Doing Business In South Africa .. An Overview!
The South African gross domestic product (GDP) expanded by 1,9% in the first quarter of 2022, representing a second consecutive quarter of upward growth. The size of the economy is now at pre-pandemic levels, with real GDP slightly higher than what it was before the COVID-19 pandemic. The National State of Disaster was lifted as from 5 April 2022, and the rules on wearing masks indoors and the limitation on public events and gatherings were all repealed on the 23 June 2022.
However, South Africans are feeling the bite of fuel price increases as a result of Russia’s war in Ukraine and the rise in the Brent crude oil price. In addition, longstanding structural constraints, such as electricity shortages and loadshedding, continue to be binding.
Commodity prices remain important for South Africa, a major net exporter of minerals and net importer of oil, however, strengthening investment, including foreign direct investment, will be critical to propelling growth and creating jobs. In addition, President Cyril Ramaphosa’s economic recovery plan envisages that infrastructure will play a leading role in developing the South African economy over the next 30 years. The National Infrastructure Plan 2050, published in the last quarter of 2021, sets out ambitious plans for various infrastructure sub-sectors, which, if given effect, should see more significant investment flowing into the economy and a rapid acceleration of infrastructure development.
Trends in Business 2022 & Beyond:
- A steady increase in regulatory and compliance requirements and reporting (for example, as is required by the Companies Act, POPIA and FICA).
- The pandemic has changed working expectations in SA, with more employees working remotely and from home, with more flexible working hours, from time to time working in office as the need arises (the hybrid work environment)
- The use of electronic means for meetings and consultations. In other words, a general trend towards a virtual world, incorporating electronic signatures, and electronic communication for meetings. A migration to a collaborative digital ecosystem, which allows all employees to connect to and service client requests, automated, digital workflows, with reduced manual processes. Digital platforms may also allow customers to serve themselves without the need to interact with staff
- A trend where businesses incorporate purpose beyond profits to a more meaningful level. Over the next few years, millennials and new technologies will be driving forces in the wider adoption of sustainable buildings, homes and office spaces
- A trend toward relocating to remoter locations from which to work, resulting in cities being less dominated by business districts and commuters, having the knock-on effect of the possibility of more green spaces and affordable housing in the city centres
Filing Season 2022 for Individuals.
You will be sent an SMS if you are selected to be auto-assessed. When you receive the SMS, log into eFiling or MobiApp to view your assessment. If you agree with the assessment there is nothing more to do.
If you are not in agreement with the assessment, you can access your tax return via eFiling or SARS MobiApp, complete the return, and file it. This must be done within 40 business days from the date that your assessment was issued to you.
Income tax return filing dates:
- 1 July 2022 to 24 October 2022
- Taxpayers who file online
- 1 July 2022 to 23 January 2023
- Provisional Taxpayer’s including Trusts may file via eFiling
Driving Financial Compliance in the Digital Era.
iXBRL is an Inline eXtensible Business Reporting Language for electronic communication of business information providing major benefits in the preparation, analysis, communication of Annual Financial Statements.
Digital reporting in the format of iXBRL will assist companies with filing their Annual Financial Statements to egress from a PDF reporting format to a more structured format. This will ultimately reduce the burden of multiple submissions to different regulators.
iXBRL Programme Objectives are:
- To reduce the administrative burden on businesses when they report financial information to government for regulatory compliance. Achieving this goal requires reducing duplication and inconsistency in business information reported to various government agencies – thus, a national (local taxonomy becomes a necessity; and
- To achieve regulatory compliance to accomplish the mission of the government agency. The CIPC’s primary mission is to provide business and financial information to investors for better transparency and to reduce the administrative costs of reporting businesses
Sustainable Development Goals.
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): Indicator Baseline Report 2017.
This report sheds light on what has been done and on what more needs to be accomplished in order to rid South Africa of extreme poverty.
Structure of the Report.
The report covers all 17 goals stated in the SDG documents. Each goal will be treated as a separate chapter in the report. Each chapter will be structured as follows:
- An introduction linking the sustainable development goal to the country’s National Development Plan (NDP), related policies, programmes and projects initiated by departments and institutions
- Statement of the individual targets relating to the goal together with all indicators pertaining to specific targets
- The definition of the indicator as well as the method of computing the indicator values
- A baseline indicator value and where applicable, a chart/table indicating changes over time for the selected indicators are given. Baseline indicator values are based on data obtained during the base year (2016) or the year closest to 2016 for which data was available. In instances where the base year/period is not referenced on the charts/tables, the base year is 2016
- Indication of the data source(s)
- Where possible, a comment section relating to the indicator is included
Sincerely,
