The Disaster Management Tax Relief and Tax Administration Bills were passed without any parties objecting and will now go before the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) for concurrence.
The National Assembly has approved two COVID-19 tax relief bills.
The Disaster Management Tax Relief and Tax Administration Bills were passed without any parties objecting and will now go before the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) for concurrence.
The bills were tabled by Finance Minister Tito Mboweni with the emergency budget in June and provide for tax relief measures to help businesses, households and individuals deal with the economic impact of the pandemic and the lockdown.
Finance Minister Tito Mboweni commended lawmakers for swiftly dealing with the COVID-19 relief tax bills.
“The tax bills are never straightforward and to consider them under tight deadlines, through a new communications medium, makes it even more challenging, but I think you have risen to the challenge.”
Mboweni said that the crisis made it necessary to use the tax system to provide relief and support the economy as a whole.
Opposition parties, including the Democratic Alliance (DA) and the Freedom Front Plus said that while they supported the bills, they believed that the relief offered was not enough to get the economy moving again.
The bills provide for, among other things, the deferred payment of taxes, a skills development levy payment holiday and increasing the tax-deductible amount of donations to the Solidarity Fund from 10% to 20%. The relief window’s been extended by two months and will apply until the end of September.