SARS and Anlo Updates: March Newsletter

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It is now a year since we went into lockdown, and how the world has changed.

Anlo has also changed significantly; it was the hardest year in a decade, but we have learnt so much about ourselves that we must look at the bright side.

I realised what amazing clients we have. Because of them, our company is still here. Because of them people are employed and have a future. So, thank you, thank you!

We would like to congratulate Grizelda on completing her ICB National Diploma for Financial Accounting Diploma - we are very proud of her. 

She also turned 21 years old this month and got engaged. So, March 2021 is a big celebration month all round at Anlo.

Our team is also joined by Matthew Armstrong who will be an intern for a year. He is a bright student, and the girls are really showing him the Anlo way (poor lad!) 😊.

SARS Updates

The budget speech by the Finance Minister, Tito Mboweni, was delivered on the 24th of February.  Here is a summary of the tax updates we thought you should be aware of:

  • SARS Audits will increase 
    SARS is in the process of establishing a dedicated unit to focus on individuals with wealth and complex financial arrangements. According to minister Mbowenu, the first group of taxpayers have been identified and will be contacted in April 2021. 

    There is a general consensus that SARS needs to have a dedicated audit team and that they have tended to target easier cases.  To date their defense has been ‘timing’, but people in South Africa feel that SARS should catch ‘the criminals’ and it seems that the minister has heard and responded to this outcry. The minister confirmed that they will make it a fair process.

  • Good news for the property market was that there were no changes to Transfer Duty and no changes to Capital Gains Tax or Withholding Tax (which applies to Non Residents selling their property in South Africa).

  • Restrictions on carrying forward assessed losses from the 1st of January 2021

  • Decrease in corporation tax rates from 28% to 27% from years starting after the 1st of April 2022.

  • Personal income tax brackets and rebates will increase above the inflation rate of 4. Find the updated tax tables here.

  • The tax free income tax threshold is now R87 300 (2021: R83 100)

  • Medical scheme tax credits have changed

  • The MTC has been adjusted for the 2021/2022 tax year, as follows:

    • R332 per month for the taxpayer and main member of the scheme

    • R332 per month for the first dependant

    • R224 per month for each additional dependent.

  • The emigration laws have changed in South Africa and they come into effect from the 1st of March 2021. As this impacts one of our directors' tax affairs significantly, we will be giving our clients a detailed explanation of how this affects everything in our April newsletter. In the meantime, here’s a very good article to summarise the highlights.

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