There have been a number of amendments gazetted this year to the VAT Act. The amendments came into effect on 1 April 2021 unless otherwise stated. A brief summary of some of the more important VAT amendments is provided below:
The Information Regulator (Regulator) announced on 18 June 2021 that they are granting an extension on the application on processing as set out in Section 58(2) from 1 July 2021 to 1 February 2022. It is important to note that this is not an extension of compliance to the POPIA but only refers to the implementation of Section 58(2). Section 58 deals with the requirements that a responsible party must notify the Regulator if processing is subject to prior authorisation.
The Protection of Personal Information Act (no.4 of 2013) (hereinafter referred to as 'POPIA' or 'the Act'), which gives effect to the Constitutional right to privacy in South Africa, commenced on the 1st July 2020. There has been a grace period for one year.
Doing business in South Africa can be daunting given the complex raft of regulations and company law. Section 77 codifies liability for directors and prescribed officers. It sets out civil liability (delict and breach of fiduciary duty), and then in sub-section 3, sets out specific statutory liabilities.
Retention periods:
The general provisions under POPIA will apply equally to any personal information processed by an employer as part of an employee’s employment, and all employers have until 1 July 2021 to ensure that their workplaces are fully POPIA compliant.
Codes of Conduct:
Early in January 2021, Facebook’s messaging app WhatsApp received massive backlash in relation to an update of its privacy policy which was meant to take effect on the 8th of February 2021. Effectively, the update allows for new functionality to the businesses feature by allowing WhatsApp to reserve the right to share the different data it collects from you to other Facebook based apps.
Tito Mboweni’s big day looms this month, with little progress on the medium-term budget policy speech. The biggest issue relates to the freeze on government wages to which there has been no resolution yet. Let’s hope that we get finality in the upcoming budget.
Personal Information
The Companies and Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC), acknowledges the impact that the COVID- 19 pandemic and the national lockdown, in terms of the Disaster Management Act, has had on companies and close corporations and may continue to have in the near future. With the move of South Africa to lockdown level 1 and the re-start of the economy, it is imperative that all entities re-commence with their regulatory compliance obligations.
Government’s policy priorities remain on economic recovery and fiscal consolidation, as outlined in President Cyril Ramaphosa’s Economic Reconstruction and Recovery plan and the Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement released in October. The social compact agreed to between government, business, labour and civil society prioritises short-term measures to support the economy, alongside crucial structural economic reforms.
CIPC has released a quick reference guide designed to highlight specifically, although not exclusively, critical issues of the Companies Act No. 71 of 2008 that a director should be aware of. The central message of this guide, which is divided into 10 basic markers, is that a director of a company when acting in that capacity:
When Covid-19 arrived in the country at the beginning of March 2020, it was evident from the experience of other countries that this would have significant health, economic and social ramifications for South Africa.
Since the May meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), the Covid-19 pandemic continues to spread globally, with wide-ranging and deep social and economic effects. Current forecasts from the IMF show global Gross Domestic Product (GDP) contracting by about 4.9% this year. The deepest contractions are expected in the second quarter of 2020, with gradual recoveries in the third and fourth quarters of the year. The strength of the global economic recovery will depend in part expectations of future growth in investment and productivity.
Liduma lidlule!
On the 17th of June, President Ramaphosa signed the final enabling legislation to finally give effect to POPI with effect from 1st July 2020. Although it comes into full force, businesses have until the end of June 2021 to comply with the ACT.
All persons who are able to work from home must do so. However, persons will be permitted to travel to and from work and for work purposes under Alert Level 3, subject to-
The past two months of lockdown have been difficult for the tourism sector. Many businesses in the sector are fighting for survival and projections showed that almost 600 000 jobs were at risk if the sector doesn’t come into operation by September 2020. This reality led to both government and private sector working together to be both innovative and putting protocol guidelines to get the sector back into operation.
To qualify for the COVID-19 Tax Relief for PAYE, employers, must:
Below is a table of the 5 different levels from the Alert System and what restrictions would be implemented depending on the severity level:
Post the national lockdown, there will be a few restrictions that will stay in place regardless of the level of alert in any given period:
To see whether a sector will gradually resume activity or not, 3 criteria must be checked:
Though the national lockdown has shown early evidence on how it has successfully helped to flatten the curve and limit the spread of Covid-19, there are numerous risks if the lockdown is lifted too quickly or without any strategy.
