South Africa: Budget for 2013–14 – direct taxes

March 7, 2013

The Budget for 2013–14 was presented to Parliament by the minister of finance.

Details of the Budget are summarized below. Unless otherwise indicated, the corporate taxation measures apply from 1 April 2013, while the personal taxation measures apply from 1 March 2013.

Corporate taxation 

Proposal to increase the turnover threshold and revise the graduated rate structure for small business corporations as follows:

Amount (ZAR) Rate (%)
Up to 67,112 0
67,112-365,000 7
365,001-550,000 21
Over 550,000 28

Personal taxation

Proposal to revise the income tax brackets as follows:

Amount (ZAR) Rate (%)
Up to 165,601 18
165,601-258,750 25
258,751-358,110 30
358,111-500,940 35
500,941-638,600 38
Over 638,600 40

Proposal to increase the primary, secondary and tertiary annual tax rebates from ZAR11,440, ZAR6,390 and ZAR2,130 respectively, to ZAR12,080, ZAR6,750 and ZAR2,250,respectively.

Proposal to increase the annual exemption threshold on interest earned from a South African source by a resident individual:

  • Under 65 years of age from ZAR22,800 to ZAR23,800
  • Aged at least 65 years from ZAR33,000 to ZAR34,500.

Tax management

The minister announced:

  • Plans to introduce new measures to relax cross-border financial regulations and tax requirements on companies
  • Plans to simplify and harmonize the tax treatment of pension, provident and retirement annuity funds
  • That the South African Revenue Service (SARS) is pursuing tax avoidance schemes identified under the revised general anti-avoidance rules
  • That SARS will introduce a single registration process in which companies need to register only once, in a simple manner, for all tax types and customs activities.

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