Cecil Kilpin | June 2019 Newsletter

Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts Carbon Tax was introduced on the 1st June 2019. The primary rationale in introducing the tax was to introduce a “Polluter Pays” system in order to deter activities that impact climate change in line with SDG 13. Climate change activism is on the increase with a number of boards of Directors being taken to task over these issues. The year 2017 was one of the three warmest on record and was 1.1 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial period. An analysis by the World Meteorological Organization shows that the five-year average global temperature from 2013 to 2017 was also the highest on record. The world continues to experience rising sea levels, extreme weather conditions (the North Atlantic hurricane season was the costliest ever recorded) and increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases. This calls for urgent and accelerated action by countries as they implement their commitments to the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.

• As of 9 April 2018, 175 Parties had ratified the Paris Agreement and 168 Parties (167 countries plus the European Commission) had communicated their first nationally determined contributions to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Secretariat.
• In addition, as of 9 April 2018, 10 developing countries had successfully completed and submitted the first iteration of their national adaptation plans for responding to climate change.
• Developed country Parties continue to make progress towards the goal of jointly mobilizing $100 billion annually by 2020 to address the needs of developing countries in the context of meaningful mitigation actions.

Clearly Climate Change is a big issue, and we all need to be cognisant of the impact we all have in our day to day consumption. We will keep you posted on developments in this regard.

Our economy continues to stagnate, and one can only hope that President Ramaphosa’s “new dawn” bears fruit sooner rather than later. Below are some key findings as released by Stats SA.

The manufacturing industry decreased by 8,8% in the first quarter. The divisions that made the largest contributions to the decrease were petroleum, chemical products, rubber and plastic products; motor vehicles, parts and accessories and other transport equipment; and wood and wood products, paper, publishing and printing.

The mining and quarrying industry decreased by 10,8% in the first quarter. This was largely the result of low production in mining of coal, mining of gold, mining of iron ore, mining of chrome ore and ‘other’ mining and quarrying (including diamonds).

The agriculture, forestry and fishing industry decreased by 13,2% in first quarter. The decrease was mainly because of a drop in the production of field crops and horticultural products.

The trades, catering and accommodation industry decreased by 3,6%. Decreased economic activity was reported in wholesale trade, retail trade and motor trade.

The transport, storage and communication industry decreased by 4,4%, as a result of decreases in both passenger and freight land transport.

Finance, real estate and business services increased by 1,1% in the first quarter. Increased economic activity was reported for financial intermediation, real estate activities and business services.

General government services increased by 1,2%, mainly attributed to an increase in employment.

This year taxpayers who meet ALL the following criteria need NOT submit a tax return:

• Their total employment income for the year before tax is not more than R500 000
• They only receive employment income from ONE EMPLOYER for the full tax year
• They have no other form of INCOME (e.g. car allowance, business income, and rental income, taxable interest or income from another job)
• They don’t have any additional allowable tax related deductions to claim (e.g. medical expenses, retirement annuity contributions and travel expenses)

To further reduce unnecessary trips to SARS branches, taxpayers who are not required to file a return will receive a simulated outcome from SARS as if they had filed a return. The taxpayer can accept this outcome or update the return and file.

Tax Season 2019 starts on 1 August for taxpayers who file their income tax returns at a SARS branch. Taxpayers who go to a SARS branch will be encouraged to register as users of eFiling and the MobiApp. Taxpayers who are registered for eFiling or have access to the MobiApp can file their income tax returns from 1 July via these channels.

The closing dates for Tax Season are as follows:

• 31 October 2019 for branch filing
• 4 December 2019 for non-provisional taxpayers who use eFiling and the MobiApp
• 31 January 2020 for provisional taxpayers who use eFiling

Should you require professional assistance with submitting your return please do not hesitate to contact us.

In 2018 the Department of Trade and Industry published a Companies Amendment Bill for public comment. There are a number of proposed amendments that affect small and medium enterprises (SME’s) and we will briefly outline a few of the potential implications below:

• Some CIPC related proposals could increase the cost of compliance
• Compliance issues as relates to Close Corporations
• Issues relating to privacy of information as submitted to CIPC
• Finalisation of Annual Financial Statements within 6 months of year end could increase cost of compliance

The Bill is yet to be finalised and a number of issues have been raised by various professional bodies on the proposed Bill. It is probable that the Bill will be finalised in the last quarter of 2019. We will keep you posted on developments in this regard.