The South African National Budget

The South African economy remains under pressure going into 2024, mainly due to supply-side constraints in the electricity and logistics sectors.

The South African economy is struggling to return to the desired levels of growth, this in addition to the unemployment rate in the country being at an all-time high.

South Africa faces a double whammy of a declining tax base while government expenditure demands are increasing.

Deloitte Consumer Signals research conducted on a monthly basis throughout 2023 revealed ongoing consumer concerns around rising prices and inflation.

Although GDP growth in South Africa is forecast to double in 2024, it is coming off a very low base from the 0.5% anticipated for 2023 year-on-year growth. We may even find ourselves in a technical recession when the Q4 2023 GDP growth is released.

Considering the anticipated announcement of support measures aimed at assisting the automotive industry transition from producing Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) vehicles to a dual platform of New Energy Vehicles (NEVs) and ICE vehicles, the automotive sector is expected to come out with a ‘win’ from the 2024 National Budget Speech.

As South African taxpayers eagerly await the delivery of the 2024/2025 National Budget Speech, scheduled to take place on Wednesday 21 February 2024;

There is a major change coming that will fundamentally change the way value-added tax (VAT) is reported and collected in South Africa.

The OECD/G20 Inclusive Framework (Inclusive Framework), formed by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) together with the G20 countries has two pillars.

Transfer pricing (TP) is an area which has been changing rapidly in recent years. This as a result of the ongoing focus of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) on base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS).

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) have long been, and continue to be recognised, as a priority sector for growth and development in South Africa as it plays a critical role in our country’s economic growth and employment creation engine.

We expect the upcoming Budget Speech to focus on increased revenue collection to close the revenue gap announced in the Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement at the end of 2023.

Over the years, the South African Revenue Service (SARS) has made steady progress on gathering data from third parties. Medical aids, retirement annuities, public benefit organisations and financial institutions all provide SARS with their income tax data.

Many non-South African tax resident multinational companies, including their South African (SA) branches (i.e., foreign employers), have expatriate employees (assignees) who are seconded to South Africa to render services in the country on international global mobility assignments.

It is two years since amendments were made to section 20 of the Income Tax Act No.58 of 1962 (the Act), which limits the amount of an assessed tax loss that may be set off against taxable income.