Home
/
Resources
/
Tax
/
Legal and Policy
/
2025 Legal and Policy

Legal and Policy - 17 April 2025

Description

SARS

  • 10 April 2025 – Income Tax Act, 1962 (Archive Interpretation Note)
  • 10 April 2025 – Income Tax Act, 1962
  • 10 April 2025 – Customs and Excise Act, 1964 The tariffs amendments notices scheduled for publication in the Government Gazette relate to the following amendments:

With effect from 11 April 2025

  • Part 1 of Schedule No. 1, by the substitution of tariff subheadings 1701.12, 1701.13, 1701.14, 1701.91, and 1701.99, to increase the rate of customs duty on sugar from 286.25c/kg to 377.35c/kg in terms of the existing variable tariff formula (ITAC Minute 14/2024)

With retrospective effect from 1 January 2025

  • Part 3F of Schedule No. 1, by an increase of R46 per tonne in the rate of environmental levy on carbon dioxide equivalent from R190 to R236 per tonne to give effect to the Budget proposals announced by the Minister of Finance on 12 March 2025

With retrospective effect from 1 January 2002

  • Part 5A of Schedule No. 1, by the substitution of Notes 7(b) in order to provide for the newly inserted items included under item 195.13 in Part 5A of Schedule No. 1 as promulgated in the Taxation Laws Amendment Act, 2025 in Government Gazette No. 51829 on 24 December 2024

Publication details will be made available later

  • 11 April 2025 – The tax directive system, forms, guides and standard operating procedures have been updated to incorporate the 2025 legislative changes which include the following:

RST01 Tax Directive Application Form

The application for requesting relief from South African tax is now fully automated. Taxpayers who require SARS to apply the provisions of a Double Taxation Agreement (DTA) for pensions and/or annuities payable from a South African Retirement Fund can now submit their application via eFiling. Once submitted, the supporting documents will determine if the pensions and/or annuities payable to the taxpayer will not be subject to tax in South Africa under the applicable DTA.

IRP3(a) Tax Directive Application Form

A new reason – Backdated (Antedated) Salaries and/or Pensions, has been added to enable employers to include correct information to assist employees who wish to opt to be taxed in terms of section 7A (i.e. employees’ tax has accrued in the prior tax year(s)). The process for non-residents who require a DTA to be considered on the taxation of a Savings Withdrawal Benefit was included.

Form B Tax Directive Application Form

The allowable transfers for the reasons Transfer unclaimed benefit’ and Transfer – Inactive Member with Insufficient Information were updated. The tax directive reason ‘Emigration Withdrawal’ was removed as the enabling provision in the Act was deleted effective from 1 September 2024.

Form C Tax Directive Application Form

The tax directive reason ‘Emigration Withdrawal’ was removed as the enabling provision in the Act was deleted effective 1 September 2024. A new tax directive reason ‘Transfer before Retirement [Par 2(1)(c)] was added. With effect from 1 March 2025 paragraph 2(1)(c) read with paragraph 6A of the Second Schedule to the Act provides that a member of a retirement annuity fund, who has attained the normal retirement age, as defined in the rules of the fund, but before electing to retire from that retirement annuity fund, may transfer his or her retirement interest in that retirement annuity fund, to another retirement annuity fund.

IRP3(c) Tax Directive Application Form

Trusts will be able to electronically apply for a tax directive allowing the annuity provider to not withhold PAYE on annuities owned by a Trust that is registered as an employer. The tax directive is issued in terms of paragraph 10 read with paragraph 11(a) of the Fourth schedule to the income Tax Act 58 of 1962, as amended. The trust will account to SARS for tax withheld from payments to its beneficiaries.

Updated guides:

  • 11 April 2025 – From 11 April 2025, the IRP3(a) – Application for a Tax Directive: Gratuities and Two-Pot Savings Withdrawals Benefit must be used by the Fund when paying a Savings Withdrawal Benefit, and on application the relief from South African tax on the Savings Withdrawal Benefit income will be considered.

For more information, see the Relief from South African tax for Pension and Annuity Income webpage and the I want a Tax Directives webpage.

  • 11 April 2025 – The past week, nearly 450 delegates from 135 countries and jurisdictions, as well as observers from 11 International Organisations, met in Cape Town on 7-10 April at the 17th Plenary meeting of the OECD/G20 Inclusive Framework on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS), hosted by the government of South Africa.

The agenda included fruitful discussions on BEPS implementation, the Two-Pillar Solution to Address the Tax Challenges Arising from the Digitalisation of the Economy, and preparing a stocktake report for the G20 on the progress of BEPS implementation. In addition, new areas of common interest, such as global mobility and the interaction between tax policy, inequality and growth, will be explored. Discussions on domestic resource mobilisation also acknowledged the perspectives of developing countries, including the ongoing need for capacity building.

