 March 2023 and applies in respect of years of assessment commencing on or after this date. Furthermore, this section is only available for a period of one year, that is, from 1 March 2023 to 29 February 2024.

This tax credit applies to any natural person who is liable for personal income tax and who invests in qualifying solar photovoltaic panels (solar PV panels).

Under this section, a natural person may be eligible for the tax credit on the cost that has been actually incurred in respect of the acquisition of qualifying solar PV panels. The cost relating to other components of a complete solar energy system such as inverters, batteries and supporting structures do not qualify for the tax credit.

Since the intention is to encourage natural persons to invest in renewable energy, the carrying on of a trade is not a requirement to be eligible to claim this tax credit.

The Provisional Tax Return (IRP6) has been updated with a “Solar energy tax credit” field to enable provisional taxpayers to take the tax credit into account in determining provisional tax payable for the second provisional period of the 2024 year of assessment.

For more information, see the updated guide: GEN-PT-01-G01 – Guide for Provisional Tax – External Guide.

  • 26 January 2024 – Value-Added Tax Act, 1991

Supply of services to non- resident: The nature of the supply and whether it also constitutes in part a supply to the foreign tourists who subscribe to the foreign tour operator’s tours.

  • 31 January 2024 – South Africa recorded a preliminary trade balance surplus of R14.1 billion in December 2023. This surplus was attributable to exports of R164.0 billion and imports of R149.9 billion, inclusive of trade with Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho and Namibia (BELN).

The year-to-date (01 January to 31 December 2023) preliminary trade balance surplus of R61.0 billion was a deterioration from the R192.0 billion trade balance surplus for the comparable period in 2022. On a year-on-year basis, export flows for December 2023 were 0.9% higher compared to R162.4 billion recorded in December 2022, whilst import flows were 5.0% lower having decreased from R157.8 billion in December 2022 to R149.9 billion in the current period.

On a month-to-month basis, exports decreased by R21.4 billion (-11.5%) from R185.3 billion to R164.0 billion between November and December 2023, whilst imports decreased by R14.9 billion (-9.0%) from R164.8 billion to R149.9 billion over the same period. Export flows decreased in December, driven by Gold, Platinum, and Vehicles (Goods). Value of imports decreased on the back of sizable decreases in importation of Original Equipment Components, Crude Oil, and Wheat and Meslin.

Due to ongoing Vouchers of Correction (VOCs), the preliminary trade balance surplus of R21.0 billion announced for November 2023 was revised downwards by R0.5 billion, with the final number at R20.5 billion.

For more information, click here.

31 January 2024 – The mobile tax unit schedule for Eastern Cape during March 2024 is now available.

31 January 2024 – The schedules for tax workshops and mobile tax units arranged for Mpumalanga province during February and March are now available.

31 January 2024 – Customs Weekly List of Unentered Goods

  • 31 January 2024 – Customs and Excise Act, 1964: Correction notices R4293 and R4294 , as published in Government Gazette 50053 on 31 January 2024, relate to the corrections to –
    • Part 1 of Schedule No. 1, by the deletion of tariff subheadings 1212.99.11, 1212.99.13, 1212.99.19, 1212.99.90, 7210.61.10, 7210.70.10, 7219.11.90, 7219.12.90, 7219.13.90, 7219.14.90, 7219.21.90, 7219.22.90, 7219.23.90, 7219.24.90, 7219.31.90, 7219.32.90, 7219.33.90, 7219.34.90, 7219.35.90, 7219.90.90, 7220.12.90, 7220.20.90, 7220.90.90 ,7314.39, 9401.91.20, 9401.99.20, 9403.20 and 9403.70, where it appears under substitutions in Notice No. R.4281 of Government Gazette No. 50045 on 26 January 2024;
    • Schedule No. 1, by the substitution of the date “** November 2023” with “31 January 2024” in the General Note O.5.(b) where it appears in Notice No. R.4287 of Government Gazette No. 50045 on 26 January 2024;
    • Part 1 of Schedule No. 1, by the substitution of the rate of duty under tariff subheading 8207.19.10 from “9” to “9%” where it appears under substitutions in Notice No. R.4281 of Government Gazette No. 50045 on 26 January 2024; and
    • Part 1 of Schedule No. 3, by the substitution of the preamble where it appears in Notice No. R.4285 of Government Gazette No. 50045 on 26 January 2024 to replace the wording “with effect from 26 January 2024 up to and including 25 January 2026” with “with effect from 25 January 2026”.
  • 31 January 2024 – Customs and Excise Act, 1964: Publication details for tariff amendment notice R4280, R4281, R4282, R4283, R4285, R4286, R4287, R4288, R4289, and R4290, as published in Government Gazette 50045 on 26 January 2024, are now available.
  • 1 February 2024 – The facility codes used in Box 30 on the Customs Clearance Declaration (CCD) have been updated:
  • The new approved container depot in Durban, Dachser South Africa Pty Ltd details has been inserted; and
  • Bidfreight Port Operations (Pty) Ltd in Durban details has been deleted as the facility has been cancelled.

SC-CF-19-A02 – Facility Code List – External Annexure

National Treasury

OECD

OECD releases statistics from the International Compliance Assurance Programme (ICAP) – 29 January 2024

AuthorSAICA
DivisionTaxation
Categories
Legal and Policy
Date1 February 2024