By Sean Segar – Head of Product, Nedgroup Investments, Cash Solutions One of the disappointments of this year’s budget is that the exemptions on interest received were not raised and there were hints that these may be scrapped altogether in the near future. They would be replaced by “tax-preferred savings and investments accounts” to “encourage [...]

By Sheshi Kaniki, Senior Economist, Momentum Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan delivered his third Budget Speech on 22 February 2012. The Minister presented a well balanced Budget, giving attention to social services (health, education and social protection), infrastructure, employment creation, business incentives, service delivery and corruption. The 2012 Budget will go down in history as the [...]

By: Rowan Burger, Head of Investments Strategy from Liberty Retail SA As expected, there was not a great deal impacting directly on retirement savings, with certain minor exceptions which are discussed below, in this budget speech. However there are a number of cues which give us a sense of the continuation of the regulatory policy [...]

While Wednesday’s budget by Finance Minister gave the overriding sense that government is now starting to show a real commitment to infrastructural spending, after more than two years of policy paralysis, increasing spending on social grants threatens this ambition. This is according to independent economist Sandra Gordon, who was the guest speaker at a budget [...]

The proposed personal income tax relief of R9.5 billion in the budget announcement is a welcome financial aid for all South African consumers. However, it is crucial that consumers use this additional benefit to improve their current financial situation and achieve their long term financial goals. This is according to Justus van Pletzen, Chief Executive [...]

Today’s Budget Speech has helped pave the way for business development in 2012. This is according to Robert Gad, tax director at ENS (Edward Nathan Sonnenbergs), who welcomes these proposals by Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan to encourage development, investment and employment in South Africa. “This is a budget with a mixture of positive and negative [...]

By Johan Lombard, Actuarial Specialist – Momentum Health One of the most interesting changes to taxation legislation to be implemented in the 2012/2013 tax year is the change in treatment of medical scheme contributions. Up to now, taxpayers qualified for a set monthly deduction on their taxable income, based on their family composition. It was [...]