Zuma signs 7 new finance bills into law

Cape Town - President Jacob Zuma has signed seven new finance bills into law, the Presidency said in a statement on Thursday. 

The Bills have been passed by both the National Assembly and National Council of Provinces in the past year and sent to the President for ratification. 

The new pieces of legislation are as follows: 

The Taxation Laws Amendment Act

The main purpose of this legislation is to amend certain provisions of various Acts related to the Taxations Laws Amendment Act including, amongst others, Transfer Duty Act, Estate Duty Act, Customs and Excise Act and Value-Added Tax Act, among others. 

In addition the new legislation amends these laws in order to bring them in line with the new Taxation Laws Amendment Act.

The Finance Act
 
The Finance Act seeks to provide provisions for the approval of unauthorised expenditure, recovery of unauthorised expenditure and provide for matters connected therewith.

The Rates and Monetary Amounts and Amendment of Revenue Laws (Administration) Act 
 
The Act aims to provide for administrative matters in respect of additional relief under the voluntary disclosure programme and to provide for matters connected therewith. 

The Rates and Monetary Amounts and Amendment of Revenue Laws Act 
 
The Act aims to fix the rates of normal tax, amend the Transfer Duty Act, so as to amend the rates of transfer duty and monetary threshold; to amend the Income Tax Act, so as to amend rates of tax and monetary amounts as well as to amend Customs and Excise Act.

The Act further seeks to provide for additional relief under the voluntary disclosure programme and to provide for matters connected therewith.

The Tax Administration Laws Amendment Act

The main purpose of this legislation is to amend the Income Tax Act to provide for delegation of power to disclose certain information and to remove an obligation to submit a return for a dividend derived from a tax-free investment, among others. The legislation further seeks to amend the Customs and Excise Act so as to narrow the scope of provisions relating to Special Economic Zones and to align terminology with terminology used in the Special Economic Zones Act, 2014.

In addition, the legislation also seeks to amend certain provisions of Value-Added Tax Act, the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Royalty (Administration) Act as well as Tax Administration Act.

The Adjustments Appropriation Act
 
The legislation seeks to effect adjustments to the appropriation of money from the National Revenue Fund for the requirements of government in respect of the 2016/17 financial year and to provide for matters incidental thereto.
 
The Unemployment Insurance Amendment Act
 
The main purpose of the legislation is to amend the Unemployment Insurance Act so as to provide for the extension of the unemployment insurance benefits to learners who are undergoing learnership training and civil servants and also, among other things, to adjust the accrual rate of contributor’s entitlement to unemployment insurance benefits and to provide for the process of application for maternity benefits.

The legislation further seeks to empower the Unemployment Insurance Board to provide its constitution for the functions of regional appeals committees and to amend a part of the Unemployment Insurance Act so as to provide for the adjustment of the Income Replacement Rate and to provide matters connected therewith.