BUDGET 2023

• Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana’s 2023 Budget speech drew attention to the following:
  • the tax-free threshold will be increased from R91 250 to R95 750’
  • medical tax credits will be increased to R364 per month for the first two members, and to R246 per month for additional members
  • at retirement, the threshold on tax-free withdrawals from retirement funds will be increased to R550 000
  • there will be no transfer duties payable on a property purchased for below R1.1m
  • ‘the research and development tax incentive will be extended for 10 years, and will be refined to make it simpler and more effective’
  • ‘the urban development zone tax incentive will … be extended by two years to allow for the review of the incentive to be completed’
  • ‘the minimum royalty rate for oil and gas companies will be increased to 2%’, with no change in the maximum rate of 5%
  • ‘the health promotion levy (sugar tax) will remain unchanged for the following two fiscal years, to enable the industry to diversify or restructure’, and
  • there will be a 4.9% increase in excise duties on alcohol and tobacco.
• In the context of South Africa’s ongoing energy crisis, the Minister announced that:
  • ‘from 1 March 2023, businesses will be able to reduce their taxable income by 125% of the cost of an investment in renewables’ (‘there will be no thresholds on the size of the projects that qualify, and the incentive will be available for two years to stimulate investment in the short term’)
  • ‘individuals who install rooftop solar panels from 1 March 2023 will be able to claim a rebate of 25% of the cost of the panels, up to a maximum of R15 000’ (the incentive ‘will be available for one year’ and ‘can be used to reduce … tax liability in the 2023/24 tax year’)
  • ‘government will guarantee solar-related loans for small and medium enterprises on a 20% first-loss basis’
  • ‘the general fuel levy and the Road Accident Fund levy will not be increased this year’, and that
  • from 1 April 2023 for two years, ‘the refund on the Road Accident Fund levy for diesel used in the manufacturing process, such as for generators, will be extended to manufacturers of foodstuffs’.

 

NATIONAL MINIMUM WAGE

• The Department of Employment and Labour has gazetted a notice:
  • confirming that, from 1 March 2023:
    • the national minimum wage will be increased to R25-42 for each ordinary hour worked and that
    • the new minimum wage will also apply to farm and domestic workers
  • adjusting the sectoral determination for contract cleaning company employees per area and metro
  • adjusting the minimum hourly wage for expanded public works programme participants to R13.97, and
  • adjusting learnership allowances per level of education.

 

BASIC CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT ACT EARNINGS THRESHOLD

• The Department of Employment and Labour has gazetted a notice adjusting the earnings threshold applicable to various sections of the Act regulating working hours. Now R241 110,59 per annum before deductions, the new determination affects ordinary hours of work; overtime; the compressed working week; averaging hours of work; meal intervals; daily and weekly rest period; pay for work on Sundays; night work; and public holidays.

 

FINANCIAL ACTION TASK FORCE DECISION

• National Treasury has issued a media statement on the international Financial Action Task Force (FATF) decision to grey-list South Africa as ‘a jurisdiction under increased monitoring’. According to the statement:
  • Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana has assured the FATF of government’s commitment to implementing an ‘action plan’ intended to address ‘all outstanding deficiencies’ in South Africa’s anti-money laundering and counterterrorism financing regime, strengthening it where necessary.
  • No action plan interventions ‘relate directly to the preventive measures’ already in place across the financial sector, and
  • consequently, the increased monitoring now required ‘will have limited impact on financial stability and (the) cost of doing business with South Africa’.

 

CRIMINAL LAW (FORENSIC PROCEDURES) AMENDMENT ACT

• The Criminal Law (Forensic Procedures) Amendment Act, 2022, will come into force on 3 March 2023 by presidential proclamation in the Government Gazette, enabling the authorities concerned to enforce a legal obligation on the part of anyone convicted of and serving a sentence for committing a Schedule 8 offence to submit to the procedure entailed in taking a buccal/saliva sample.

 

RADIO SPECTRUM

• The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa has issued a media statement calling for input on three plans initially released in March 2022 in draft form for comment. This decision was made in the light of strong views expressed during the first round of public consultations. The radio frequency plans affected are 450 MHz to 470 MH; 825 MHz to 830 MHz and 870 MHz to 875 MHz; and 1427 MHz to 1518 MHz

 

ONLINE INTERMEDIATION PLATFORM INQUIRY

• The Competition Commission has issued a media statement calling for input by 28 February 2023 on draft guidelines intended to ‘prohibit certain conduct’ by ‘emerging leading platforms’. This is noting that while such conduct may not have occurred yet, it ‘may occur in the future’.

 

NON-PROFIT ORGANISATION ACT REGULATIONS

• The Department of Social Development has called for public comments on draft amendments to the regulations with the intention of aligning them with provisions in the General Laws (Anti-Money Laundering and Combating Terrorism Financing) Amendment Act, 2022.

 

TRADE IN HAZARDOUS CHEMICALS AND PESTICIDES

• The Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment has gazetted regulations domesticating the requirements of the 1998 Rotterdam Convention, which prescribes the prior informed consent procedures to be followed when trading internationally in hazardous chemicals and pesticides.

 

COMPETITION COMMISSION

• The Competition Commission has gazetted guidelines on the exchange of competitively sensitive information with the aim of clarifying the difference between permissible and impermissible information exchange under section 4 of the Competition Act, 1998 (restrictive horizontal practices).

 

Prepared by Pam Saxby