Pretoria – A Special Voluntary Disclosure Programme (SVDP), announced by the Minister of Finance in the 2016 budget speech, came into effect on Saturday, October 1 2016.
The SVDP provides a window period for individuals and companies to regularise undisclosed or unauthorised foreign assets and associated income.
SVDP application process
- The South African Revenue Service (Sars) and the South African Reserve Bank (Sarb) have established a joint application process;
- Applications for tax relief may be made in the new SVDP section of the Voluntary Disclosure Programme (VDP01) form that will be available on Sars eFiling from October 1 2016;
- Applications for exchange control relief may be made on the new SVDP01 form, also hosted on eFiling;
- The VDP01 application form makes provision for the tax SVDP process. It must be noted, however, that the enhanced VDP01 form will initially be based on the earlier SVDP proposals.
For example, the VDP01 will initially refer to a 50% inclusion rate, whereas the latest proposal is a 40% inclusion rate. Despite this, tax SVDP applications will be processed on the basis of the final SVDP legislative framework that is approved by Parliament.
- Tax assessments based on SVDP disclosures will be concluded once the final legislative framework is promulgated.
More information
While the bill providing for the enhanced SVDP tax relief must still be introduced in Parliament for approval, the public consultation process to date has brought about enhanced proposals that have been presented to Parliament’s Standing Committee on Finance.
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