South Africa's National Treasury and Revenue Service have published, for public comment, the draft Rates and Monetary Amounts and Amendment of Revenue Laws Bill, 2019 (Rates Bill), Taxation Laws Amendment Bill, 2019 (TLAB), and Tax Administration Laws Amendment Bill, 2019 (TALAB). The legislation includes measures that were announced as part of the 2019 Budget and certain other changes.

As provided in a media statement from the National Treasury, the draft Rates Bill gives effect to the following key tax proposals:

• Changes in rates and monetary thresholds to the personal income tax tables;
• Adjustments to the eligible income bands that qualify for the employment tax incentive; and
• Increases of the excise duties on alcohol and tobacco.

The draft TLAB gives effect to the following key tax proposals:

• Aligning the effective date of tax neutral transfers between retirement funds with the effective date of annuitization for provident funds;
• Adjusting the withholding tax treatment of surviving spouses’ pensions to limit tax debts on assessment;
• Addressing abusive arrangements aimed at avoiding the anti-dividend stripping provisions;
• Clarifying the interaction between corporate reorganization rules and other provisions of the Income Tax Act;
• Refining the tax treatment of long-term insurers;
• Refining investment criteria and anti-avoidance measures for the Special Economic Zone regime;
• Limiting the allowable deduction for investors investing in a venture capital company;
• Reviewing the controlled foreign company comparable tax exemption and addressing the circumvention of the anti-diversionary rules; and
• Reviewing section 72 of the VAT Act.

The draft TALAB gives effect to the following key tax proposals:

• Removal of the requirement to submit a declaration to a regulated intermediary in respect of tax-free investments;
• Authorization for the Commissioner to prescribe rules relating to the making of advanced foreign currency payments;
• Alignment of time limitations on requesting refunds;
• Model mandatory disclosure rules and non-compliance penalties; and
• Tax compliance certificates.

Click the following link for the documents for comment. The deadline for comments is 23 August 2019.