CAPE TOWN: South Africa’s National Treasury has invited taxpayers, tax practitioners, and members of the public to submit technical proposals to improve or correct current tax legislation, to be considered for inclusion in the 2017 Budget Review.
In a statement, the National Treasury explained that the Minister of Finance generally only makes tax announcements in his Budget Speech in February each year. The Budget Review provides more details, including on other matters for the upcoming tax legislation. Major tax proposals are contained in one of its chapters, while minor or miscellaneous proposals are generally contained in an annexure, called Annexure C. The proposals requested in the present invitation are for Annexure C only, and therefore not for any major tax proposals. They must therefore be limited to unintended anomalies, loopholes, and technical matters requiring correction in existing tax legislation.
Proposed changes for inclusion in Annexure C must be within the current tax policy framework, and should not result in a shift of currently prevailing policy or have a significant revenue impact. As the timeframe for tax legislation remains limited, it was also explained that technical proposals should be limited in number and be prioritized towards issues that are of main concern.
Each proposal must be explained in detail and include the legal nature of the problem, a factual description of the relevant transaction, and the nature of the businesses impacted by the problem. All proposals should also be grouped into topic areas for ease of review – income tax (individuals, employment and savings); income tax (domestic business); income tax (international); and other taxes (e.g. value added tax, and mineral and petroleum royalty). Annexure C proposals should be submitted to the National Treasury no later than November 24, 2016.
