By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The National Council of Provinces (NCOP) has passed five finance bills during its hybrid plenary sitting, sending them off to president Cyril Ramaphosa to be signed into law.
Parliament has had an exhaustive year filled with the National Treasury scrambling to push through defining financial legislation dealing with a wide array of issues. The latest bills that have been passed include the following:
- Taxation Laws Amendment Bill;
- Tax Administration Laws Amendment Bill;
- Rate and Monetary Amounts and Amendment of Revenue Laws Bill;
- Adjustments Appropriation Bill; and
- Special Appropriation Bill.
The bills generally relate to the country’s 2022 budget revisions, making provision for the divvying up of the budget and following through on promises made by finance minister Enoch Godongwana during his speech.
This includes the various adjustments for rates and taxes in the country.
The Adjustments Appropriation Bill and Special Appropriation Bill, meanwhile, deal with the various bailouts or payments given to state companies in the minister’s October budget, including the 70% payment of Sanral’s e-toll debt.
“The key proposals in the Tax Administration Laws Amendment Bill include the imposition of understatement penalty for employment tax incentives improperly claimed, advance rulings under the Customs and Excise Act, and addressing tax compliance status system abuse,” said Parliament spokesperson Moloto Mothapo.
He said the Adjustments Appropriation Bill and the Special Appropriations Bill, on the other hand, were tabled in Parliament in terms of section 12(1) and (2) of the Money Bills and Related Matters Act as amended by the Money Bills Amendment Procedure and Related Matters Amendment Act.
“Section 12(1) of the Money Bills and Related Matters Act requires the Minister of Finance to table a national adjustments budget as envisaged in section 30 of the Public Finance Management Act. Section 12(2) of the Money Bills and Related Matters Act requires that ‘an adjustments appropriation Bill must be tabled with a national adjustments budget’,” he said.
The Adjustments Appropriation Bill provides for increases to allocations set out in the main Appropriation Act of 2022.
Total in-year spending adjustments amount to R13 billion, inclusive of the total adjusted appropriations per vote and adjusted estimates of direct charges against the National Revenue Fund (NRF). Of the total in-year adjustments of R13 billion, R7.24 billion is with respect to direct charges against the NRF.