Following the announcement of the State of National Disaster by President Cyril Ramaphosa on 22 March 2020, SARS published the initial Disaster Management Tax Relief (“(DMTR”) measures on 3 April 2020, effective from 1 April 2020. These measures were amended in line with the President’s speech on 21 April 2020, which now apply, and includes the following:
The expansion of the Employment Tax Incentive (“ETI”);
A four-month Skills development levy holiday as from 1 May 2020;
Fast-tracking of value-added tax (VAT) refunds and temporarily permitting smaller VAT vendors that are in a net refund position to file monthly instead of bi-monthly;
Three-month deferral for filing and first payment of carbon tax liabilities to 31 October 2020.
A deferral for the payment of excise taxes on alcoholic beverages and tobacco products.
In addition to the above companies with an annual turnover of less than R100 million also qualify for the following additional measure:
Employees Tax Deferral of 35% of tax liability; and
Provisional Tax Deferral.
The President further stated that companies with an annual turnover of more than R100 million may contact SARS directly on a case-by-case scenario to make the necessary arrangements to defer tax payments without incurring penalties. Similarly, businesses with gross income of less than R100 million can apply for an additional deferral of payments without incurring penalties.
Kindly contact us should you require assistance in applying for deferral of payments.
Contributed by Nico Grobler, VAT Manager, VAT IT SA