Sugary beverages levy On 10 November the South African Revenue Service (Sars) released the draft rule to the Customs and Excise Act, 1964, to facilitate the imposition of a tax on sugar-sweetened beverages, on which comment is due by 30 November. The release included form DA179 – Completion notes for the sugary beverage levy return, form DA179 – Health Promotion Levy return for sugary beverages form, and form DA185.4B2 – Manufacturing Warehouse form. By way of clarification, the finance minister, in the February 2016 budget, announced a decision to introduce a tax on sugarsweetened beverages to reduce excessive sugar intake. In addition to the release of the draft rule and the DA forms, the Health Promotion Levy was introduced in the Rates and Monetary Amounts Bill. Sars Inquiry The finance minister on 7 November announced that he had approached the president to request the urgent establishment of an enquiry into the tax administration and governance of Sars, to which the president had acceded. The Commission, to be established soon, will assess what factors are responsible for the undercollection of revenue by Sars. In addition, it will explore what steps need to be taken to improve performance management systems at Sars to improve its capacity to collect revenue. The Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS) recognised that whilst the economic cycle was the most likely and significant factor driving lower revenue collection, other factors could also be at play, like weakening tax morality and challenges facing the tax administration. Whatever the reason for the shortfall, the risk of undercollection of revenue impacts directly on the size of the future budget deficits, and hence on the sustainability of the projected debt-to-GDP trend, and directly on our credit rating and growth prospects. 2018 Technical Tax Proposals National Treasury has invited taxpayers, tax practitioners and members of the public to submit tax proposals of a technical nature to be considered for possible inclusion in Annexure C of the 2018 Budget Review. The technical proposals must be limited to unintended anomalies, revenue leakages, loopholes and technical matters applicable to the current tax legislation that require correction. Proposals of a policy nature are dealt with through a different process and hence this request does not apply to tax policy proposals. The finance minister announces tax proposals in the Budget Speech in February every year. The Budget Review provides additional information on the tax proposals made in the Budget and proposed changes to tax legislation. Major tax policy proposals are contained in Chapter 4 of the Budget Review and the more technical proposals are generally contained in Annexure C of the Budget Review. Comment is due by 24 November. Duty Calls’ Watch List Trade and Investment South Africa (Tisa) has announced a review of the EMIA guidelines for National Pavilions, Outward-Selling Trade Missions, Outward Investment Recruitment Missions, Inward-Buying Trade Missions and Inward Investment Missions. Comment is due by 23 December.
