SARA TAX & BUDGET UPDATE 2021
THE ONLY TAX UPDATE DEDICATED TO REMUNERATION, HR & PAYROLL PROFESSIONALS
SARS and the National Treasury have been extremely busy during the Covid-19 pandemic and the Tax Administration Laws Amendment Act No. 24 of 2020, which was promulgated on 20 January 2021, will have a significant impact on employers. In line with our tradition of full disclosure, attend the update to get in-depth understanding on –
- It is now written into tax law that certain employee allowances and reimbursements will only apply where “the employer’s policy makes provision for and allows such reimbursements”. This means relevant employee policies must be updated to align with the new tax provisions.
- Understand the whole tax law change on South African employees and the new 3 year rule to withdraw retirement benefits upon emigration. The Parliamentary process and arguments will be unpacked, to ensure best practice for your South African employees abroad and foreign employees in South Africa.
- As a payroll or finance officer, you may now be subject to a two year prison sentence where you fail to “deduct or withhold or pay to SARS the amount of tax, as and when required under a tax Act”. This will be the case even if you had no intention to make this mistake. The same criminal sanction now also applies to non-disclosure of material facts, complying with tax directives, retaining records etc. We will unpack section 35 of the Tax Administration Laws Amendment Act No. 24 of 2020 in depth, to ensure that your members remain safe.
- Keep your executives safe with an insight into SARS’ new approach in auditing offshore income, trust structures and cryptocurrency transactions, which will include a discussion on the latest case law, legislative updates etc.
We will also address all other changes regarding employer provided bursaries and the end of salary sacrifice arrangements in this respect, as well as retirement fund contribution deduction changes, ETI rollover changes etc., all of which were promulgated on the 20th of January 2021. The session will also deal with what we argued in Parliament and the motivations and explanations provided by the National Treasury SARS; ensuring a purposeful understanding of the significant laws enacted.
- BUDGET SPEECH
2021/22 - As done in the past 15 years, we will expertly share the Budget Announcements of 24 February 2021; specifically those impacting remuneration and benefits, human resources and finance professionals. Practical implications of the budget speech for reward industry remain the core focus as part of SARA’s member value proposition.
- OUR FIRST NATIONWIDE SINGLE-SESSION
- Unlike in previous years, this time we will host one nationwide session due to our Association’s ability to engage with our members through interactive online technology. This promises to be highly collaborative and takes our first event of the year to the next level.
- WHAT WE EXPECT FROM THE BUDGET SPEECH ON 24 FEBRUARY 2021
- We are not expecting a pro-taxpayer or pro-employee budget speech, simply due to the calls for more stringent tax measures and lifestyle audits of high-net-worth individuals, talks of increased tax rates to fund Covid-19 vaccines, as well as Government’s widely publicised “lock-up” of retirement funds for three years, not to mention SARS’ new collection drive targeting taxpayers’ offshore holdings.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Jerry Botha is the Managing Partner of Tax Consulting South Africa and has over 25 years’ experience in the field of taxation and remuneration. He holds his own FSCA License, is a Master Reward Practitioner and has served on the Executive of SARA for more than a decade, Chairs the SARA Employee Benefit Committee, and is a Certified Payroll Practitioner and Tax Practitioner.
Jerry is an esteemed speaker and trainer on topics concerning employee benefits, remuneration methodology and best practice, as well as employees’ tax and optimally handling SARS engagements. His approach to training is to ensure maximum knowledge transfer and to equip industry professionals to take away information that finds practical application in their own practices and for their clients, achieving balance between ensuring full compliance with the law, whilst ensuring the best legal efficiency.
He also authored the LexisNexis textbook on ‘Expatriate Tax’ which includes a component on international remuneration methodology, as well as advised many large South African and multi-national businesses on complex and / or best practice solutions concerning remuneration, benefits and taxation.
EVENT DETAILS
PLATFORM:
Zoom via PC/Mobile
DATE:
Wednesday, 3 March 2021
TIME:
15:00 to 17:00 (GMT+2)
FEE:
No charge for SARA members
R450 (incl. VAT) for non-membersre
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