The carbon tax will be implemented on 1 June 2019. It gives effect to the polluter-pays principle, prices greenhouse gas emissions and aims to ensure that businesses and households take these costs into account in their production, consumption and investment decisions. The tax will assist in reducing emissions and ensuring South Africa meets its commitments under the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement. It will be reviewed after three years.
SARS and the Department of Environmental Affairs will jointly administer the tax. To ensure a smooth administration, SARS will publish draft rules for consultation by March 2019.
These rules will complement three sets of regulations:
- A draft Regulation on the Carbon Offsets was published in June 2016. A revised regulation, taking public comments into account, was published for further consultation in November 2018. A consultation workshop will be held in March 2019 to finalise the regulation.
- Trade exposure regulations, which provide for higher allowances based on trade intensity, will be published before the end of February 2019, following extensive consultations on methodology.
- Benchmarking regulations will be published in March 2019 for further consultation.
It appears after many years of dragging its feet, carbon tax will be implemented. We will keep you posted on developments.
