The Competition Commission of South Africa has published draft Terms of Reference for a new market inquiry, this time in polymers.
Continue readingSouth Africa: Competition Commission intends to launch Polymers Market Inquiry
South Africa: Final Guidelines on the revised approach to public interest in merger control
The South African Competition Commission has issued Revised Public Interest Guidelines relating to Merger Control, which are intended to give businesses and practitioners insight into the Commission’s approach to the assessment of public interest when it reviews mergers.
Continue readingSouth Africa: JSE Listings Requirements – Key changes in the JSE Simplification Project to date
The Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) has announced the third phase of the JSE Simplification Project, which aims to shuffle and simplify the existing Sections of the JSE Listings Requirements. The JSE released its first six simplified Sections for public consultation during 2023. Pursuant to public consultation, the JSE now proposes further amendments to the same six sections.
Continue readingSouth Africa: Excise duty changes in 2024 Budget Speech
National Treasury announced above-inflationary ‘sin tax’ increases in the 2024 Budget Speech. This marks another round of significant increases in the rates of excise duty applicable to alcohol and tobacco products, well above the previous policy benchmark of Consumer Price Index (CPI)-linked annual increases.
Continue readingSouth Africa: Get ready for an increased annual earnings threshold
With effect from 1 April 2024, the earnings threshold determined by the Minister of Employment and Labour in accordance with the Basic Conditions of Employment Act will be increased to ZAR 254 371.67 per annum (ZAR 21 197.64 per month). This represents an increase of approximately 5.5% from the previous earnings threshold of ZAR 241 110.59, which has been in effect since 1 March 2023. Â
Continue readingSouth Africa: Tax residence by mutual agreement or disagreement
The tax residence of a company is generally confirmed by applying two primary tests. The first is that a company that is incorporated under the law of that country is tax resident in that country. The second is typically some form of management test. The two most common management tests applied are ‘management and/ or control’ and ‘effective management’ (collectively referred to as management test).
• What makes the position tricky is that there is no uniform meaning of the ‘management test’. The meaning applied by a specific country may differ materially to that of the other country also claiming the company as a tax resident.
• All parties with multinational groups are urged to assess the current residence status of their existing operations.