It is not the norm for budget proposals to be mooted in the MTBPS but given the fallout from the increase in vat from 14% to 15%, concessions have been made on some basic commodities. So, with effect from 1 April 2019 the following items will be zero rated:
- Sanitary pads
- Bread flour
- Cake flour
The cost to the fiscus will be in the region of R1,2 Billion rand. There is no doubt that Februaries budget speech will reveal how this loss to the fiscus will be made up.
Carbon Tax
Once again, the implementation of Carbon Tax has been deferred. Treasury officials say that there is still some fine tuning of the legislation to be done such as the carbon budgeting system and the carbon tax needing to be aligned. This is done by imposing a higher tax rate as a penalty for emissions exceeding the carbon budget. The original date of implementation of 1 January 2019 has been delayed till 1 June 2019.
Taxation Bills
In February several amendments were proposed and in order to ensure officially gazetted the following Bills were tabled:
- Rates and Monetary Amounts and Amendment of Revenue Laws Act, 2018
- Taxation Laws Amendment Act, 2018
- Tax Administration Laws Amendment Bill
Should you have any queries regarding the above please do not hesitate to contact us.
