Parliament, Friday 06 December 2019 – At its last sitting of the year today, the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) passed five Bills that include the Adjustments Appropriation Bill, the Hydrographic Bill and three Taxation Bills.
The Adjustments Appropriations Bill was tabled with the 2019 Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS) in Parliament by the Minister of Finance on 30 October 2019, outlining the budget priorities of the government for the medium-term estimates. The Money Bills and Related Matters Act, No. 9 of 2009 (as amended) provides that “after the National Assembly passed the Adjustments Appropriation Bill, the Bill must be referred to the National Council of Provinces and referred to the Select Committee on Appropriations.” Accordingly, the NCOP referred the Bill to the Committee for concurrence on 04 December 2019.
The three Taxation Bills, namely the Taxation Laws Amendment Bill, the Tax Administration Laws Amendment Bill, and the Rates and Monetary Amounts and Amendment of Revenue Laws Bill were part of Minister of Finance, Mr Tito Mboweni’s, Budget announcements on 20 February.
The Taxation Laws Amendment Bill proposals affect individual savings and employment tax, business tax, Value Added Tax and the Customs and Excise Act. A key proposal is an amendment to the tax treatment of surviving spouses’ pension. The amendment seeks to lessen the financial burden when calculating taxes, which retirement funds may withhold on spousal pensions. The amendment becomes effective on 1 March 2021. The original effective date, 1 March 2020, has been postponed for administrative reasons, to enable SARS and taxpayers to ready their systems for the changes.
The Tax Administration Laws Amendment Bill was formally introduced on 30 October, when Minister Mboweni presented the Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement. This Bill makes technical corrections to the Income Tax Act, 1962; the Customs and Excise Act, 1964; the Value Added Tax Act, 1991; the Skills Development Levies Act, 1999; the Unemployment Insurance Contributions Act, 2002 (to align time periods for a refund under this Act to the Tax Administration Act of 2011); and the Tax Administration Act, 2011.
The Rates and Monetary Amounts and Amendment of Revenue Laws Bill deals with changes in rates and monetary thresholds, changes to personal income tax tables, increases of excise duties on alcohol and tobacco and adjustments to the eligible income bands that qualify for the employment tax incentive.
The Hydrographic Bill aims to, amongst others, provide for the establishment of the Hydrographic Office; provide for the safety of navigation in the - exclusive economic zone and internal waters of the Republic, and ensure that hydrographic surveying is done in accordance with the requirements of internationally accepted specifications and standards.
The sitting also considered and adopted two Committee reports – one by the Select Committee on Land Reform, Environment, Mineral and Energy Resources on the “Legislation relating to the domestic trade in Rhinoceros Horns” and the other on the Select Committee on Appropriations’ “Proposed division of revenue and the Conditional Grant allocations to provinces and Local Government.”
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