See more information here – Inclusive Framework concludes successful meeting in South Africa.

  • 14 April 2025 – The state provides state warehouses for the safekeeping of goods. These are managed by Customs. The purpose of this list of unentered goods is to notify the importer, exporter and any other person that has interest in the goods that the goods have been taken up into the State warehouse and if they remain unentered they will be disposed in accordance with the provisions of the Customs & Excise Act.

See the latest Customs Weekly List of Unentered Goods here.

  • 14 April 2025 – Income Tax Act, 1962

Whether SARS’s rule 31 statement represented a fundamental and impermissible change of tack from its assessment and that sought to rescue SARS from the consequences of its refusal to accept the cogency of information provided to it.

  • 15 April 2025 – With reference to our previous communication, enhancements to the Tax Directives system have been implemented in line with the ‘IBIR-006 Tax Directives Interface Specification Version 6.803.

We sincerely appreciate your continued support in our mission to deliver the strategic intent of providing clarity and certainty, thus making it easier for taxpayers and traders to meet their obligations. As part of this commitment, we consistently maintain and enhance our systems to ensure safe and secure digital platforms. Thank you to those who assisted with the Trade Testing for this solution, your participation and cooperation is valued.

  • 15 April 2025 – The submission period of the Employer Annual Reconciliation Declaration (EMP501) is now open until 31 May 2025. All reconciliation declarations must include the most up-to-date and accurate employee payroll information, as well as the tax deducted for the full tax year, from 1 March 2024 to 28 February 2025. Importantly, the employer’s annual reconciliation must be submitted by 31 May 2025 to ensure that employees’ tax assessments and pre-populated tax returns are prepared accurately. The submission of correct and accurate employee information by employers on time contributes to the economic growth of our country. For more information, employers can watch instructional videos on “How to submit EMP501 declarations” on our Step-by-step videos webpage.
  • 15 April 2025 – Scamsters are calling people and telling them that they have been flagged for sending suspicious packages internationally. The fraudsters have the personal information of the people that they are calling, including their names, email addresses and identity numbers. They intimidate people by threatening them with imprisonment for being in possession of illegal documents and drugs. They tell their targets that the matter needs to be taken up with the police and the call is then transferred to what is purported to be an official government line. People are advised to end the call immediately. If they continue with the call, the fraudsters will undoubtedly use scare tactics to further phish and bribe them. SARS Customs will not call people to request any of this information. If a client has ordered or sent a parcel, the company that handled the initial transaction will engage with their client. Information about importing and exporting, including postal goods, is available on the Imports and Exports webpages.
  • 16 April 2025 – Income Tax Act, 1962, and Tax Administration Act, 2011

Taxation – taxpayer deriving income from mining operations – whether expenditure incurred in respect of the relocation of a neighbouring residential township, expenditure incurred in respect of the relocation of certain infrastructure within the mining area, legal costs incurred with regard to the relocation of the township, and the costs of relocating a 66kV line supplying electricity to mine equipment to a new location within the mining area, deductible – special deductions provisions in s 15(a) read with s 36(7C) of the Income Tax Act 58 of 1962 (the ITA) in respect of ‘capital expenditure’ – meaning of ‘in terms of a mining right’ and ‘other than in respect of infrastructure’ in s 36(11)(e) of the ITA – meaning of ‘mine equipment’ in s 36(11)(a) of the ITA – whether deduction for wear and tear under s 11(e) of the ITA established in respect of 66kV line – in the alternative, whether general deduction provision in s 11(a) of the ITA applies to expenditure in respect of relocation of the 66kV line – burden of proof in s 102 of Tax Administration Act 28 of 2011 (TAA) – whether legal expenditure deductible in terms of s 11(c) of the ITA – whether interest in terms of s 89quat(2) of the ITA on outstanding tax on disallowed deductions a result of circumstances beyond the control of the taxpayer – whether the Commissioner for the South African Revenue Services (CSARS) should have determined, in terms of s 89quat(3) of the ITA, that interest not be paid, whether in whole or in part.

  • 16 April 2025 – Customs and Excise Act, 1964: The tariffs amendments notice scheduled for publication in the Government Gazette relate to the amendments to –

Part 1 of Schedule No. 1, by the substitution of tariff subheadings 1001.91 and 1001.99 as well as 1101.00.10, 1101.00.20, 1101.00.30 and 1101.00.90, to increase the rate of customs duty on wheat and wheaten flour from 18.35c/kg and 27.52c/kg, respectively to 54.95c/kg and 82.42c/kg, in terms of the existing variable tariff formula (ITAC Minute M12/2024). Publication details will be made available later

NATIONAL TREASURY

SAFLII

SARB

ATAF

AuthorLegal and Policy
DivisionTax
Keywords
17 April 2025
Legal and Policy
Categories
Tax
Date17 April 2025